Little Black Dress, Anyone?? Shabby Apple Boutique Review.....

What if you got a new job or started a new school and discovered that you could only wear black?  Can you imagine?

This is exactly what my daughter faces each day.  She goes to a school that requires all students to wear black each day.  Not only must they wear black, but they also must be stylish.  Plain black pants and an ordinary black t-shirt simply will not do.  As you can imagine, my daughter is always searching for something stylish, cute, comfortable, and black.

Several weeks ago, one of the ladies at Shabby Apple contacted me and asked if I would write a review about their company.  She offered a selection of dresses from which I could choose to include in my review.  When I saw the dress called Midnight Garden, I knew I had to choose it for my girl. 

It was perfect!  (It's pictured at the beginning of this post.)  Very cute, so stylish, and black.

I decided to make it a surprise for her, since I had no idea how long it may take to arrive.  Well Shabby Apple was amazingly quick.  So quick that, when the package arrived, I was wracking my brain to remember what could be inside!  I couldn't remember ordering anything and the little black dress never crossed my mind.  It was too soon! 

When I opened the package, the dress was nicely packaged and wrapped in tissue paper.  Apple green tissue paper....  It was striking.  I wish I had taken photos, but well, I didn't.  (Sorry!)

I especially wish I had taken a photo of the Shabby Apple tag.  The tag was lovely.  It had that shabby chic look that oozes from the website and blog.  (Yes, they even have a blog!)  The tag details Shabby Apple's commitment to helping women worldwide, a program that extends small loans to women in the lowest economic status group.  These small loans enable the women to become self-sufficient.  Each tag tells a woman's personal story, with details on how her loan enabled her to become successful.  How awesome is that?!?
You can read some of these stories by clicking the 'helping women' link above.

Let me tell you a little more about Shabby Apple.  Shabby Apple is an online boutique that sells dresses; all types of dresses for all types of women.  They also sell accessories and other women's apparel items.  However, dresses are what they do best.

The dress I received was beautiful.  The fabric is a soft stretch polyester/rayon blended with spandex.  It is silky and flowing.  The empire bodice has nice detail with pintucks and a fabric flower at the neck.  It fits my girl nicely and the skirt has swing.  She had only two complaints:  1. The longish sleeves are just too warm for this muggy Memphis summer.  2.  The fabric is a little thin for her taste.  However, it looks positively adorable with black leggings and ballet flats!  (One problem solved....can't do much about the heat, unfortunately!) 

I wish I had a photo.  Truth be told, I've been holding off on this post so I could add a photo of my girl in this dress with the leggings and ballet flats.  It is so cute! But, my mother-in-law was ill and hospitalized for a short while, directly followed by my mother's surprise heart trouble and triple bypass.  For those of you wondering, she is making good progress, but still has a way to go.  Prayers greatly appreciated!

(Never a dull moment!)

Even though the weather remains crazy hot, this dress is in my girl's regular rotation.  She's worn it several times and it looks just as great now, after several washings. Even the fabric flower.  She's looking forward to cooler weather (aren't we all??) so she can wear it more often. 

She's also made a wish list from the Shabby Apple website. 

Yikes!  I've created a monster!


*Thanks to www.shabbyapple.com for supplying information about their company, as well as a dress from their inventory.  I have not been compensated for this review post in any way, other than receiving the dress for review.  This review is my own opinion and  was not influenced by receipt of product.  To see full disclosure details, click the link in the upper right corner of my blog.