Looks That Kill: Wild Horses

Every so often, while I'm shopping, I find myself inexplicably attached to an item that might be deemed questionable. This dove-gray babydoll dress with a print of coral horses is one of those items:

Click for full-size.

When I saw it in H&M last summer I felt a pressing need to own it. However, once I got it home, I realized it might be...well...kind of horrible. I just can't tell! I like a lot of the elements of this dress -- the shape, the print, the buttons, and so on -- so I can't say why I feel so unsure about it. I've seen other girls wear this dress well on fashion communities such as Newest Wrinkle, so maybe it's just not quite in sync with my style.

I've rarely worn it since I bought it, but today I decided to risk it and do what I do with most things I can't quite figure out: throw a contrasting belt on top of it and hope for the best! How would you style a dress like this? (Or would you just get rid of it?)

Gray horse-print babydoll dress: $16 last summer from H&M.
Mustard-and-cognac leather horsebit cinch belt: $16.50 from Old Navy.
Cognac leather platform heels: Betsey Johnson, $30 on sale. (These used to have bows embellishing the toes -- you may have noticed that I've snipped them off.)
Gold hoop earrings: $3 or $4 from H&M.
Gold chain goats-head bracelet: 75¢ at a yard sale in Macon (more info about this bad boy below!).

Here are some details:

Click for full-size.

I also want to mention the bracelet I'm wearing because it is one of my very favorite things in the world. In September of 2006 I visited my dear friend Ashley (she of the adorable blog Sugar Rush) in her hometown of Macon, GA. On our first day there we hit some yard sales in her neighborhood and I discovered this antique bracelet in a little Ziploc baggie jumbled in a box of costume jewelry. It said "Fox Bracelet" on the label and it was 75¢. The incredibly nice woman I bought it from had -- I kid you not -- a long goatee and a widow's peak tattooed on her forehead. When we got in the car and I opened it we discovered that it wasn't foxes on the clasp at all, but sinister little goats with red rhinestone eyes! What a great find -- I absolutely love it.

Close-ups:

Click for full-size.