Dream Item

From the very moment I saw this Roland Mouret dress last season, I have suffered lapses of wanton longing. The pure perfection of it's lines and cut (especially the dramatic neckline) is beyond flattering. I guess it's true that at one point or another, we women want to get our Morticia Adams groove on. Alas, as the IT dress of last season it was clearly out of a mere mortals grasp. I simply pined for it more seeing it hanging on the emaciated frames of celebrities in the pages of the tabloids. I checked eBay a few times. I scoured the lists on Net-A-Porter.com. I tried BlueFly. I even read all of my sample sales briefs for Daily Candy. No dice. Some dreams are not to be obtained.

Just as I had let the last hope drift from my dogged grasp, I heard from my sister-in-law MeiMei. You may recall that MeiMei is a world class shopper; a woman so fixated on the pursuit of the deal that she will travel miles to seek out her prey. She doesn't settle for dreck--she prefers quality, providing she can score it for an absurdly low price. It's an admirable skill that she has cultivated; she has been known to pick up Marc Jacobs leather jackets for peanuts. It takes chutzpah to bargain at the Chole counter at Sak's Fifth Avenue. I once heard her say to the salesperson at the register at Neiman's, "I like this Dolce & Gabbana skirt, so I'll give you $50 for it." Inevitable protest at the misunderstanding ensures and the fight is on. She will persist like a terrier pulling at a pant leg until her prey falls away, depleted and whipped. She is a master.

She was also my last hope. I put the word out to her--can it be found? True to form, she came back to me: "What color?" I had a call recently that she's got a line on a shipment coming into a designer emporium tucked away in the South of Market district of San Francisco. If her source is to be trusted, the dress may be located and she'll move in. "They have dark blue..maybe the grey one too," she said furtively, "I'll do what I can."

So here I wait, bright with anticipation at the possible attainment of a long desired item that I thought was forever elusive. I guess a girl can dream...and, well, it doesn't hurt to have a few powerful sources, too.