Splurge Monday’s TPS Report: Marchona Dress

48 Comments

1. I am not bold enough to pull this off, but I am sure it would look great on many.

2. I love it! One of the few splurge Mondays I would actually consider splurging on.

   1. My sentiments exactly! Most of the splurges are not only out of my price range, but not exactly my taste. But this is a must-have!

3. Love the color! However, I tried on a shirt with those type of sleeves and I looked like a linebacker, even though my arms are slim.

4. Off topic: anyone know where to get really simple t-strap black heels? I found some for $600 that I love, but I need some in the $50-100 range.

   1. DSW. I am quite sure they have some and well within your price range.

   2. Zappos for online shopping or Aldo for in-person. I have a pair of Aldo pumps that I bought 3 years ago and still wear, and constantly get compliments.

   3. Thanks! I’ll keep looking.

   4. Might sound a bit crazy, but I swear by Capezio character shoes – under $100, come in multiple widths, and incredibly comfortable.

5. I didn’t find the seam and pleating on the stomach interesting so much as ‘unfortunate’
   …if you’re going to style something to be funky, make it funky, but this just looks messy and tentative.

6. I love this dress. I bought the “black” (it’s actually gray, it just looks black in the pictures) a few weeks ago. I figured that it would go with more than the magenta would and I would get more wear out of it. It is very flattering and, I think, very versatile.

7. I would never wear this shade of pink to the office (even tho’ it is “my color”). In black, on the other hand, it would be too dressy and fancy for the office. To me, this is a beautiful dress (in black) which would be the dress for that mythical special occasion which never seems to occur.

   1. Oh? hmm…I’m wearing it today. Is it because it’s bright or because it’s pink? What other colors are no-nos?

      1. There is nothing wrong with this color for the office as a general matter. Just make sure it is a color that works with your coloring.

   2. Thank goodness I live in Texas where we aren’t afraid to wear a little color to the office!

   3. I’m wearing this color shirt, but I’ve paired it with a neutral colored skirt. I’m not sure if this color from head to toe in a dress form would work in my office either.

   4. Just to back up the controversial 75 here and second Me Too, I wouldn’t wear a dress in this color at the office either. Way too bright to wear that much of. A top in this color, sure, with neutral everything else. Or a bag, or shoes, maaaaaaaybe a skirt. In my biglaw, no one wears bright all-over color, except for one secretary. We’re not afraid to wear “a little” color, but this dress is just too much.

      1. My comment was really more of a throw-away reference to the fact that often color is a regional thing . . . Where I live, nobody thinks twice about wearing this much color unless you are in trial. In fact, a friend in my office has a suit in this color, and she practically has to fight-off the compliments whenever she wears it, so I assume what works here must not work everywhere based on the above responses.

         The dress alone would fly in my office, although I would feel more comfortable wearing it with a jacket over it. That having been said, I think the dress is lovely and it strikes me as more jewel-toned than overly bright. To each their own!

8. Yea for Aarti! Does anyone know where to get something similar to the dress she wore last night? Also, I wear a lot of belts to accentuate my waist and I am wondering if the belt and the shoes need to match? Or is it okay to do something like a red belt and black shoes? Thanks in advance.

   1. I’ve worn a red/ maroon belt with black shoes before – red belt and red shoes would be too matchy for me. That said, I normally wear my tan or brown belts with tan or brown shoes (though they’re not the exact same shades). I, too, wear a lot of belts to define my waist and they give my black dresses lots of mileage just by switching jewelry and accessories.

   2. Doh. I was saving that episode on my DVR.

      1. I’ve learned that if I want to watch a show on DVR after its original air date, and be surprised by the result, I need to avoid all media (tv, radio, internet, newspaper etc) until I watch it. Spoilers abound in the most unexpected places!

9. Wait… I was completely distracted and thrown at the insuation that a… visible zipper… on a dress… makes men think that you want them to… unzip you? At work?

   What?

   1. I was one of the people who’d previously commented on this and it wasn’t directed at zippers in normal zipper places (back of a dress, back of a skirt, etc). I have heard comments from more than one man, however, that a dress with a front zipper, shirt with same, etc., makes them think “unzip!”. Maybe they belong in caves, but since they are in offices, I figure it is worth mentioning.

      Not sure how a sleeve zip would play in!

      1. Good grief (at those kinds of men), see- this is where my sensibilities end and I put the burden on the man to not be a pervert in the office. Think about how unreasonable it is to put the burden on the woman here- assuming she is wearing an otherwise perfectly permissable item (ie, item is not overly clingy, does not gape, does not show cleavage or undergarments, covers up enough, etc.), a man still finds some way to sexualize that item, and yet, that is still the woman’s fault? How does that make fair sense?

         In my opinion, that is definitely *not at all* the fault of the woman, who took precautions to wear something perfectly acceptable with simply one unique detail. If that one thing puts a man over the top and sexualizes a woman to the point he’s distracted to the point of having his work impaired because he’s thinking about undressing her, sorry- that’s his problem, lest we all start wearing burqas to make sure men don’t find our ankles/wrists/noses/whatever other ‘seductive’ (and yet somehow inocuous) thing distractingly sexualized.

         By the way, my indignation is certainly not addressed at you- just at the (sad) state of affairs that we as women are made to feel responsible for issues that men should be decent and responsible enough to control and figure out themselves.

         1. There are a lot of things that we avoid wearing because they are inappropriate in the office – tops with very low necklines, bare midriffs, halter tops, etc., because others in the office will be distracted by our sexuality.

            Exposed zippers, especially big, silver ones, fall squarely on that list for me.

            1. I see a huge, astronomical difference between low necklines/bare midriffs,/halters (usually come with exposed shoulders and low backs) and zippers. Showing skin has obvious sexual connotation, seeing a zipper as being a sexual invitation requires the viewer to use so much of their imagination to manipulate that viewpoint that I fully agree with Frump: that’s their problem. I don’t have any clothing with exposed zippers – just not my taste – but I don’t see that look as in any way being sexual or inappropriate.

            2. I’m distracted by a man with cute tuccus if he wears form-fitting pants. And men who lift weights and have big biceps showing through their cotton button downs?! Yum. And men with thick, dark, slightly-curly hair. Or dimples.

               Please, men, have consideration for your coworkers and be careful to wear baggy pants made of thick material, cover up those biceps with a loose suit sleeve, and please, for the love of all that is good, shave that handsome head of hair, or at least put a hat on it. There are many snazzy hats that allow you to retain some dignity and authority in the workplace without looking dowdy or grandfatherly. Remember, you want your female coworkers to think of you as a professional!!

   2. I recall, a long time back, there was one skirt posted with a very noticeable, purposefully visible and bright-silver-on-black-with-a-big-pull zipper that many thought screamed “unzip me.” On that particular skirt, I think that message was the purpose behind the designer’s styling, and it would have seemed a little out of place in most offices. Most zippers, I think, don’t rise to that level but this particular one (sorry, couldn’t find the link) just…did.

   3. My memory of prior comments was limited to the “raw zipper” or “exposed zipper” trend — where instead of a hidden zipper you can see the lining on either side of the zipper. I posted a few of them when they first started getting popular — they were mostly on the back of the dress, or the back of the pencil skirt — and people felt it was almost a cartoon-like invitation to other people to unzip you.

   4. I think this is true of front-zippers where the zipper head coincides with your cleavage area. Sadly, I see these in the office from time to time. It’s a look for the bar, not for work.

   5. This. It would NEVER occur to me till I started reading Corporette. Please – men at work do sometimes have other stuff to do than think such random zip thoughts.

10. I love this dress. For a Monday splurge it is reasonably priced. I can’t wait for my waist to come back (and my toes to be seen). The beauty of pregnancy . . .

    1. As a woman who has never been pregnant, isn’t in a position to be pregnant now, and hopes she’ll be there before she’s too old to have them, I’m jealous – enjoy every minute :) (well, as much as it is possible to enjoy those minutes where all you can think about is my feet are swollen/tummy upset/can’t button any of my clothes/etc – still the end result is worth it!)

       1. You are absolutely right. I actually love being pregnant, and can’t wait for my little corporette, but I do miss my size 6/8. All the discomfort is definitely well worth the inability to wear belts or 4 inch heels.

          1. I just want to cheer you on for referring to your child as “my little corporette”!

             Rock on! Tough business moms are the best! (Even if their “tough business” involves hiring new cleaning detergent/firing the stains on dirty laundry…;)

             1. The only Barbie doll my mom would let me have in the early 80s was “Businesswoman Barbie.” She came in a pink skirt suit, pink pumps, and carried a pink briefcase with a cursive magenta “B” on it.

                (To show how much things have changed – they now have a President Barbie.)

    2. Enjoy your pregnancy. Or as much as you can in the August heat.

       I am done done done being pregnant, but I do miss certain things about those days.

       I’m still waiting for my waist to come back from pregnancy #2, which ended 18 months ago!

11. Beautiful! This dress makes me want to lose 20 pounds. But since this is about the same amount as one of my monthly student loan payments, maybe not.

    1. Oh man, I’m jealous. $300 is about 1/6th of my monthly student loan payments :( (private law school, deferred payments for 1.5 years while un- and under-employed so larger catch up payments now, thankfully I have a great job now that I really like but YEESH)

       1. Its 1/5 of my loan payment. Hopefully in 8-10 more years I will have a lot more spending money (or probably not, because we’ll probably have kids by then.) Le sigh.

12. Love the colour – style probably wouldn’t sit well on me, but its gorgeous gorgeous pink. I have a dress in a very similar shade and it’s lovely, but my office is totally fine when it comes to bright colours.

13. I love this dress and I love the color. I agree that pink, paired with the right accessory, is probably more office appropriate.

    I’d seriously consider this splurge if splurges were in the budget right now. I keep telling myself I’d rather have a new house than a pretty pink dress.

    1. You and me both (except replace “new house” with “paid off student loans”)

14. This dress looks super-short. The model is by no means lanky, and this is a few inches above her knee. Short + trendy + Barbie pink = no go for this tall lady. …

15. Love this dress!

16. The controversial 75 is thinking about pink. Here’s the thought – pink is not just a question of a bright color – lots of bright colors may be fine for the office – it is the girliness of it. I feel the same way about pale pink. What about a pale pink tweed suit? I would say no. On the other hand, bright green is often a great office color in any part of the country. (Maybe for a jacket.) Part of it definitely has to do with how much of a given color you are wearing. A funny thing about office compliments – they are sometimes not sincere – sometimes result from people noticing your clothes – not necessarily liking them – but feeling the need to say something.

    Each color carries with it some connotations – not necessarily the same in everyone’s mind, but some are quite common, I think. This is true in clothing and in home furnishings. Some colors express peace; some express excitement. I think soft blues are calming for many people.

    It is interesting to look at the designer collections on Vogue web site. Very little color is used.

17. i have been ogling this dress!

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