A Cocktail Dress to Rule the World

Everyone needs a go-to cocktail dress, one that is fairly seasonless and immune to trends. This is easier to find in theory than it is in practice. There’s an entire gauntlet out there of dresses with some combination of the following features:  backless, strapless, hip-high slits, mesh, princess cuts, ditsy prints or body cut-outs. On the flip side, there’s the news anchor sheath dress, or as I like to call it, the Hoda Kotbe. What’s in between?

I am not going to admit how long it took me to find this.

But I guess I do have to admit where I found it: Victoria’s Secret. I know it’s not the sexiest thing around, but it is modern and classic and you can unbutton just as many of those buttons as you see fit.