In Woolf’s 1924 short story ‘‘The New Dress,’’ Mabel Waring arrives at Clarissa Dalloway’s party and is immediately overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. These negative emotions are triggered by her worry that her new dress is inappropriate for the event. After greeting her hostess, she rushes to a mirror at the far end of the room to examine herself, only to feel miserable, convinced that ‘‘It was not right.’’ She imagines the other guests thinking to themselves, ‘‘What a fright she looks! What a hideous new dress!’’ She starts to criticize herself for trying to appear ‘‘original’’ since she couldn’t afford a dress in the latest fashion and had a yellow silk dress made from an outdated pattern. Her self-criticism borders on self-torture as she obsesses over her perceived foolishness ‘‘which deserved to be chastised.’’ She views the new dress as a ‘‘horror . . . idiotically old-fashioned.’’ When the stylishly dressed Rose Shaw tells her the dress is ‘‘perfectly charming,’’ Mabel is convinced she is being mocked.

She searches for a way ‘‘to annul this pain, to make this agony endurable.’’ The intense language and Mabel's evident torment might suggest to the reader that she is not entirely mentally or emotionally stable. However, it could also highlight the discomfort that shy or socially unskilled individuals may feel in social situations.

Mabel attempts to see the partygoers as ‘‘flies, trying to crawl over the edge of the saucer,’’ all looking the same and sharing the same goals. However, she fails to view them this way. She tells another guest that she feels like ‘‘some dowdy, decrepit, horribly dingy old fly,’’ and is then mortified to realize that he must have interpreted her remark as a ploy for the insincere compliment he quickly gives her.

Mabel recalls how happy and comfortable she felt at the dressmaker’s, as Miss Milan pinned her hem, asked her about the length, and tended to her pet canary. This comforting memory quickly fades as she is thrust back into the present, ‘‘suffering tortures, woken wide awake to reality.’’ She scolds herself for caring about others’ opinions, but then drifts into thoughts about her own ‘‘odious, weak, vacillating character.’’

Mabel reflects on her ordinary family background and upbringing. She reminisces about her dreams of romance in distant lands and contrasts them with the reality of her marriage to a man with ‘‘a safe, permanent underling’s job.’’ She recalls isolated moments in her life—described as ‘‘delicious’’ and ‘‘divine’’—when she feels truly happy and fulfilled, feeling connected with the earth and everything in it, ‘‘on the crest of a wave.’’ She worries that these moments might come less frequently in the future and resolves to seek personal transformation through ‘‘some wonderful, helpful, astonishing book’’ or an inspiring public speaker. Rising to leave the party, she assures Mrs. Dalloway that she has enjoyed herself.