BCBG geometric print dress
Dress, BCBG (via eBay); blazer, Elie Tahari; shoes, Nine West; bag. Marc Jacobs (via eBay)

You’ve seen this dress a bunch of times before. Ditto for the blazer. And the shoes. And the bag. You could call this outfit the sartorial equivalent of comfort food: quick ‘n easy to pull together, but guaranteed to hit the sweet spot.

BCBG geometric print dress
lucky eBay score

The dress is ancient, but does occasionally pop up on eBay, and I encourage you to hunt it down, because it’s stupidly easy to accessorize. The abstract print is fun, but not overwhelming. The fabric is some kind of synthetic jersey that drapes nicely, doesn’t wrinkle, feels comfortable, and doesn’t create static. I mean, it doesn’t really get better than that. Oh, and real flattering to boot.

BCBG geometric print dress
Good Hair Day

For anyone keeping track of these things at home, the cost-per-wear of this entire outfit (minus the shoes, which were a gift from my husband) is currently a hair over $30. I’ve never really thought about this before, but I feel like an outfit CPW that’s under $25 can be one metric of a well managed wardrobe. I don’t know why, but that feels like a “good” number for me. Maybe that’s an arbitrary number. Maybe there are better metrics out there. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

BCBG geometric print dress
Total outfit cost: $274 (not including shoes, gifted) / Retail: approx. $1,175 / CPW: $30.5

10 Comments on The Old Standby

  1. Oh I love this…everything! Dress is beautifully edgy, shoes gorgeous, blazer keeps it all civilized. You’re my hero!

  2. That dress is so flattering. What terms would you use to search for it on ebay? I am an ebay newbie, so I have really loved your ebay series.

    • This one was super tough. It took me a long time to find it, won’t lie. Try “BCBG multi geo print dress”, “BCBG abstract print dress”, “BCBG geometric print dress”, or some other variations on that. All of those search terms will return a LOT of hits (because there are, like, a million BCBG dresses on eBay), so be prepared to scroll through a lot of listings. Good luck!

  3. i love the idea of CPW. It’s such an important concept and one that I definitely focus on now they I’m “older” [31]. This looks great on you. Love the selfie- reminds me of Claire Danes!

    • Nah, you’re still a bebe (says this almost-35-year old ;)) But I think CPW is a useful concept for everyone who works with a budget.

  4. I do really like that dress, don’t think I’d ever tired of seeing it. I can think of about 4 pairs of shoes that I could wear with it (if it were mine) and several bags. Maybe I need one too so I can bring all the bright accessories out to play!

  5. That dress is gorgeous on you. I’m delurking to say how much I enjoy your blog (and I love your new red bag too. Thank you for sharing prices, I love to know!). Have a great day

    • Thanks for reading! I really appreciate the feedback, especially on what people like (or don’t like) to see/read about.