Prismatic

I am not a Maxxinista, if that word doesn't make you gag. (On the subject of made-up advertising words: a good friend of mine is friends with a French guy who augmented his English vocabulary by watching tv. She had to explain to him that "comcastic" is not actually a word. Is one sentence in too soon for a digression? I hope not. Keep reading!)

In other words, I am not usually one to stalk the aisles of designer discount stores, hoping for a bargain. But Prismatic has sort of made a convert out of me.

I saw this at Nordstrom Rack a few months ago and thought, "That dress is mine. It's already mine! It's hanging in my closet between Phony Joanie and Raspberry Ripple!" (Actually, it would be between Pod Person and Raspberry Ripple, but I wanted to link.) I tried it on and almost texted a picture to a friend to ask for her opinion (everyone does that, right? that's basically the reason we can text photos, right?), but I realized I didn't need to. It was already mine! Paying for it was a mere, if necessary, formality.

The flickering pattern echoes Prismatic's cut, in a way.

The lines, shapes and colors interact in a way that can't help but draw the eye around the garment. The twist at the waist emphasizes Prismatic's brilliance: it uses angles to create curves.

Prismatic's not vintage (it's Maggy London, in case you're interested), but it has a few of the touches that I like, that signify to me that something is well made: it's partially lined, and it has those loops that supposedly help you to hang your clothes.

I've never really understood how those loops are supposed to work, though.

Prismatic might be the perfect dress, at least by my standards.

It's flattering, yet comfortable. I could wear it to a nightclub, if I went to nightclubs anymore — this would be amazing under a black light, no? — or to dinner with the in-laws, or to work, not that we have a particularly strict dress code. In fact, there are nightclubs with dress codes stricter than that of my office, though I think the overlap between strict dress codes and black lights is pretty small.

Además, it never wrinkles and it's stretchy enough to pull over your head. What more could a girl ask more?

No, really, if you have more requirements for a dress, I'd love to hear them. You are so picky!

The moral of the story is that if I am in Union Square for any length of time, I will hit up Nordstrom Rack and try on all their Maggy London dresses. I haven't found another one as good as this, though.

All photos by Claire Loeb!