What I Wore on Holiday: Evening Wear

I'm back with part two of what I wore on holiday.  Last time I shared my day wear with you, but today it's evening wear.  For me, that's all about dresses.  It's no secret that my husband and I love nothing better than getting dressed up to the nines, and we both deliberated quite a bit about what to wear in the evenings when out on the town.  Items were in and out of the suitcase in the days before we left!  We were going for seven nights, so in the end I was restrained and took seven dresses for the evenings.  Here you go.  I've sneaked a few photos of my husband in as well, because he scrubs up very well.

On the first night I wore my Whispering Ivy dress (seen before here), which is perfect for warm weather.  The fabric has a tad stretch too, so it's good for eating.  I accessorised with a big red bow in my hair, and I wore some metallic ballet flats that I'd worn on the plane.  It was only a Wednesday night, and we were just hitting a few low key tapas bars, but like I say - we can't help ourselves!

Dress from Whispering Ivy, ballet flats from George at Asda. Bag and scarf thrifted.

The second night's choice was the gingham Audrey dress by Lindybop.  Another light and airy fabric, I teamed it with my vintage green beads, colourful wedges, and the red headscarf tied around my ponytail.

Dress by Lindybop, wedges from a Facebook group.  Bag and scarf thrifted.

On the third night - a Friday - I had planned to go for a more grown up look and wear my Marlene dress from Tara Starlet.  The top half is fairly snug, with criss-cross straps that you have to wiggle your head through, as the dress zips up the side rather than down the back.  You can probably see where this is going.  I wiggled, I giggled and then struggled.  I was trapped!  I'd applied body moisturiser after coming out of the shower, and along with having just blow-dried my hair and the outside temperature having not fallen much below 30 degrees Celsius, my skin was a little... clammy.  The synthetic lining of the dress stuck to me like glue.  My husband had to wrestle me out.  I took a breather, and then tried again, with my husband helping me extract my head from an armhole.  It was no use.  I crumpled the dress up and threw it back in the suitcase.  Instead, I wore this blue dress from a now defunct Australian pinup brand.  I'd fallen out of love with it and then rediscovered it for my birthday back in May.

Dress from an Australian brand years ago, necklace by Erstwilder.  Sandals by La Redoute, and hair band from Primark.

That's me and King Alfonso.  He has a rather fine moustache.

The Saturday night was a bit more laid back as we'd been out all day sightseeing and were exhausted.  I went for an Asos dress that I only ever wear once a year on holiday, as it's very short and backless too.  I wore some red vintage beads (which I snapped a few days later!  Curses!  I have all the beads so will attempt to re-string) and took a red clutch bag.

Vintage beads (thrifted), Peacock's bag, Dune wedges, and an Asos dress (thrifted).

On the Sunday night we were heading out for a special dinner to celebrate our first wedding anniversary.  Our anniversary wasn't until the Monday, but the restaurant we wanted to dine at was closed that day, so we brought it forward to the Sunday instead.  The restaurant is one of the top ones in the town, in a beautiful setting, so we made an extra effort to glam up.  I wore the Michelle maxi dress from Collectif again (previously worn at Portmeirion here).  We had the most wonderful evening.

Dress by Collectif, headscarf thrifted, pearl bracelet can't remember!

On the Monday, our actual anniversary, we ended up going out for a really good  dinner again, ha!  We had thought that they were all closed on a Monday, but found one of our favourites was actually open.  I wore the Lana dress in rose print from Lindybop.

Dress from Lindybop, clutch from Peacocks, hair band (wrapped around bun) from Primark, and sandals from La Redoute.

The Tuesday night was our very last night, and we were being picked up by our taxi at 2:30am to get an early flight home.  I had run out of dresses, after the Tara Starlet dress disaster, and so just wore a pink full skirt with pin-up ladies on it, with a white blouse.  I am afraid I don't have any photos of it, as we were too busy making the most of our final hours eating tapas!

What would I do differently next holiday?

• Take another pair of nice evening wedges, maybe in gold or silver.  A bit of a heel makes me feel more glam.
• Ditch that short purple Asos dress.  I like it, and my husband likes it, but I do think it perhaps has a bit of a short waist for tall me.  I think I can do better, and find a nice '60s mini dress instead.
• Take a spare dress!!
• Learn some more up-do hair styles for evenings out.

Well some of these dresses will be packed away now until next summer as they don't 'winterise' very well.  Do you ever take spare 'just-in-case' outfits on holiday?  Or are you strict with your packing?

Linking up with #IwillwearwhatIlike