Operation Fashionista - Awards Banquet

I have an awards banquet to go to this week and in true Sara fashion I have left all the prep to the last possible second. I was thinking about wearing one of my little black dresses I have stashed in the closet and was perfectly happy to do so. I actually was planning on risking it and wearing it with some pink high heels I had purchased a few months ago for a trip to Las Vegas, bought but never wore :-(

That's also classic Sara, buying something and never actually wearing it out.  One of the books in my inventory really stresses this point.. "never buy anything if you can't think of 3 different ways to wear it with things you already own!" exceptions of course are formal wear and occasion pieces (i.e. beachwear, outerwear etc).

So back to the pink heels. I was out with my friend Alex, talking with her about this party and she made the suggestion of wearing a skirt and white button up with those shoes. I had just bought a blue bubble skirt from j.crew and never EVER in a million years would have thought of paring dark navy with hot pink, but DAMN it looked good! Apparently in fashion speak this is called color blocking

 "Color blocking is a styling technique that hasn’t quite been picked up by the masses. It involves some knowledge of the color wheel and a bit of bravery. The main idea is combining different colors that support and compliment each other."

 So I was ready to try my first foray into color blocking, with my navy skirt and my bright pink heels...

Unfortunately as nice looking as it was it wasn't quite as formal as I wanted for the party. 

When I was out with Alex on Friday we were in Banana Republic browsing and I saw a really beautiful navy cocktail dress on the rack. I left without trying it on but I just couldn't get it out of my head. The next day I went back there and tried it on....the rest is history. I also found some bright pink bangles to accent my shoes and I had a silver clutch which will work too (I think)

Operation Fashionista - Beginning Color Blocking

That is my actual dress and actual shoes...aren't they fabulous!

Here I am with the dress on, 

**please forgive the messy hair as well as the mess behind me**

**also forgive the tan line please k thx**

What do you guys think?

It's pretty far from my comfort zone of the little black dress but I think I look pretty good!!