women's apparel

This Summer Dress (That Won’t Show Sweat or Iced-Coffee Stains) Is Now $32

Photo: Courtesy of vendor

Some personal news … I’m taking a new full-time job as an evangelist for a $32 dress I bought at Loft. I’ll miss all my former nonexistent co-workers so much but am really excited for this new chapter!

Here are the circumstances under which I enter my neighborhood Ann Taylor Loft (the only Loft I’ve ever been inside of): when I’m locked out of my apartment, when I’m on the phone with my mom while walking and it starts to rain, when I’m waiting for a prescription to get filled at the pharmacy across the street. It was scenario No. 3 (Wellbutrin and a retinoid) that led to this recent perfect acquisition. It is everything I look for in a summer dress: black (so it won’t show sweat or iced-coffee stains), cheap, flattering, but not overly exposing (bonus points for vanity sizing), made of a natural fiber, machine washable, fine looking. This last quality is perhaps the most important: If I like a garment too much, I end up “saving” it for a hypothetical occasion that never materializes; if I dislike a garment, I don’t feel like myself in it and have a bad personality when I’m wearing it. I’d sport this dress to the office if I worked out of one. I don’t, so instead I wear it … absolutely all the time. Nobody has ever complimented this dress or commented on it, nor should they. Do I love it? No. Do I like it? I guess. Am I going to buy a second one? You bet.

Editor’s note: This black number, and all the versions below, ship for free from loft.com.

A few more Loft dresses we like

This strappy version comes in white.

And, for a few bucks more, a lovely ticking-esque stripe.

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This Summer Dress (That Won’t Show Sweat) Is Now $32