(left: Black Halo Keyhole Ruffle Sheath, right: Ann Taylor “Ruffle Sleeve Sheath Dress”)
For over a year now, Black Halo has kept everyone slavering over their ladylike dresses – namely the Jackie O., seen on just about every it-celeb in a variety of colors – the black jacket dress, vaguely reminiscent of a higher-priced RM dress – the Maureen dress, a collar-less version of the jacket dress – and the keyhole ruffle sleeve sheath. They are sophisticated, sleek, and upwards of $300 (the keyhole ruffle dress is specifically $345).
But what’s this? Here we have a doppelganger from Ann Taylor. Sure, it’s minus the Mandarin collar and has a button closure at the neck, but darn it if it doesn’t look pretty similar. (The seaming in the dress is exactly the same as the Black Halo version!)
So what do we think? Spend $189 on the Ann Taylor dress, or splurge on the $345 Black Halo original?
(BTW, if you happen to be a size 4, you can snap up the wine colored keyhole dress from ChickDowntown.com for a cool $138, rendering the whole debate moot.)
-Carly J. Cais
