Rainy Day DQ Fashion Show With Stephanie

via GIPHY

I got the chance to scoot down to Dressage at Devon for a few hours last Thursday morning to do some advertising for work, and was very fortunate to be able to hang out with Stephanie from Hand Gallop at her shop! I wish we had taken pictures, but I'm pretty sure the only one that exists is of my butt because I had on some breeches with cute rainbow dots on the back...

Stephanie is absolutely FABULOUS, fun, easy to talk to, and was just a total ray of sunshine on a very dreary day! If she is ever working at a show in your area, GO MEET HER. You won't regret it! I may or may not be scheming to go visit Oklahoma so that we can get into trouble on a trail ride...

Let me also tell you about Stephanie's very gifted employer at The Horse of Course. Because this woman is blessed with a supernatural talent.

Clothes shopping, even for riding clothes, is not exactly my favorite activity. No matter what your body type, it's hard to find things that fit just right, which is why I own five pairs of Ariat Olympia breeches. They fit, and I like them, and that means when I need new pants I don't have to try on a million things to find breeches that work for me. Clothes shopping is frustrating. And annoying.

But Stephanie's shop carries all sorts of very unique, very outside-my-budget brands that I'd never even tried on before, and I agreed to have some fun putting on a bunch of different breeches and coats. The first two pairs of pants I tried, while I really liked them and wanted them to work, were just all the wrong shape. After hemming and hawing over what to try next, Stephanie brought me over to chat with her boss.

She took ONE LOOK at my body, declared I was a 26, not a 28 (how flattering!) and rattled off a list of brands and styles for me to try on.

Every. Single. Thing. I put on fit like a glove. It was one of the most amazing shopping experiences I've ever had, and I was having so much fun trying on all the fancy pants! I just can't stop thinking about the pair of bright magenta Pikeurs with a charcoal grey full seat, or the incredible white EuroStar breeches with the most wonderful fabric I've ever felt in my life. I didn't want to take them off. WHITES. I WANTED TO WEAR WHITES ALL DAY. It was ground-breaking moment.

Since I was wearing whites already, we obviously had to try on show coats, too.

Again, Stephanie's boss sized me up with just one look and brought out four STUNNING coats. I am not a softshell fan ordinarily, but once you get up over the $300 price point, MAN are those jackets gorgeous! My two favorites were, I think, the Pikeur brand (just like those pink pants!). One was navy with a grey suede collar and piping at the cuffs, and the other was a super-sharp jacket in navy with a satin trim on the collar and shiny crystal buttons. The coats fit perfectly, of course, and I had a hard time keeping my wallet in my purse! Perhaps I'll buy myself some fancy clothes from HOC for Christmas!

The moral of the story is, I need Stephanie's boss to become my personal shopper, and I also need to become fabulously wealthy so I can afford all of these lovely things. And also, go shopping with Stephanie. She is so much fun! I just love how blogging has led me to meet so many wonderful, like-minded people!