15 April 2010 – Jailbird, originally uploaded by academichic.
Sources:
- Striped top: Old Navy
- Black shirt dress: Old Navy
- Belt: thrifted
- Wedges: Naturalizers, via DSW
End Notes:
(On a completely unrelated note, a few folks have asked for a tutorial on turning old jeans into a skirt, ala my outfit from earlier this week. I made this way back at the end of my undergrad career, so I’m a wee bit fuzzy on the details, but I’m guessing I followed something fairly close to this tutorial here. Good luck refashioning!)
When it comes to layering with dresses, the natural tendency is to add something on top: a cardigan, a jacket, or even another top. But, there are also ways to under a dress (and without it looking like a jumper!).
S. is pretty much my dress-layering hero. She’s layered dresses over dresses, dresses over skirt-and-top combinations, dresses over long sleeved shirts, a dress over a button down shirt, and dresses over tops with interesting necklines.
She’s inspired both A. and I to try our hand at dress layering, and now she’s had me curious about layering tops-of-interest under dresses, like I did with my mustard blouson top and a printed red and white button down.
I really like the effect of these ruffles popping out from under a sleeveless dress. The result is a nice balance of graphic and sweet and poof! I am wearing stripes without feeling too wide, nautical, French, or jailbird-ish.
S., this layering is for you!
well done! I loooove the ruffly striped shoulders peaking out.
Oh, i LOVE this outfit! It’s funny that you call it Jailbird, because whenever I wear a striped shirt similar to yours, my mom calls me a little Jailbird >:O . lol. The red shoes definitely compliment the rest of your outfit. You look fabulous. :D
Super cute! I think it’s a bit more nautical than jailbirdish, myself :)
Fantastic layering! Love this look on you.
Love the stripes peeking out!
Smokin’ hot!
Very, very cute. But my main academic fashion challenge is that in any given day I’m working in several buildings, each of a different age and temperature. I look at that outfit and immediately think, ‘Perfect for my office but I’d be freezing in the library’. So, what do you wear over it without having lumpy shoulders?
I love how the sleeves puff out from under the shirt dress. This is an adorable outfit, and your right, people tend to forget you can wear things under the skirt of a shirt dress as well.
Really nice outfit, I may take inspiration from you for next week.
@Accidental Parisian – I frequently have those same temperature issues! For an outfit like this with shoulder detail, I’d likely stash a simple wrap (like lightweight blue green pashmina) and toss it across and over when in the library. A structured jacket with a slghtly puffy sleeve might also do the trick.
That shoulder detail is too cute for words!
Oh, this is my problem. Layering a dress without it looking like a jumper. Will go through your archives and learn more :)