Natalie Guevara

This dress was given to me by my mom. She’s had it since the early ’90s and gifted it to me about two years ago when I requested that my wardrobe look more like I was on vacation all the time. (It was a very serious “career phase” I was going through, with lots of late hours.) The dress is not a Missoni but it moves like one. It intensely resembles that style, from the zig-zag pattern to the knit fabric. It’s a dress for all seasons: in winter, with black or red tights; in summer, with a jean jacket. I’ve worn it to weddings and funerals and taken it from early mornings at City Hall all the way to a Harlem drag show.

My favorite part of the dress is the cut-out zig-zags at the hem. It’s the one whimsical detail that keeps it from being too posh, that demands its own identity: not a Missoni, not exactly, but it’s going to make the best of it.

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