Charmeuse Dress

Ok, so I couldn't find the emerald green dress from Atonement to wear at my niece's Sweet 16.  But I did find a dress at Nordstrom.com.  I know I preached to NOT buy polyester as it is against my fashion religion (see my post from Aug, 10, '09).  But low and behold, the dress I bought is made from polyester mixed with spandex.  The spandex woven into the dress gives a little more movement and less wrinkle.  This dress, in particular had a "charmeuse" look.  Charmeuse is a kind of weaving where, in the warp, threads cross over at least three weft or backing threads. This allows the fabric to have a satin finish on its front while the back is dull. There are generally two kinds of materials that are used for making charmeuse; silk and synthetic polyester that looks like silk. So I must change my fashion rule: buying polyester is OK, as long as the look, feel and quality is like the real thing.  But my other fashion rule still stands: don't spend over $200 dollars on polyester.  You can get real silk for the same price.  I spent $158 on this dress and everyone loved it!  I paired it up with gold rope sandals from Piperlime (see post from Aug 9, '09) and it worked!