This has been declared the sesaon of shine and sparkle, but I’m noticing that the cheaper the dress, the more glitzed up it seems to be. Just walk through the INC department at Macy’s (warning: the preponderance of garish prints and gaudy colors can induce motion sickness) and you’ll see what I mean: dresses are bejeweled, besequined and be-over-the-top throughout the department. Some of them come off okay – the black numbers with jeweled trim can look fresh and fun. Just remember: the bigger the jewels or sequins, the bigger the embarrassment when they fall off at a party. I used a few such dresses, from Macy’s and smaller boutiques, this week in a fashion shoot (appearing in the Pioneer Press the week after Thanksgiving) and we ended up with several plastic stones on the photo studio floor. There’s a reason why it is said: less is more. That, and, you get what you pay for.

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