OPML Contest -- Third Dress is Victorian Rose

Here's dress number three.  The fabric is a polyester onion skin from Fabric.com.  I've never sewn (or worn, for that matter) onion skin before -- one of the reasons I bought it was that I wanted to try sewing a fabric that I've heard so many people  talking about. 

I don't like polyester in general.  I don't really like the way it feels against my skin, and it usually makes me feel pretty hot.  But I thought I'd give it a try anyway.  I can definitely understand why people like it, and if I traveled more, I would be more fond of it.  You can fold it up tiny, it doesn't wrinkle very much, and I bet it would dry lightning fast after washing it in the hotel bathroom.

The fabric is a dream to sew, no doubt about it.  It wasn't that fun to cut out, though.  My rotary cutter went through cotton jersey like a hot knife through butter, but when it came to this stuff, there were always threads that somehow didn't get cut.  Trying. Very trying.  I almost lost my temper a few times.

When all's said and done, I got the dress cut and assembled and it only took around a hour.  Truth is, though,  I'm not sure about it.  I like the color--though pink is really not a color that I like very much on myself.  I really like the print, but I think it would suit me more if it was a darker or duskier pink.  And I like the concept of lace sleeves, but I'm not sure that the ivory lace is quite appropriate, even though it goes beautifully with the print.  What I'm really not sure about is that the look isn't just a little too "young" for me.

Let me say here that I've never liked the concept of "dress your age."  What is that supposed to mean?  What does "dressing like 40" look like?  And who gets to decide?  And why?

On the other hand, I don't want to dress like I've just raided my 20 year old daughter's closet.  Because I am old enough to have one (my oldest is a son and he's 22).  And let's face it.  There are some clothes that look fabulous on a twenty something that look downright ridiculous on a forty something.

So this dress is by no means a failure -- I like it too much for that.  I'm just not sure it's for me.  I'll ask you all what you think once I've had a chance to try it on.  I need to make a white slip before I can do that, since the fabric is pretty sheer.  It's not obvious in this picture, but you can pretty much see clear through this baby.