I swung by the midtown H&M during the day, hoping to avoid the throngs of tourists. How wrong I was. I fought my way over to a rack of striped spandex tube dresses and picked out a red, black, and white one. Sadly, horizontal stripes do in fact add on visual pounds. Not only were the stripes a negative optical illusion, but this dress was too tight to be flattering, and the loud pattern drew way too much attention to my problem areas. I now understood why there were so many of these dresses still on the racks. 640 Fifth Ave., nr. 51st St.; 212-489-0390.