they say that dressing up is harrrd to do....... oh thats not how the song goes?

I love dressing up, even if its just to gallivant around my house while I pretend to go somewhere fancy. I know I'm a sad little girl... but in any case where did the term "dressed to the nines" come from and why does it mean to be super fancy.
I hate these because as it turns out slang is one of the hardest things to pin down. Lame.

One of the theories is that tailors would use 9 yards of fabric to make super awesome suits, so if you were dressed to the nines it meant you had an expensive suit, meaning you were super mega fancies...oOoooOOo... neat

yet another theory marks the saying as only "to the nines" meaning something awesome, think of it as the "cool" of the 1700's. which is when it was first recorded in writing.

so not to clear but I did learn one thing, old timey slang is pretty awesome.