When Angelina Jolie took to the red carpet earlier this month for the premiere of A Mighty Heart dressed in a black velvet dress that was subsequently revealed to have cost a big fat $26, women all over America found themselves wondering: Could I also get away with wearing a super-cheap dress to the fancy affairs I so resent wasting my hard-earned money on? Is there really a way I can avoid overspending for a silly frock Ill wear only once?
Jolies dress, it turns out, hailed from a vintage store called Wasteland on Melrose Avenue in L.A., and was purchased a mere week before she wore it by a friend who was in the store shopping for baby clothes for Jolies ever-expanding brood. Asked if all their dresses cost this little-maybe its worth a trip to L.A.?-Wastelands manager says that they start at $20, top out at around $85, and that quite frankly she thinks Jolies dress-which the actress reportedly loved at first sight-was in fact a little underpriced. (Apparently the proscription that Jolie-or her handlers-is trying to enforce on journalistic speculation about her family and private life does not extend to vintage-store managers.)
So, with Jolies thriftiness in mind, I decide to spend a couple of early summer afternoons looking for something festive that would not rock Angelinas refreshing new budget. My first stop is Joyce Leslie on the corner of East 8th Street and University Place, which I have always had a soft spot for-the cheerfully slutty frocks, the tantalizing low prices. There I encounter a gold Lurex bolero for $16.99, which of course would have to be paired with something like a pair of Chloe, or least Theory, trousers. (But if Jolie can add $800 Christian Louboutin shoes to her $26 dress, cant you be forgiven for splurgingon a pair of pants?) Still, maybe thats cheating, in which case two other distinct possibilitiesemerge: a $19.99 fusciahalter dress with acrystal-pleated skirt that is adead ringer for Marilyns famous subway-grating dress in The Seven Year Itch; and, even more festive, a sequin-covered mini tank available in silver, gold, and an especially nervy black and silver stripe for $29.99, which conforms to the spirit, if not the letter, of our self-imposed budget.
Surprised to find genuine contenders so early in the game, I visit the Salvation Army on 8th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. These neighborhood Sally Anns have a nice small-town feel, and you never know what youll find-on this particular day, a huge plaster rooster, marked high at $49.99, is sharing shelf space with sad stuffed animals. The rack of eveningclothes is fairly full-further evidence that, after a single outing, this is invariably where these closet hogs end up. Unfortunately, a crimson number with crystal beading and slits fore and aft, tagged an inviting $14.99, is virtually the only dress on display that does not feature one or more unglamorous stains, proving that even if you only wear a dress once, an excess of champagne coupled with injudicious cake gobbling will result in a ruined garment christian louboutin shoes.
So depressing are these items that I repair to Strawberry on University Place and 14th Street-where whatever else you can say about the offerings, at least theyre stain-free and brand-new. Most of the stock is relentlessly casual, but downstairs theres an ankle-length op-art print dress with a padded-bra halter in a bilious green not seen around much since the 197Oa Though most likely intended for nothingmuch fancier than a pool party, its easy to imagine it at an event like, say, the Independent Spirit Awards, a drunken fun-fest (at least thats how it looks on TV) held on the beach in Santa Monica the night before the Oscars.
