BRADFORD'S CLOSET: THE ADDITION OF THE SWEATER DRESS

by Bradford Bankhead

Here it is; my next major purchase of the season!! But first I must make a confession; the bone wrap shirt that I spied last time I was about town in search of high waisted pants, you know the one at Theadora? Well, I bought it. I didn’t want too, I HAD TOO!! It haunted my dreams – literally! My husband: my dear, sweet, handsome, kind, and generous husband is now reading about said wrap for the first time (thank you honey! Please see the previous line). But I had to have it even though it was not so much, or at all in the budge. I have been wearing it secretly (that is between 8-5 on weekdays) for a weeks now. I am obsessed with it and think that I have the makings of my first fall uniform. Needless to say, it looks great with all pants (i.e. jeans, sweat pants, pajama bottoms, etc) and yes, I am wearing it as I type this very word.
Okay, now that I have that out in the open (they are so right, confession is good for the soul)moving on to the next staple for my closet – the sweater dress! I am very much into dresses, you put it on and BAM you are dressed. Grab accessories and lip gloss and you are out the door in no time. This is great for me as I have a love affair with my snooze button and wake up 20 minutes late on a regular basis. Back to the dress, as I said I like dresses and I like comfy sweaters so the fact that they have mated this season is most exciting to me. What I am looking for is a dress that is classic something that I can change the look with by changing the accessories. A dress that can take me from my cubical to the Rare Martini with a change of earrings. I would really love it if I could find it in grey (only one of the hottest colors for fall not to mention blends well with I dunno everything!).

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So, shopping day arrived. After I finished a few chores at home I decided to reward myself with the dress. But first and foremost, what to wear to shop!! I start off in my fave pair of Citizen jeans, and by my fave I mean bury me in them because I cannot bear the thought of eternity without them! Paired them with a basic coral colored tank, my Tod’s driving shoes (both classic and comfy), and OF COURSE the bone wrap shirt! I grab a Diet Coke as fuel for the journey and off I go lookin’ pretty good and comfy caz if I do say so myself.
My first stop is Crestline Village, first off for the mums at Harvest Glen (which are lookin’ great.) After that purchase I head into The Pants Store which has stepped it up a notch. They have lots of cute things and even several sweater dresses to choose from by 213 and Jenny Hoi just to name two. While both are cute and grey neither are exactly what I am looking for. I am looking for something simple, flattering but simple. It was defiantly worth the time it took to pop in if just to peruse the cute flats!
While in the village I swing by Laura Kathryn which I love. Not to mention, where my fave dress of the summer was born … it is fuchsia and fabulous I am sure most of you have seen me in it since I wore it like it was all I had, seriously, even my husband noticed so it must have been bad! So I breeze in with my slight caffeine and B12 buzz and look around. Here is what I found, LOTS of cute tunics, short jackets, a great looking reasonably priced black purse, but alas, no sweater dresses. Sad but still stylish I press on.
I needed to grab a book at Barnes & Noble so off to The Summit I went. I heard a rumor that there were sweater dresses in abundance at J.Crew so after my book purchase I headed down the hill… sadly, it was just a rumor. Although, there were lots of cute sweaters any attempts to wear them as dresses would have me arrested for indecent exposure even with tights! But, I did rediscover my love for argyle, I mean seriously, it is too preppy not to love. Alas, I had to go away as the budget had already been stretched by purchase of the bone wrap.
Next stop Urban Outfitters, when I first walked in I immediately feel like I was five years too old to be in there but oh well. I stop and browsed through the books and games ….. they are soo bad, I LOVED on! I saw lots of uber trendy items at ultra low prices but nothing that called out to me. I moved on.
Then to the obvious, Banana Republic. I know I tried to stay away but I could not it was like my go to place and the Diet Coke had worn off by this point and I was almost grumpy. I went in and there it is (insert light from heaven and angelic chorus of AAAAhhhhhh here)!! The perfect dress, exactly what I was looking for (clearly, my clothing Karma has paid off)! It was a dark grey A-line (which looks great on everyone), turtle neck, with puffy sleeves and a seem down the middle. Yippee!!


Bradford's Banana Republic Sweater Dress Find is pictured at top. Here are some other Picks from My Scoop:

213 Sweater dress with unique collar. 213 can be found at The Pants Store in Crestline Village.














Vince Sweater dress available at Saks Fifth Avenue at The Summit. Great length and love the sleeves!








Mod sweater dress by Autumn Cashmere. Autumn Cashmere is available at Gus Mayer at Colonial Brookwood Village.










Only Hearts grey comfy and sexy sweater dress. Only Hearts is available at Lara at Patton Creek.







Winter white sweater dress from Francesca's Collection at The Summit.