Why do clothing manufacturers think we want our expensive clothes to look like they came from the $5 rack at Forever 21?

I’m talking about exposed zippers. They’re everywhere. And while I can appreciate the zipper-as-embellishment, or even the exposed zipper as part of an overall design, I don’t get the nice-dress-with-ugly-zipper thing.

Yes, I know this trend has been around for a while now. But I was thinking about it because yesterday I was looking at dresses on nordstrom.com and I came across this:

Cute, right? Except then I clicked on the back view:

Still wearable, yes. But worth $138? Not so much. It reminds me of when the contestants on Project Runway don’t have enough time to finish their garments before the runway show, so they just staple/tape/whatever the model into the clothes.

This one is slightly better, because of the pattern:

But seriously, Shelli Segal? If I pay $265 (!!!) for a dress, I don’t want to look like I have a tail. And it goes without saying that something like this back-zippered jumpsuit should never have been created. I am all for the combination of girly and tough (as anyone who has seen me with a pink ruffled cardigan and camouflage Converse could tell you), but this just looks wrong to me.

One trend I do like that seems to be growing is the dress-that-looks-like-separates. But we’ll discuss that another day. What do you think about exposed zippers?