What, may you ask, stopped us in our tracks, derailed us from our afternoon lunch run and drew us into the Shotwell boutique downtown? These convertible silk wrap dresses by Please Dress Up!, the San Francisco label launched by indie designers Grant Doolittle and Judy Berbarian, who relocated to Paris in November. (Clearly our loss and Paris’ gain by the looks of their Spring/Summer ’09 Infinite Possibilities collection).

Two other ways to wear the convertible Square dress by Please Dress Up! Photography courtesy of Please Dress Up!

For those of you who can’t jet off to the couple’s new Paris showroom, we suggest stopping by Shotwell to see store co-owner Michael Weaver, who will happily demonstrated the more than half dozen ways the versatile Square dress could be worn—draped at the back, tied at the waist or worn loose over one shoulder with an asymmetrical hemline, for instance. Says Weaver: “It’s the perfect black dress you can wear to any occasion!” Square dress ($198-$378) and magenta dress ($368) available at Shotwell, 36 Geary St., 415-398-9898.

The magenta dress, which can be worn two different ways.