Our daily TPS reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
Ooooo — check out the detail on this wool dress. The lined top, the zigzagged bottom, the horizontal detailing on the skirt’s hem and at the scoopneck — fabulous. We’re intrigued that the zigzags start just below the waist — it almost seems like a drop-waist effect, but then the skirt is straight. We love it. We’d wear it with a long, thin-knitted boyfriend cardigan, and a long, simple gold chain or two. (As a side note, we’re also curious whether one could wear the matching waterfall cardigan with it, or whether that would be entirely too much (blue, if nothing else).) The dress is $545 at Neiman Marcus, and still available in sizes 2, 4, 8, 12, and 14. M Missoni – Zigzag Pointelle Dress
If you’ve recently seen a great work piece you’d like to recommend to the readers, please e-mail editor@corporette.com with “TPS” in the subject line. Unless you ask otherwise, we’ll refer to you by your first initial.
(L-0)
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
I really want to like this dress. Great color. Having said that, I think it is inappropriate for work for most offices. Neckline is super low, looks pretty clingy, and if you zoom in on the front right thigh just above the hem, you can clearly see the model’s skin through the dress. Can’t really solve that problem with a slip that matches your skintone because people will not know it is a slip and the dress will still look see-through, and I’m guessing a blue slip that matches would be difficult to find.
But on a warm saturday with cute sandals and a cardigan (provided I could solve the see-through problem first)? Absolutely.
I can’t tell for sure, but it looks like just the very bottom of the skirt is sheer. The top portion of the skirt looks lined. I’d still want to try on to see where the sheer portion falls, though — it may well be too high up on the leg to be appropriate. If so, I’d wear it with a black slip, black cardigan, and black shoes.
I also wouldn’t call the neckline “super low”.
If I had $550 to drop on a dress, I’d probably buy this one.
Yeah, I think the appropriateness of the neckline entirely depends on how busy you are. It wouldn’t work for me (I have to wear a cami under basically everything) but I think it would for a lot of women.
Original anonymous poster here. I’m far from busty, but I still think this neckline is too low for work. With a neckline like this, if I turn sideways, you can still see a slight hint of cleavage.
I definitely think a woman should be feminine at work (if she wants to be – every woman needs to be true to her own style). There is no need to play down femininity to be successful, taken seriously, etc. At the same time, I don’t want to see any part of anyone’s b**bs at work, even just barely, and I don’t want anyone to see mine, either.
I love this dress! but I agree – not for work. the sheer skirt makes it off limits. and I do worry it could be overly clingy in places I don’t want it to be…
hah, that should be “how *busty* you are,” of course.
or, how “busy” you are – as in, are you getting ready for a deposition and therefore are bending over all the time to pick up files and/or too “busy” to constantly be watching to ensure you’re not showing anything?!! :)
ha! I thought busy actually made some sense.
Like it, but it looks too short (may be just the model though).
I love the color of this dress, but I wouldn’t wear it to work — too short and neckline too low. I wore a dress with a similar neckline the other day and I felt that everyone was staring at my cleavage area, even though I wasn’t showing any cleavage at all!
Has anyone used this website called MyShape? You input a LOT of information about your measurements and then the site chooses clothing for you based on your figure. Sounds neat, but I got too lazy with filling out all of my measurements and gave up. Curious if anyone has had good luck with it.
http://www.myshape.com/shop/register
I’ve used it, and I’ve also stopped using it. I do have a friend that uses the site, and she loves it! But it suggests sizes for that are 2-3 sizes bigger than I actually wear, so I stopped using it! When every suggestion they give you doesn’t come in your actual size… what’s the point?
*for me
I don’t particularly care for this dress. *NON SEQUITUR ALERT* Did any one see Oprah’s special on Christmas at the White House last night? If so, any clues as to where President Obama bought that beautiful necklace for the First Lady? Or where one could obtain a knock-off?
No idea, but someone at Mrs. O might know. :-)
I continue to think that the dresses that Corporette shows are great for going out to dinner and social occasions, but it perplexes me to think that someone would wear them in an office setting. I love Missoni and think this is beautiful, but this is a social occasion dress as far as I am concerned.
Beautiful dress, but not for work. I actually tried on a knockoff the other day hoping that I might be able to wear it on a date and then use it for casual days at the office. Thought it was too little girl for both uses, as well as too clingy for the office (and I don’t consider myself to be a very conservative dresser at work). I’m sure that Missoni would be less little girl, but the clinginess is still an issue.
Love the dress and, unlike the rest of the readers, winter makes me want to buy summer clothes!! Where did you find the knockoff?
I am wearing a shirt I got from My Shape today. It said to buy a L and I was afraid because usually I am M, but it does look good. It was on super sale so I wasnt too afraid about it. I also bought a cardigan there and if it looks good too I might try a dress. But my initial reaction is positive.
I think I really like the dress. However, I won’t spend that much for a dress. And, it’s exactly 7 degrees outside at noon. I’m not interested in purchasing anything right now that doesn’t match black or brown boots and come with long sleeves (preferably in the turtleneck version). LOL
But back to the dress…a knock off with the zig zag stitching would be awesome.
Low necklines and shortish hemlines look good in the office on a very hot summer day – and maybe look good in Miami in the winter, I don’t know. I think these things do not look appropriate in Chicago, Boston, NYC or Wilmington, Delaware in the winter, but only because they look silly or uncomforable due to the weather. The warmest city where I have ever held a law job was Las Vegas. This dress would not go over well in a Las Vegas law office at any time of the year. The emphasis there would be on simple sporty looking classics in natural fabrics, i.e., the “expensive” look.
i like the dress. Perhaps in black would be better for work?
Here are some other looks for workplace:
http://what2wearwhere.com/ListItems.aspx?pt=Event&q=15
some very nice pieces here. particularly like that theory suit. though very staid overall–i need some color!
I love the dress, and I can totally see it working in a business casual environment – assuming that you have the figure for it. If I wasn’t up the duff I would put this on my wish list. :)
I scanned this and didn’t see anything special enough to merit the price tag, then I went back and saw MISSONI. Ahh. A luxury “prestige label.” Maybe it’s the recession, but I’ve developed a much more discerning eye for quality, cut,tailoring, fabric. I actually go try on Chanel, Armani, and Versace every now and then just to see what the hullabaloo is all about. And then I go and look for similar quality elsewhere. All in all, I can find this type of dress (natural fabrics, etc) all day long at Loehmann’s for $100. Times are too tough for me (and perhaps lots of other people) to subsidize those luxury labels anymore… So not cool anymore.
In the knock-off Missoni category, I recently got this dress from Target:
http://www.target.com/Mossimo-Black-Sweater-Dress-Vineyard/dp/B002GISUEW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&searchView=grid5&frombrowse=0&node=1041790&keywords=mossimo%20sweater%20dress&field_browse=1041790&searchSize=30&id=Mossimo%20Black%20Sweater%20Dress%20Vineyard&field_availability=-2&refinementHistory=subjectbin%2Ctarget_com_age%2Ctarget_com_gender-bin%2Ctarget_com_character-bin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_primary_color-bin%2Ctarget_com_size-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin&searchNodeID=1041790&field_launch-date=-1y&searchRank=target104545&searchPage=1&field_keywords=mossimo%20sweater%20dress
While obviously not nearly the quality of the real thing, it is a fun dress that works in less conservative offices. The purple is actually more subdued than in the picture. I ditched the knit belt and added a wide patent leather one — much better. I wear with black boots and a black cardigan.
I’m 5′5″ and it hits at the knee on me. Note that you need to wear black tights or a slip with this, since the pointelle weave pattern is slightly see-through. There is also a black and white version, but I wasn’t a fan.
I like it!
I like it too, but not sure it’s for me as the wide stripe seems to make the model in the picture look wider?
CUTENESS! And not acrylic… yaya!
Cute. Very cute.