HAUNTED BY A DRESS...

It's Saturday morning and I have friends visiting from London. I'm lying in bed hoping they don't wake up.

 Not because I don't like them, of course, but because I've got to get this off my chest. It's been over a month since the Inbar Spector show and yet the collection is still at the forefront of my mind. This dress in particular has started to become a bit of an obsession. Compare it to Inbar's other work and you might call it simple, even rudimentary. Regardless, it's the reincarnation of a childhood fantasy - a grown up version of the sugar-coated dress I always imagined I'd wear on my wedding day.

It's modest and refined but, at the same time, achingly alluring. The high neck and long sleeves lend a feeling of austerity and formality. The sheer fabric is painfully pretty. It's so intricate and lightweight that it looks as though the slightest breath would make it fall apart. The body, by contrast, is full and exaggerated. Layers upon layers are stacked to the point of concealing the wearer. Her figure is hidden but she retains confidence and charm.

This dichotomy between seduction and strength isn't a new one. It is, after all, what many men will credit as making a woman most appealing - she is beautiful and yet independent. This is at the heart of 'masculine' dressing and exactly why so many designers this season have blatantly mixed hard elements with soft ones. It draws on the multi-dimensional character that exists within every woman. Conflating seduction and strength by making clothes that appeal to both aspects of one's personality makes for clothes that are far more interesting than those that cater to just one side. This dress does exactly that, it is concealed and yet also revealing. It is bold but at the same time discreet. It isn't everyday you find a single item that symbolizes everything you love about fashion but this dress does just that for me.