Lace is classic, romantic, and overly ladylike. I fell in love with the Diane von Furstenberg dress on the left when I saw it on ShopBop. The cut is perfectly flattering and the exposed lace edges is what I love most, but I have tons of dresses and I just can't justify spending $325 for a dress that I have no reason to buy [the devil on my shoulder says this reasoning is flawed]. I did set out to find comparable replacements though and thought the Zara and h&m ones were pretty damn close, which of course, makes me happy. The nice thing about lace is that you can easily go in two directions with styling it: keep it clean and feminine, sticking with accessories like flats, pumps, and layering simple jewelry or you can toughen it up with boots and blazers to add a balance of menswear to the outfit. Either way, it's a win.
