On the Hunt for my Beast: Yellow Belle Dress

Tale as old as time… True as it can be. On the hunt for my Beast in a Golden Dress made of pure silk. I thought I’d embody Belle in her iconic yellow ball gown. Like many young girls who grew up watching Disney movies, I have always wanted a golden yellow dress after watching Beauty and The Beast.

There’s something so regal about a royal yellow dress, don’t you agree?

When I’d made plans to visit California’s Bay Area last month for mid-July, I knew I wanted to visit San Francisco City Hall. Not because I was getting married or anything official like that, but as a content creator, I needn’t an occasion for a photoshoot!

The reason why I wanted to visit City Hall was to admire its classical interiors and take photos there as well, of course. After all, if I can’t have a European Summer 2022, why not bring a European-inspired summer to the States?

Inside City Hall is indeed grand. Not as lavish as the baroque-lacquered halls of Versailles, but I think the more minimal colors of SF City Hall with golden brass embellishments make way for a more dramatic colored dress without having the dress & background feel crowded when creating photos.

So when I decided I had to visit San Francisco City Hall for a photoshoot, the next step, and this is perhaps the most crucial, was to decide what I would wear. The first obvious thing was I had to wear a dress. No pants allowed on regal staircases!

After gathering inspiration from Pinterest and Instagram, I initially wanted to wear a white silk dress. After all, SF City Hall is a popular spot for wedding photos, and indeed when I was there for my photoshoot, there were several wedding photoshoots going on around me. But after looking at the unedited photos of the interiors of City Hall, I honestly felt like white is not the best color for the setting. The interiors of City Hall is more beige and more dark than what’s seen in the overexposed City Hall wedding photoshoots on Pinterest.

So how I decided on this regal yellow dress is: a few weeks before my SF trip, I was doing some online shopping during the end-of-season sales, and I’d stumbled upon this gorgeous yellow silk dress by the brand Cinq-a-Sept. This post is not sponsored (although the brand did see and reposted my contents on Instagram), but I thought I’d share for those interested — the link to the dress is at the bottom of this post.

When I made the purchase online, I couldn’t wait for it to arrive at my front door. When it finally did, it was practically love at first sight. The dress fit so comfortably and moved so gorgeously. I was so excited to take this dress from Houston, Texas to San Francisco, California, with me for my City Hall photoshoot.