Criss Cross

This black dress was purchased in a lot on eBay last spring. It was clearly a relic of the early 90's (hello, shoulder pads!) but it had this cutout/laced neckline that is right in line with current trends!

Fortunately, the most dated things about this dress (the shoulder pads and the clusters of ornamental brass buttons running down the front) were easy to remove!

 

 

 

It has a weird faux-layered front (which made more sense when there were buttons on it), and I thought about using the extra fabric to give it a more modern silhouette (perhaps something like this: 

 

...But ultimately I decided that the material wouldn't lend itself to creating a structured skirt, even if I had enough of it, which I don't. 

So I just wore it as-is—and got a compliment, so I guess it doesn't look too old fashioned!

Normally I look upon a black dress as the perfect backdrop for colorful shoes and accessories, but today I stuck with all black—the better to let the neckline speak for itself, and also a great chance to wear my new black lace-up boots (the laces of course reflecting the lacing on the neckline!)