Shopping, specifically regarding formal dress.

First of all, let's make it clear that I don't really enjoy shopping for clothing. Pants are the bane of my existence. I came into a situation that required me to wear a formal gown - Something I was not prepared for. I set aside a day to accomplish the task, and set the searching to begin early in the morning (reasonably for a Saturday). The search began at 10:45am. We went home at 5pm, empty handed. I sent out a plea for help, which brought few results, and none that were appropriate for the occasion. Monday I searched 4 more stores and added 3 hours to the 6 that were spent on Saturday. Again, I went home empty handed. Tuesday my search took me many miles away, driving efforts granted, you guessed it, unsuccessful. One more store to try...yeah right. I remembered a dress that I had tried on Saturday. Returning to that store I picked up the dress, tried it on, added a shrug and BINGO! 11 hours and at least 20 dresses later... What would have helped this process would have been to cut out all the: skirts that are meant to be worn as a dress, strapless, "where's the dress" on a hanger, that's a little see-through, would you like my first born child in exchange?, I'm not a mermaid thanks, dresses.