Introducing our brand new show, The Thread! In this week's episode: The best summer dresses

Welcome to The Thread! We're a new show here on Shine and our mission is to help you shop like the celebrities do (except without the fancy stylist and the bazillion dollars). Whenever there's a great outfit to be had, we'll find out who makes it, where you can buy it or (even better still) where you can buy something similar for less. So, without further ado...



To me, lace always meant “wedding” or “stuffy” or “expensive”. Or all three. But this summer's crop of lace designs has made me change my perception entirely. This look is much more versatile than I thought and you can actually get an elegant lace design at any price.

To recap our first segment above, Cat Deeley's cream lace mini by Camilla & Marc is $796. Cat's dress inspired us to see what else we could find for less. We love BCBGeneration's white square-neck dress with puffy, peek-a-boo sleeves ($138) available at Macy's. Forever 21's black lace corset-style dress (think 80s era Madonna) is a steal at $39.80 and their black and white lace baby doll with an empire waist was the best value we found at $32.80.

If Cat Deeley rules the night, Kelly Ripa reigns, over the morning hours. The Thread was especially excited to see Kelly in magenta—our favorite color of the summer. We've got the inside scoop on Kelly's dress plus lots of other vibrant pink options (including one that costs less than my daily coffee!).

Check out the video below.



There are so many ways to wear this color:

Kelly's bright, shiny Lauren Moffat ($396) is sleek and elegant. Bebe's three-tier, ruffle shirt dress ($119) is flirty and fun. Express's ruffle silk dress has more of an evening vibe ($88). And you can't beat the price of Forever 21's cotton babydoll for $15.50.

Thanks for checking out The Thread. We'll be back again next week to tell you where to get the embroidered peasant tops from Mama Mia and those Boho chic maxi dresses celebrities can't seem to get enough of.

In the meantime, if there's anything you see that you'd like us to help you find, post some comments below or send me an email to sar_bernard@yahoo.com.

Watch more episodes of The Thread.