OK, I had my skinnies rant the other day, now I'm going to vent a little about dresses. Feel free to move along if you're tired of these screeds.

I have been keeping an eye out for, oh, a year or more for a replacement for the simple, casual black knit jersey dress I wore before I lost weight. It was the perfect item to dress down quite casually or dress up a little for a dinner out. I could throw it in the wash, no problem, and it was so comfortable it felt like wearing a tee-shirt. I passed it along to my niece and she loves it, so that is a happy thing.

But what the heck is up with the dress selection out now? Nordstrom's dress department is full of event wear, and hello? the holidays are over. Everything I see online is either dressy, career wear, or juniors, with just about nothing in between. Something a little funky and casual seems to be a HEWI. Never mind finding something with sleeves and enough length to even hit my knee.

It seems that all the styles fall into one of two categories:

- if they have some length and sleeves, they are very traditional/corporate looking, which is great if you work in an office
- if they are in some way distinctive and have some edge, they are mid-thigh length and/or cut for an extremely straight or IT body type

I would love to find a new casual solid-color dress in a mid-weight knit jersey fabrication. It doesn't even need to be black -- grey or blue or even forest green or burgundy would be great. But I'm just not seeing anything out there that floats my boat.

The closest I've come is this:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/mi.....t&con

I may try it. It doesn't look terribly exciting, but it might be one of those things that is better IRL.

Is anyone else with me? It feels like this shouldn't be such an elusive item, but maybe I'm just too demanding.

P.S. I have to admit, I was encouraged that I found my summer version of this dress last year and absolutely LOVE it. So much that I'm glad I bought it in a second color.