Safe or Smokin': Spring dresses

The stirring of dress desire is a sure harbinger of spring. Even women like me (for whom finding a ready-to-wear frock that fits is difficult), long for one once winter retreats. Now is the time to look, with new dresses arriving in stores and online by the day.

Talbots ponte

A safe dress is in the eye of the beholder, but I'll apply the standard I use for corporate attire: it stays put and offends no one. This Talbots ponte knit dress, $125, would qualify, and might serve well worn with accessories. Probably in a year or so, a few pulls in the rayon/nylon/spandex would relegate it to the recycle bin.

Milly ponte

Milly's Jenny ponte dress: loads more wit in its knit; $365 from Nordstrom.

We all need the safe dress, but also one that makes you sigh with pleasure every time you wear it. I had a black cotton full-skirted shirtdress with leaf-green piping. Cost the earth even on sale– and so what? I wore it for at least six years.

A smokin' dress fits your body and your soul. Here are some I'd choose, from expensive to less so. Make a least one of your dresses a goddess of the closet, presiding with grace and generosity.

Smokin' strategy #1: A striking print or pattern

Marina print

Akris Marina Grande-Print dress: this seaside print on Swiss cotton provides novel charm. The price, $2,990 is about the cost of actually going there, so I'm showing it for edification. You can buy it at Saks.

DVF silk jersey print

Diane von Furstenberg's Alexy silk jersey dress, with the same print in two colourways. I don't see only a thin woman wearing this, either, as the pattern keeps the eye moving. A modern, fresh dress and silk jersey travels wonderfully. Price, $325, also at Sak's.

Patterned shirt dress

Must show this Etro shirt dress even though s/o in larger sizes at mytheresa. But if you are choosing pattern, this is an object lesson in colour design. Price, $890; washable.

Smokin' strategy #2: A neutral lifted by interesting detail

Navy knit

Catherine Malandrino's navy deep-v pointelle dress is discreet and alluring at once, a hard-to-find effect. It's lined to the lower thigh, and stretchy enough to fit closely but not cling. (If a knit is well-designed, one does not have to be superslim to wear it.) Price, $495 from Saks.

Faux wrap dress

Ann Demeulemeester's faux-wrap black cotton knit dress is unadorned, yet lightyears away from a stiff, safe sheath. Price, $259; from Barney's. Whew, I heart this dress!

Ecru jersey

In the pales, here's a See by Chloé ecru jersey dress with contrast details, boat neck and button shoulders, very Geoffrey Beene. Price, $396 from myteresa.

Smokin' strategy #3: Gorgeous fabric

The dress that shines by way of its fabric, perhaps "prettier" than you're used to wearing, but you'll get compliments every time.

Panne velvet from Peggy Lutz

Peggy Lutz' Cocktail Slip Dress in antique paisley panne velvet is a gorgeous dress for a wedding (perhaps with a pashmina), the opera or even the market if you are in a cheeky treat-yourself mood. In size XXS (12-14) to 5X; price, $480.

Cotton-silk floral

Anna Sui's floral-print cotton and silk-blend dress has a crepe-trimmed neck and hem. Channels the '70s but would never be mistaken for a dress you didn't throw out. I see it on a mother of the bride at a garden wedding, but it could just as well be worn for lunch on a patio. Price, $650 from Net-a-porter.

Luxe lace for day

Stella McCartney knows how to dress grown women, period. Fawn cotton lace, rounded neckline, slightly flared cut. Expensive, yes–but you don't find exquisite lace on the cheap. Lace Dress, $1,227 at myteresa.




You may not suit these exact choices (or they may be sold out, an annoying fact of life); I chose them to illustrate the smokin' dress principles.


Finding the perfect dress is somehow more challenging than finding good jeans or a just-right tee, and in its own category of triumph. I wish us luck.