It’s hard to believe May Day is in a week! May Day is absolutely my favorite holiday, it’s just a wonderful day to sit in the sun. In case anyone is still seeking a dress, here’s a little shopping guide of strategies for dress-finding, especially if tried-and-true methods like the King of Prussia Mall or Suburban Square haven’t been fruitful or aren’t appealing:
(disclaimer: I wear dresses pretty much all the time so I don’t know how well I can speak to other festive May Day options)
Option 1: look online!
Here are some good options, which represent a pretty affordable price range (I’ll go approximately low to high): Rainbow, Forever 21, asos, Ruche, LuLu’s, Modcloth, and Shabby Apple all have dresses I really like. I also have a Pinterest board for May Day dresses, which is kind of embarrassing but potentially helpful.
Option 2: thrift stores!
Thrift stores are my favorite and probably source 70% of my wardrobe. My favorites around here are the Bryn Mawr Hospital Thrift Shop, which is right across the street from Wawa and is seriously a great place. Philly AIDS Thrift is also great if you’re in the city. You can also find great vintage stuff on Etsy if you look around!
thrifted dress. photo by allie levitan.
Option 3: sharing is caring!
I think this is a very underutilized option. Hopefully y’all are already keeping tabs on your local free boxes, but the thing about Bryn Mawr is that so many people around you get a new white dress every year. There is a real surplus of May Day dresses that I believe is untapped. Check in with your friends to see if someone has a dress they could lend you or perhaps one they don’t want anymore. If you don’t want to be someone else’s twin, you can modify a dress in fun ways. A dear friend passed on a lovely strapless white eyelet sundress to me and there just wasn’t enough going on for my taste, so I recruited a pal from the Art Club to help me give it a little ombre flavor. It was a lot of fun
dress from audrey. photo by prianna pathak.
May Day can feel like prom with all the dress panic, but no matter what, you’ll have so much fun/cry forever at the step sing!
Any shopping sources I missed?
I often do outfit recycling and that may be what I’ll do for this year’s May Day depending on a few factors. It’s a great way to save some cash as well as be creative. If I do buy dresses, Amazon and Kohl’s haven’t failed me so far. Amazon’s great if you have Prime/Student because it has free 2-day shipping. Kohl’s is also great for in-person or online shopping (at least in my experience). I also like TJ Maxx, Rainbow, Wet Seal, Nectar and a couple of cosplay sites (I can’t recall the names at the top of my head).
For folks who don’t wear (or like wearing) dresses, white basketball shorts are pretty easy to find at places like target, and paired with a white button down (or, like, a v neck from those packs of five), totally works. And has pockets!