Duel of the Week: the JCrew Cutwave Dress vs. the Phillip Lim Ruffle Dress

Before I start, I have to warn you: this isn't an "expensive versus cheap look-alike" topic, but an "expensive versus even more expensive" duel, so I apologize in advance if I go there. If you don't want to be tempted with impossibly cute but expensive clothes, just skip this.

I don't know if I have already told you, but the Jcrew new arrival that really got me excited when I saw it on the website was the cutwave dress, which is a Collection item and retails for $250. I really hoped that this dress wouldn't be as pretty IRL as on the website pics because it's the kind of dress that makes me splurge impulsively no matter all the very good reasons standing for not purchasing it.
But as soon as I saw it from the windows of the Madison Avenue Collection store (yes, from the windows, and not in the windows, because it was inside and I spied it each time that I walked by), I knew that I had a problem. I don't know if that's the reason why I waited so long before going and trying it on (I mean because I knew that I was going to love it), but when I finally decided myself yesterday there was only one left, the one on the dummy (sorry, I had to look this up, is that how you call the thing?) The SA thought it was a 0 (she knows that it's my size), so she took it off but it was a 2. I tried it anyway, knowing that it would probably be too big.
It wasn't perfect but it wasn't THAT big, I mean that I wasn't floating in it:



It is a really beautiful dress, the cotton tiers fall perfectly in waves and it's fully lined:



The bodice is where it would really need an alteration in this size because being strapless it needs to be very fitted around there, otherwise you know what happens:



The only default of the dress is the apparent metal zipper in the back:



I don't know what the designer or Jenna were thinking, but it's NOT that kind of dress. It's not "edgy" and it really would benefit from having the zipper covered. It neverthless remains beautiful.

The SA asked me if I wanted to order a 0 but I wasn't ready to buy it without trying it on in my size, so I told her to call me if they received more.
I was a little bit disappointed but also relieved because it is an elegant dress and if I bought it I wouldn't probably have the occasion to wear it more than once or twice this year, which makes it very expensive even with the red card.

The design of this dress reminded me of another dress that had been in the windows of a nearby store not a long ago, so I decided to check it out. I don't know why but I thought that this dress was a knockoff of a GORGEOUS Philipp Lim dress that I had seen in this Polyvore set a while ago and retailed for $450. But when I entered the store I realized that they carried Phillip Lim, so the dress that I saw was probably the real thing. In fact it was, but it was sold out in my size. They only had a 4 left and I tried for the sake of it.
It is a much more casual dress that I could wear every day (the belt comes with the dress):



Please bear in mind that this is not my size, but two sizes up:



Again, I was relieved that it was sold out in my size so I didn't have to fight the temptation to buy it (with which money is another problem).

So we have the JCrew that is half the price but much more elegant and less wearable. On the other side the "wave" design of the JCrew is more classic than the "ruffles" in Phillip Lim, that bears the risk to become "unfashionable" next year.

Do you like the JCrew? If they costed the same, which one would you buy?