It's cheap. It's chic. Is it worth it?

A dress that costs $9 surely comes with a catch, so we put it to the test

WILSON -- The idea of a $9 little black dress, even if it is from Sarah Jessica Parker, seemed a little sketchy. $9? That's what some people spend on lunch these days. Or a glass of wine at a swank restaurant. Or a few gallons of gas.

Even by normal chic-cheap standards -- $16.99 for wedges from Payless or a designer handbag from Target for $19.99 -- this $9 dress from New York discounter Steve & Barry's seemed like a ridiculous steal. Even Wal-Mart doesn't go that low for a dress.

There had to be a hitch -- cruel labor practices where the dresses are made, shoddy material, bad craftsmanship -- something that made this dress inferior.

It doesn't take much to be a cynic. Count me among the millions who have learned the hard way that cheap chic doesn't always translate to a good value. There was the Isaac Mizrahi dress from Target that never got back its shape after the first wash; the $20 navy sandals from Forever 21 (that looked remarkably like a pair that Marc Jacobs put out a season before) that blistered my left toe; the H&M dress that shrank a full size, despite careful washing.

It all added up to one obvious answer: I had to see this $9 little black dress for myself.

As it turns out, the urgency was greater than ever. Rumors started swirling in early July that Steve & Barry's was on the verge of bankruptcy and may have to close up to 100 of its 270 stores or sell all its assets to fix its financial woes. (Leading me to believe that the pricing was likely going to be the dress's fatal flaw. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Wednesday, citing the economy and credit crunch for its problems.)

So when everyone else was heading off for July Fourth holiday weekend, I drove to Wilson, which has the closest Steve & Barry's to Raleigh in a former department store space at Wilson Mall.

Fashion for the masses

Parker certainly sent a message last year when she sidestepped other discount retailers, such as Target, Kohl's and H&M, who are known for using big-name celebrity and fashion designer partnerships to pull in shoppers, and opted instead to put her Bitten apparel line in Steve & Barry's.

Steve & Barry's, for those who don't know, has made a name as one of the fastest growing discounters with staggeringly low prices on trendy clothes, many with celebrity branding, including Venus Williams and NBA star Stephon Marbury. The mission from the beginning: Make fashion available to the masses, and do it in a way that was so unique, it would turn the industry upside down. How unique? Try $8.98 for everything in the store, including menswear, sneakers and kid's clothes. The company does little advertising, manufacturers much of its clothing and often takes space in shopping centers that are struggling to keep costs low.

While the retailer got its start in discounted college apparel in the 1980s, it's relatively new to the world of cheap chic. No doubt the company saw the trend going on around it. Target was among the first and best to give consumers what they craved: new styles with designer looks and often designer names at dramatically lower prices than department stores and boutiques. H&M and Forever 21 had designs often "inspired" by some of the industry's big names. Then H&M got the celebrity and designer partnerships. Kohl's followed with a deal with designer Vera Wang, and Gap has done a few limited collections with designers. The latest to step up their game was Old Navy, with new looks that are more chic and on trend than ever.

Parker, who grew up with seven siblings, said she picked Steve & Barry's because she believed in its mantra. One of her Bitten T-shirts in the store sums it up nicely: "Fashion is not a luxury."