What I Wore — Magenta Body-Hugging Dress, Color-Blocked Booties, and Chunky Necklace

Before Loehmann’s shuttered its doors in New York City, I managed to swing by its store on the Upper East Side and snag this magenta-toned Rachel Roy dress at 80% off retail. My good friend Dante was by my side and, since he’s a bit of a human calculator (we’re talking  Rain Man status!), he quickly calculated that the dress would cost $60. I quickly tried it on and, once he nodded approvingly, I scurried off to the cash register and paid for my new purchase. My friend, meanwhile, paid $1 for one of the Loehmann’s letters on the wall (I believe it was the “N”). Funny, right?

Anyway, I loved this dress instantly because of the intensity, jewel-like quality of the color, the body conscious fit, and the plunging neckline, which reveals a bit of cleavage without feeling overly risqué. The piping along the side panels, meanwhile, helps to emphasize the female form and create more of a slimming effect. This is the kind of dress you can wear to a hot date or to the office (though, if you work in a conservative environment, you’ll likely want to top it off with a tailored blazer.

Yesterday, I decided to take my magenta dress out for the day and so I came up with the look shown here. It was still pretty cold outside, so I wore black tights with the dress and, to add a bit of flash, I chose a pair of disco-flavored booties from Blonde Ambition. I bought them during a big Karmalooop.com blowout sale, but hadn’t yet had the opportunity to wear them, so I was excited for them to make their debut. The booties’ color is almost an exact match to that of the dress, but they also feature black and gold lines for a color-blocked, geometric effect.

Similarly, I accessorized with a mammoth Lydell NYC necklace, featuring oversize chain links adorned with strands of faceted purple beads. To give the look a bit of balance, I paired the necklace with small but playful, gold-toned, feather-shaped earrings by Kendra Scott. The earrings have a single purple stone at the center, where the eye of the feather would be located, so they worked nicely with the ensemble.

The rest of the accessories were pretty simple: a stack of gold-toned bangles from Amrita Singh and a House of Harlow 1960 ring on my right hand.

It may have been cold and windy outside, but at least I felt hot!