Field Trip: On Trying a Trend

Despite my natural wariness of asymmetrical garb, I decided to try (on) Philip Lim's Grecian dress at his flagship store in SOHO. I was prepared to convince myself to expand my fashion horizons and don a trend that I have never personally embraced. After five minutes in the dressing room, left to my own devices, I realized with discomfort that I did indeed need the S.A.'s help, because unlike most dresses, the deliberately noticable zipper was oddly placed on the right side, and the two uneven straps at the top were tangled around my neck as if I were on death row. Even after the S.A.'s gracious help, I found both the yellow shade (too trendy) and the bark shade (better but somewhat dull) unsatisfying aspects of an already complicated dress. If I'm about the shell out close to $800, I need a reason to justify an unusual clothing choice. This time, I needed to return to my fashion mantra: only indispensable, gorgeous clothing should be purchased. Instead of feeling like a goddess, I felt like a gauche New Yorker out of her element. And that's the time you smile and say, "I'll pass."