What better way to celebrate being thirty, flirty, and thriving than not one but TWO 13 Going on 30 inspired outfits?! Y’all know I love a good situational dressing moment, so I decided on the theme of “iconic y2k looks” for my birthday shindig over the weekend. I originally considered the legendary pink velvet dress from My Date with the President’s Daughter, but then this obvious idea came to me and I couldn’t say no!
[Before you continue, I would strongly advise playing our collaborative Spotify playlist while you read — you won’t regret it.]
Since my birthday happened to coincide with post-vaccination life for most of my friends and the lifting of the mask mandate, we decided to go big. This was the first time we had all been together since before the pandemic, so I wanted everyone to feel like it was their own birthday rager, too! Will organized a party bus to vineyards with our closest friends, starting with a quick mimosa/bloody at the pickup spot. Everyone crushed the theme with their ideas, including but not limited to: Regina George, Miranda from Lizzie McGuire, Ms. Frizzle, Brinker from Brink!, the SNL spartan cheerleaders, Mia Thermopolis, the infamous Britney “dump him” paparazzi shot, Johnny Drama, and more.
I had a hard time deciding between the outfit Jenna wakes up and goes to work in and the iconic party dress, so obviously my only option was to be extra and do both. I showed up to morning drinks in the first look, complete with the eye mask that I ended up hand painting 😅, then changed into the main outfit before we left. As much as I wanted to support the Etsy seller who custom makes the party dress, I simply couldn’t justify the price, so I miraculously found a friend on insta who happily agreed to let me borrow it. Thanks for making my birthday, Esperanza!
Once I started thinking about outfit ideas I physically could not stop, so if anyone uses this theme as inspo please consider: Elle Woods, Josie Grossie (specifically the white feathers), Carson Daly, Penny Lane, Doug Funnie & Patty Mayonnaise, Zoolander, Britney & Justin in all denim, Bring it On cheerleaders, Daria, literally any version of Lizzie McGuire (cartoon, picture day, Italian twin lolol), Johnny Tsunami, Paris & Nicole from The Simple Life, and Kim Possible, just to name a few.
Now onto the second look, which I never wanted to take off!
This party dress made all my wildest, 2000s-loving fantasies come true. Originally I was going to do my own spin on the look and kind of ~make it fashion,~ but then I figured why not go all out?! So I did my best to get every detail right, down to the bouncy updo and a pack of Razzles 🙈 Listen guys, I haven’t dressed up properly in over a year — it had to be done!
I knew I would want to just relax and enjoy the day on Saturday, so I took the extra time (keyword: extra) to shoot both of these outfits beforehand. For the first one it was easy to get a NYC building vibe, but for the second one I needed a swanky bar look. I reached out to a few in the city since I’d be shooting without my mask, and the only one to even give me the time of day was the lovely Bar Deco. They’re one of my favorites for brunch or an outdoor drink, and I actually celebrated my 26th birthday on their rooftop! Special shoutout to Chelsea for being so sweet and accommodating for what must have been the strangest request of all time, hahaha.
I dropped in a few highlights from the actual celebrations below, and also make sure to follow along on my insta today for more photos & videos! If you’re looking for outfit links, scroll to the bottom of the post.
Party Deets
If you’re here for the details, I got you sis. Starting with the cutest Paperless Post invite that coincidentally honors my birthday twin Audrey (my literal claim to fame), which you’re welcome to use for inspiration! This email invitation included the theme description and itinerary for the day, and looked chic while doing it.
We went out to two Virginia vineyards, Breaux and 868 Estate, and really loved them both. Will contacted basically all of the main wineries to reserve a spot, and some of the more popular ones like Stone Tower/Bull Run turned down the party size right away (and were apparently pretty rude about it). But holy moly, did that work out for the best! Breaux had absolutely stunning views and the winery looked straight out of the South of France, and 868 Estate had games, live music from a former contestant of The Voice (!?), and good vibes all around. Both were so sweet and easy to work with, too — couldn’t recommend enough!
For the party bus, we used Party Bus R Us which had some pros and cons. They were accommodating, the bus was by far the most affordable in the area, everything was clean, and we loved our driver. However, the bus did briefly pull over a few times on the way (I want to say at least 3x 😬) due to some mysterious technical issues, which was a tad disconcerting and could have been bad lmao. Also we had specifically requested a bus with a pole, not to practice our best J. Lo in Hustlers impression, but more as a subway support situation when we had to move around. The owner called Will *the night before* and gave him a heads up that the pole isn’t very sturdy, but assured us that it would be fine if used to get around and not aggressively swung on. Girl, I could have tipped that janky DIY install over with my pinkie. We took it down immediately to prevent any injuries, and of course several of us ended up falling multiple times throughout the day (even while sober!). You should see my bruises, y’all 💀 So overall a decent experience with the company, but I was not here for that sketchy way of notifying us 12 hours before about something we said was a must-have. And yes, it would have been nice to see Bill Murray in Space Jam pole dance, gosh dangit!!!
Outfit Links
If you’d like to shop the pieces from my 13 Going on 30 inspired outfits, I linked everything below! The items from Amazon are all compiled in one place on my storefront, and then the whole shebang is linked on my LTK.
Look #1: Slip Dress: Amazon | Trench: J. Crew | Shoes: old Zara (similar here and here) | Mask: DIY (can purchase here)
Look #2: Dress: Etsy | Shoes: Amazon | Bag: Asos | Necklace: Amazon | Earrings: old Moon & Lola (similar here) | Bracelets: Amazon (here and here) | Cocktail Rings: Amazon | Bun Scrunchie: Amazon | Hair Jewels: Amazon | Butterfly Clips: Amazon | Lipstick: NYX ‘Shocking Pink’ | Eye Glitter: e.l.f. ‘Flirty Birdy’ (great dupe for Stila!) | Razzles (lol): Amazon
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Thank you to my angel husband and wonderful friends & fam for throwing me the party of my y2k (and forever) dreams, and just helping me celebrate this milestone. Y’all sure do know how to make a gal feel loved! And I really appreciate the birthday wishes from you guys as well — I’m not sure how I got so lucky to have all of you in my life 🥺💘 Cheers to a fabulous new decade!
xoxo,
Chloe Gallop
Big Time Magazine Editor
