retail therapy

Bright Young Things’ Little Black Dress Debuts for $185; Plus, Our Top Twenty Picks for LBDs Under $100

Eliza Starbuck is best known as the dressmaker behind the Uniform Project, in which friend and blogger Sheena Matheiken wore the same button-up black dress for 365 days straight (for laundering’s sake, she had seven of them made — but you get the point). Tonight, Starbuck is launching the debut dress of her new label, Bright Young Things, at Maryam Nassir Zadeh: A reversible, button-up, cotton-Lycra dress. Formerly a designer for J.Crew, Coach, and Club Monaco, Starbuck is obsessed with clothing’s versatility. “You don’t need to have so much in your closet if you have one very useful piece,” she says. “My goal is to design single items that are extremely functional, but also universally flattering and democratic.”

The success of the Uniform Project spurred a cultlike following for Starbuck’s LBD. The Bright Young Things website includes a street-style gallery of real women modeling the dress, reader-uploaded photos, and bloggers chronicling their own “wear-a-thons” (wearing the dress for monthlong stints).

The dress, $185, will be sold at Maryam Nassir Zadeh starting tomorrow and is available for presale at YouBrightYoungThings.com (online orders take six to eight weeks). Starbuck expects to produce around 500 of the limited-edition dresses in sizes ranging from XXS to XL. If you’re a fan, pull the trigger soon: Starbuck’s previous batch of 365 cotton dresses sold out in five days. Or just click through our slideshow for a closer look at Starbuck’s design, plus twenty other must-have LBDs — all under $100.

Maryam Nassir Zadeh, 123 Norfolk St., nr. Rivington St.; 212-673-6405

Bright Young Things’ Little Black Dress Debuts for $185; Plus, Our Top Twenty Picks for LBDs Under $100