Since it’s Fashion Week, I have a confession to make: I’m kind of a dressaholic.

Yes, pants were supposed to free us ladies from some of the downsides of having to wear a dress all the time. And I admit, there are many, many occasions when pants are great: When it’s 10 degrees outside, when I’m riding a bike, or if I were to say, ride a horse, which hasn’t actually happened in a good twenty years or so. But dresses have their pluses too - they are, as I like to repeat often, an entire outfit unto themselves. This eliminates the need to ponder the eternal question “Does this top look ok with these pants/this skirt?” Also, let’s face it, finding a pair of pants that fit really well can be rather difficult for a woman - a pair of pants that fit in the waist, hip, and seat area without being too baggy in one place while too tight in another. Yes, I know, tailors can help. But so can finding a really well fitting, flattering dress! Wide hips? A-line dress. Problem solved, tailoring bills reduced.

I have a ton of dresses, from casual to fancy, from cotton to wool to silk. In my younger (also thinner and poorer) years, I used to rock the thrift store dresses. One of my all-time favorites was one I got when I was in my first year of college - it was red velvet mini dress with an empire waist. I think I wore that thing to shreds. During my senior year of college, I acquired a polyester, off-the-shoulder mini dress with a mod print all over. Just after graduating from college, I went through quite the vintage slip-dress phase. In recent years, though, I have started to lust after designer dresses, too, in addition to my stash of quotidian dresses from places like the Gap/Old Navy/Banana Republic. I had wanted, for example, a Diane von Furstenberg dress for years, preferably one of her iconic wrap dresses (I was just explaining to a male friend recently why I was excited to spot Diane von Furstenburg recently, who she was, and what a wrap dress was). Then I happened to stumble upon a DVF sample sale, and voila. I managed to get a lovely wrap dress for something like 90% off. I acquired a Twinkle by Wenlan dress on sale at Lord and Taylor, and a Marc by Marc Jacobs silk dress from an online sale.  Some of my friends who have seen my closet think I have a ridiculously high number of dresses (I even offer to lend them out to people who suddenly need something to wear to a black tie event, a wedding, or heck, even a brunch); while others actively enable my dress habit, taking me to new stores and encouraging me to buy yet another dress.

Just recently, I was lusting after a dress (by Christopher Deane) that I had seen in a boutique in Brooklyn. I had tried it on, and loved it. My dress-enabling friend who saw me try it on agreed it was perfect for me. It was a bit out of my price range, though. I decided not to buy it. And then I kept thinking about it. I went and visited it - several times. Finally, it was on sale. I still hesitated. Then, after I found out that I had gotten a new job, I went back and visited the store one more time. There was only one dress left, and it was in my size. The lady in the store - who I later found out was the store’s owner - told me, “It’s on sale.”
    
“I know,” I told her. “I’ve been visiting it for weeks, actually.” She asked me if I wanted to try it on. I told her I already had. I tried it on again. I think you can guess what happened next.

The sad part is, I am already lusting after another dress. It’s an asymmetrical silk print dress from Kenneth Cole. After all, with the exception of the recent Christopher Deane dress, nearly all my dresses are solids. And I don’t usually do asymmetrical, and it’s actually kind of flimsy for the colder months, which are rapidly approaching… and I don’t need another dress, and I don’t have a specific occasion in mind for it… but I don’t know… something about this dress is just calling to me… I’ve got it bookmarked and set on price alert already on Shopstyle.com so that the moment it goes on sale, I’ll know.

Tags: Totally random //