Mini Stripes, Maxi Length

A couple of months ago I tried the shoreline-stripe dress and filed it under "buy on sale". I really liked it but $78 seemed really excessive for a spaghetti-straps knit dress, especially when things gets marked down as quickly as we have recently seen. Well, in this case the waiting strategy wasn't the winning one because the dress is still full price and completely sold-out in NYC. When and why that happened I don't know (this dress didn't receive much attention in the blogosphere, as far as I know), but when I found out that I could no longer find it in the stores around here I started to stalk the website for a popback in my size (XS). Luckily it did popback during one of those free shipping-no minimum promos so I could order it without thinking twice.
Here is the pic from the fitting room:

The one that I received seems a little bit shorter but maybe I just need to adjust the straps and pull it a little bit longer (plus, I belted it like on the website):

I am still not sure if it's worth $78 and I am tempted to return it and wait for it to go on sale, especially because while I was in Italy I purchased another striped dress, even if a maxi one.
This dress has a story behind. I saw it on a lady in NYC over Memorial Day weekend and I became completely obsessed with it. I spent hours on the computer trying to find out where it could come from but couldn't find it online. When I had already given up on it, I found it at Zara in Italy. Yes, it was a Zara dress, why didn't I think of it before? I tend to forget about Zara but a lot of people shop there in the US too, and especially in NY where we can count at least 5 stores.
It is not easy to find a maxi dress that fits me well and doesn't overwhelm me. As you know I am petite and maxis are often cut for taller ladies (I am completely sized out from the JCrew ones). This one has the advantage of having a drawstring with a rope belt at the waist so I can adjust its length by making the top more or less blouson-y:

Under the dress, in lieu of a bra, I am wearing a Theory tubular top, that holds everything in (I could wear it without a bra but I don't like when my boobs are balloning around under a strapless dress). It also comes in light blue stripes but I thought that the red one was more Riviera-chic (the lady at the playground was wearing hers with a Panama hat and it was the chic-est thing under the sun, even if I don't think I can pull off that look).
The best thing is that this beauty was only $27 EU, against the $78 of the JCrew one.

Which one do you prefer? More Zara to come next. H

Have a happy Sunday!