I know I’m an American because it’s still Christmas and I’m already preparing for the next big celebration — New Year’s! We don’t really get all decked out for New Year’s Eve here in Hawaii, but back on the East Coast we do, so I’m showing you what I would wear…it’s this Nicole Miller Diosa Luna Gown, which is just so elegant. If I wore this dress I’d probably be more encouraged to party hard until midnight, just to get as much mileage out of it as I could.

Time to fall in love with yet another Etsy designer! Kimmi doesn’t have any actual information about herself up on her site, but it appears as though she has had a few pieces in a fashion show recently by photos of two other items on her Etsy page. This “sack dress” is so chic with the thick straps and gathering along the neckline. I’m totally not a rocker like this chica, but I think that everyone could feel a little bit more hard core with this dress on.

Ooh, and you could wear it with these to boot! (Oh, I’m so punny…)

Last month Real Simple magazine featured a bunch of different black party dresses, and to my surprise there was only one that I really liked. An even bigger surprise was that it’s from Isaac Mizrahi’s line at Target! The clean lines and simple shape are oh-so-Audrey Hepburn, and the back is a sexy little surprise.

Of course, even if you have the longest, shapeliest legs in the world, you’re probably not going to want to wear a heel with an ankle strap with that dress. I’d go, instead, for these pumps by Guess called Kyoko. I am so in love with the heart and circle cutouts (sweet) paired with the sexy heel (hot!).

I’m guilty of posting all these expensive frocks, so I’ve delved into my favorite of favorite inexpensive treasures — Forever 21 — to find this fabulous retro-inspired dress. While I’m not usually crazy about sequins, I love the classic shape of this dress, and I think it looks fabulously festive, don’t you? With all these Christmas parties, intermixing a few $35 dresses isn’t a bad idea…particularly if they’re this chic.

 Ladylike shoes for a ladylike dress, these Steve Madden pumps are the perfect compliment to this dress. They’d also look great with jeans and pretty much anything.

(Steve Madden Premiere, on sale for $56)

Party dresses everywhere! I’m feeling celebratory and festive, in a way that makes me want to wear party dresses to my last week and a half of classes (for some reason, the thought of this makes the idea of sitting in class more tolerable…). I’m also thinking about what to wear for New Year’s Eve, and whilst thinking about this I stumbled on this little polka dot Betsey Johnson number. I love that it bells out, which is perfect for spinning — and for eating lots and lots of mini quiche. Does reasoning get any better than that?

With all that black, I think this needs a little pop of color. I like the juicy orangey red of these flats, which remind me of sunrise papaya.

 And these lemon quartz triple teardrop earrings from Banana Republic would make the spinning that much more dizzying (and awesome!).