Cement drapery - Jill Stuart Rosalynde dress

This dress from Jill Stuart's Fall'08 runway show is now available on RevolveClothing.com for $850. Set in the color of cement, this silk Rosalynde dress drapes in an oxymoronic manner.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. At first look, the thin model from RevolveClothing looks enlarged in the dress and I wanted to turn my nose down towards the curtain-like drapery design in the front. But if I stare at the dress for more than 30 seconds, it begins to seem strangely flattering and elegant, despite horizontal lines that the dress presents repeatedly in its shirring/pleating. No matter what, the dress is not at all one-dimensional. (See more Jill Stuart's Fall '08 collection after the jump).

Jill Stuart drew inspiration from Joan of Arc for her Fall '08 collection. In Jill's words, Joan of Arc is a "sophisticated revolutionary" who is "very intellectual" and "very audacious". Perhaps Jill wishes to use the cement color to mimic the tone of war-time armor. If so, the drapes might be a permutation of the folds in the mail worn inside the armor. They also happily hide any spare tires a lady might have. Granted, the technique of draping soft fabrics to create a forgiving veil over protruding body areas cannot be considered revolutionary. Yet, surely there is intellectual sophistication in combining the softness of silk with the tough power of cement.