Thanks all for the kind comments, and I'm glad to know the size 10 looks good. As far as grey vs. rust ("heathered rustic clay"), I did consider the rust color, because as several of you noted, rust is a color that looks great on me, and I do love it. I also do sometimes buy duplicates of an item in different colors, and this dress certainly seems a candidate for that.
The main reason I chose grey has to do with what supporting acts I already have. Based on the weight of the knit I would likely wear it from late October through early April. Grey is a mainstay of my wardrobe for those months, and I have lots of choices for footwear, coats, scarves, to go with it. If I went with the rust color, I would not have as many choices, especially in deep winter when all my footwear is black. With this color of rust I have a feeling pairing it with black booties/black tights might look a bit Haloween-ish. I also don't have a fall/spring coat that would work with it except a black trench coat. I have a feeling the color would not look all that great with my cinnamon coat because it's close but not quite exact. I usually do NOT like the way jackets look over dresses on me, my waist gets lost, so I'd prefer a longer coat. For supporting acts I'd want boots/coat in a light brown (a warmer version of what the model is wearing), or grey, which are all things I'd like but do not have. I have light grey booties but they are perforated so no good in cold or rain or snow. I don't mind buying new pieces to go with an item, but it seems like a bit of a risk here since it can take me a long time to find footwear that works for me. Lululemon has a 30 day-return window, so I'll only get two weeks of possible wear before I run out of return window, and I have no idea how long it will take to find supporting acts for the rust color. I also have a long history of hardly ever wearing dresses so buying a color that won't seamlessly fit into my wardrobe does not give help in giving me a push to wear dresses more.
All that being said, this type of dress could be PERFECT for my lifestyle, and there is a part of me that wants to by both colors, so I'll listen to any enabling but it seems very impractical. A rust sweater seems a much better choice if I want more rust items, and I could wear that now while I looked for those new supporting acts. I have in fact been looking for one.
Hereforthecake, based on initial try on it seems VERY comfortable, but I haven't worn it outside the fitting room yet.....
