Verrier dress is very close

Madelene sent me the link to this dress (thanks, Madelene!) and I like it very much. I'm not sure if I'd wear it -- okay, who am I kidding, I'd wear it, it's got a Peter Pan collar and pockets -- although I'd feel better about it if it were red with pink accents, and not mostly that pink. I'm starting to feel a little long in the tooth for pink AND Peter Pan collars AND pintucks.

I looked up the designer -- Ashleigh Verrier -- and found out that she's 1) 23 and 2) her mother is her muse. So what does that mean? Is this dress for 23-year-olds, or for people who could be the mothers of 23-year-olds? (I did the math, and even at the limit of biological possibility, I could not yet be the mother of a 23-year-old.) Her collection (click on the image for the slideshow) isn't bad. And according to New York magazine, her thesis collection was picked up by Saks last year.

I do like this dress, but I think it's not quite there yet. It's still a little too predictable. It's a great shape, but I would like this better in a wild chiffon print, or in a lightweight wool bouclé. What if the hems on the skirt and sleeves were left ragged, or were intentionally made ragged with bias chiffon? What if, instead of tucks, there were lace inserts? There's a lot more that could be done with this dress, to move it a bit more away from April Cornell.

Comments

[Jonquil]

The pintucks over the thighs are a very very bad thing. And I say this as a woman who carries excess weight in her belly, not her legs.

[Anonymous]

I rather enjoy # 8 of 18 in the slideshow.

[Rose]

Cathy Horyn had some words for Miss Verrier:Maybe you have to be 37 and used to working on Seventh Avenue before you get worked up enough to want to stand alone. But despite the Mulleavy sisters' ability to spin a kind of Jean Shepherd yarn about their clothes, there is a limited future in nice dresses with pinked edges. Ms. Verrier's collection, in particular, suffered from what might be called "ishness." Her attempt to give ironic twists to puffed sleeves and other old-school fripperies looked Marc Jacobsish.Here's the link