Dress to Impress…Spring 09
It’s about time to start baring your legs, and from my perspective, make dressing easier, by beefing up your spring and summer dress wardrobe. What could be easier than one step dressing? No need to match, belt, layer or tuck when it’s just a quick slip over the head or step into number, right? Here are a few dresses I’ve been eyeing for the season…
Believe it or not, I found this dress in bright pink and black at TJ Maxx’s recently for $49.00 – I got it in both colors because it has such a versatile construction – I’ve worn it to the office, and to a wedding with a simple swap out of shoes and other accessories – totally versatile and the cut– with its stiff aline cotton and empire waist band, hides it all!
True, this next dress from At Loft is form fitting, but the busy crochet print combined with crochet’s natural elastine quality can help sculpt those of you on the edge of a shapely hour glass silhouette – dresses meant to emphasize curves always look better when you have a little girth as well…otherwise, what’s the point? The colors are great, and again, pair it with stacked heels for a dressy look, with flip flips for an easy summer look, or something in between for work:
I always find some great dresses at Target, and this season is no exception – they’ve got the mod shift of the season in this great retro print. There’s just enough shaping through the torso to keep you from looking like a rectangle, but its cut wide enough to hide all kinds of figure challenges:
Or check out this easy breezy black belted dress – so versatile for work, upscale casual or dressy:
One of my favorite Eco designers Aimee G has a fabulously artistic line of clothing and dresses if you are looking for something a bit more unique. Their cut is usually very good at masking midsection foibles as is their nice aline cut and stiffer (read: sculpting) cottons. But still to at least Medium, the small can be small…Check these out:
This dress by Velvet has some great figure masking qualities with its ruched mid section (you can arrange it higher or lower on your waist depending on where your ‘pouch’ falls). The Aline drape is also good for heavier thighs and rear but won’t mask too many lumps and bumps – the teal color is totally gorgeous:
There’s nothing like Max Studio for figure enhancing (or rather, obscuring) dresses– this shift has a nice fit at the top to distract from the nice room it offers below for any troubling mid-sections, droopier rears or the heavy hipped – perfect for this summer with sandals or even over dark wash or black jeans as a tunic!
Though we certainly can’t all look like Victoria’s Secret models, they do come out with some stuff for the rest of us once in a while. This halter bra top dress in indigo has all the right moves for the average shaped amongst us especially if you’re smaller chested or moving towards the pear scale…the empire defining waistband never hurts when it comes to defining a narrow waist and nice fall away cut on the skirt:
And though J Crew tends to do dresses a bit too dressy for translation into the every day, this silk shift in petunia pink caught my eye – not for the overly hippy with its fitted bodice and high piped waistline, it will emphasize a shapely hourglass, and can easily be dressed up or down with the right shoes:
So go out and pretty it up! It’s the easiest outfitting you’ll ever encounter on any given summer morning!
