a quest achieved - and miles to go before I sleep

I'm happy to announce that after a search that has lasted years, and led to many disappointments,  the Little Black Dress of my dreams has been reduced to possession.

Or, in other words, WOO HOO!

I had a lot of requirements, a lot.

The dress had to be multi-seasonal, this means made of some kind of silk.

It had to be able to go to restaurants but also to look nice if I happened to be standing up.

It needed to survive being in a suitcase, without looking exhausted or needing to be professionally steamed

It had to have a neckline that would show off my neck and would work with jewelry, but would not attract unwanted attention...

Naturally, sleeves that ended somewhere along the ulna, sufficiently above the wrist so as not to swoop through plates of food or get caught on bracelets.

and I wanted it to be fitted but not tight

and to end just below the kneecap (honestly very few people have cute kneecaps, I know I don't).

I came across a number of candidates, but rejected them for not meeting one or more of the above criteria. Those that came close were revisited - generally these were the more expensive, and the purpose of looking again from time to time was to see if I could catch a promotion or a markdown. In today's retail climate, this is a prudent way to shop. My feeling is, if it's meant to be, my size will wait for me. Otherwise, well, I'll still have my money.

Late one night, I realized I hadn't visited The Outnet in a while. So - click, click.

Et voilà!

ALL OF THE ABOVE!

First off, the dress is made of a substantial silk jersey. Oh, joy - I had held on to the belief that somewhere there was still silk jersey on the market, but I did want to have enough money left over to be able to eat. And to buy shoes.

The picture is from the vendor's site, I hope you can see the clever arrangement of pleats and folds across the front.

The silk jersey fabric is a little stretchy, hence there will be room to sit down without leaving horizontal stress marks across the bottom. And since most fit models are a few inches taller than I, I'm thrilled with the skirt length.

The designer/manufacturer is Issa. I intend to look for more of their stuff.

All in, the price was not terrible. I'll live to shop again - I have my eye on a Ralph Lauren single-breasted leather jacket with band collar.

I haven't done a lot of buying and keeping this "Spring" - glad I was ready to pounce when my dress turned up.

Nevertheless, I'll try it on a few times more during its closet probation period. You know how it is.

Saving the world, one markdown at a time...

a quest: the LBD of my dreams

Think Audrey, think Piaf, think Coco (well, maybe not so much), and the fantasy of the perfect thing is there. You can wear it almost everywhere, you're almost never under- or over-dressed, and you can almost never find it. If the neckline is perfect, the sleeves are wrong. If the teensy hint of bust sets you off just right, there's a slit up the back of the skirt that's just wrong. And on and on. I cut through lots of stores on my way to and from more cerebral (and with any luck more profitable) appointments. It happens that quite often the quickest way from the front entrance, where visitors who have never seen a door on their home planet gather to watch openings and closings, to the side or rear entrance where the taxis wait is often up and down several escalators. So it is with the assurance of one who's done at least some of her homework that I say so far I don't think this is the year I'll find my perfect LBD. Still a little early to spend the LBD Fund on something else, but I have more than an inkling.

So: what would be my perfect LBD-in-Chief? It would be wearable from late September through earliest spring, so it would be woven wool with a silk lining. Long sleeves. Round neck that could take a white collar for some wears, but the Good Pearls for others. Zip down the back or button down the front, but not both. If buttons, solid good-quality black or dark mother-of-pearl. If zip, not one of those snake dancing plastic things. I have a couple of Assistant LBDs: the silk chiffon with short floppy sleeves that doesn't like daytime events, the black velvet thingy that prefers icy winter nights... They try, but they and I know that their reach is limited. I'm waiting.

Do you have a "Grail" dress? Do you sometimes feel like Goldilocks with a shopping bag - too little, too heavy, too short, too long? What's the perfect thing you look for?