Natalie Guevara

New York, NY

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.