... Well, I just noticed that there are TWO polkadot dresses. Maybe the second one, without the ruffles, is more "you"? By the way, I like that the dots are unevenly spread.

Suz, I think the ruffle dress looks gorgeous on you but I would wonder if you would wear it. Are ruffles for you? I much prefer the polka dot dress in the second set of pictures. That dress works with you and not against you. I am probably not explaining myself very well. The ruffles dress is fighting you a bit. Okay, I am going to stop now.

I vote to keep dress #2 is is sassy and has attitude and looks great on you.
Just saying......

Ok. I just looked at the pics of other people wearing the ruffle shoulder dress, and I think you should keep it. It’s a nice dress in general, but is AMAZING on you, Suz.

I like the v neck polka dot dress better than the J. crew ruffle dress given your current style. I’m not even sure why this is a question unless there is something else happening? Even though the ruffle dress looks good on you, is this the direction you want to go with your style? Maybe it is. You recently purchased a more, for lack of better description, girly dress, which your DH favored, from Boden. It was truly lovely, just like this ruffled lip print dress. Maybe that’s the style direction you are shifting towards now, and if so, you should embrace it, but if that was only a one time thing, than I would keep it that way and stick with your style descriptors or you will end up with a hodge podge of items that are not cohesive and may not feel right. I have watched you work hard to refine your style, and maybe you have come to a crossroads where you need to think about making a shift?

Of the last two you posted, I prefer the v-neck midi with the white polka dots.

I love the second, ruffles on the shoulders look small enough to seem like a piping, and not a major detail. Really feminine and definitely not only a party dress!!!!

Thanks, everyone, for your intelligent comments. It is so cool to be able to discuss one's personal style with a bunch of people who actually get it! YLF is amazing.

Staysfit, I think you've hit on something. I'm not looking to make a major style change, but I do seem to be craving a slight shift of emphasis. I find myself gravitating towards more feminine elements. I'm wearing my day dresses instead of my shorts, for instance, now that I have finally found some that are comfortable enough to wear on a daily basis (the new Boden dresses).

It's interesting that people have such different opinions on the J. Crew lip print. Some say it is fighting against me (good phrase, Style Fan) and others adore it.

I guess the reason that it is a K/R is that I agree with BOTH camps!! Rachy, it's sweet of you to say it looks better on me than on the bloggers, and you know, in this case, I actually agree! I think it's larger on me -- I don't fill it out as much -- but for this style, that seems to work.

Meanwhile, Staysfit, Style Fan, and others of you who feel it's a bit off -- I get that, too! It all depends how you look at it.

Meanwhile, CocoLion hit on something equally important -- the way it feels. Floaty silk dresses just feel amazing!! You can't help but feel pretty in them or "party."

Fit and flare is actually a (more feminine) departure for me, too -- and Josephine also feels great, though in a different way. It's more a day dress...so thinking about when I plan to wear these is also important. I now have several excellent day dresses (Phoebe, Emory, Eleanor, and the Topshop, plus a Comrags handkerchief hem that's a kind of crossover to night) -- a wealth of day dresses I've never enjoyed in my life! Do I need another?

Then again, do I need another "party" dress for summer? I already have two that I love. And not too many parties.

Jane, thank you for weighing in about the CM dress -- that's good information. That would certainly fit seamlessly into my closet. So maybe that's the way to go.

Hmmmm....luckily I have time to consider this.....

And what a change from previous years when I couldn't even find one dress I wanted to try on, much less buy!!

Sounds like you have some thinking to do. I love the stripes on #1 but see how it could be too similar to items you already own. I love the ruffled party dress too - it looks fun and feminine. I don't see a problem with some special items being a slight departure from your usual style. Too much of the same thing can start to feel boring and staid.

The stripes on the bodice of the first dress form a box. That's all I see, a box. I've seen more pleasing dresses with stripes--the CM dress, for example. I did get that one and it is quite lovely and so comfortable, versatile, unique.

The flowy, 'flapper' dress would be great for a summer wedding or another special occasion. That one looks beautiful on you and you could have those ruffles removed by a rockstar seamstress. Then it might feel less girly too, less of a departure from your usual style. If there's a yearning to explore a little different style on you, then I wouldn't deny it, just because it's impractical. Because that is you; embrace that element in you.

I like the JCrew ruffles dress as something different to your other dresses. It’s navy, so it is a great colour and you can dress it up for night or down for the day, so I see this as a versatile dress. My vote is keep this one, although I do think Angie’s dress would be amazing on you.

My favorite is the j crew ruffle dress. It looks amazing on you! However the polka dot dress is nice too (but IMO more ubiquitous) and more in line with what I think of as your style. So I guess it depends on whether you want to stay in your comfort zone or not and whether you think you’d wear the ruffle dress.

Well, the fit on the flapper dress is amazing and the ruffled shoulders don't bother me one bit. Is the print just a geometric, or is it supposed to be lips? When I zoom in on the J Crew website, the pattern looks like kissy lips, which, I have to say, is not a pattern I personally could live with, and I know you've talked about pattern fatigue before. I could also be wrong -- maybe they're just little sideways diamonds?

They're lips! But you have to look closely to notice it and I doubt if it would bother me. I have a fairly high tolerance for whimsical patterns.

Thinking where I might wear the ruffle dress...hmmm. An advantage of keeping that one is that it does not need alterations, whereas the other one does.

Okay. Thanks for your help, everyone.

I'm sending back both J. Crew dresses and ALSO the Boden spotty dress. I'm just not sure the alterations will make the Boden Josephine work, and now that I have the J. Crew 2 piece, I don't feel as strong a need to keep the Boden -- they'd fill similar roles, i.e. cool, cotton, dressy but not over the top, feminine, good for daytime or date.

As for the silk J. Crew, I couldn't figure out when I would prefer to wear it over one of the dresses already in my closet. And Mr. Suz hated it. I think that might just have been first impression -- he does react strongly when I make any kind of style shift, and then eventually gets used to it and often falls in love with the supposedly offending item -- but since I don't have an occasion coming up where I would need to wear this, back it goes. Save my pennies for NAS. Should be getting lots of money back for returns -- 4 Boden items and 2 from J. Crew. Having said that, I also kept 4 Boden items and one from J. Crew.

That's really interesting about Mr Suz. I think Neil has been fairly consistent with the type of thing he likes through the 33 years we have been together. He likes long flowy skirts mostly which get very little look-in these days from me. I do other things to please him! But if he says he likes an outfit, it does influence me to wear that more. It feels loving to me to take the other half's opinions into consideration.

I do think the two piece is a better choice than these two dresses (although I liked them both). It was an easy yes!!

Good plan Suz to save pennies for the NAS.