15 April 2010 – Jailbird

Posted on | April 15, 2010 | 11 Comments

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!

15 April 2010 – Jailbird, originally uploaded by academichic.

15 November 2009 – How do I wear thee, let me count the ways…

Posted on | November 14, 2009 | 18 Comments

15 November 2009 , originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:
All remixed:

Pink cowl neck top – Nine West
Khaki shirt dress – Target
Brown woven belt – F21
Brown tights – DM
Boots – Dillards
“Dance” pendant – It’s All About The Print on Etsy

Endnotes:

As E. is in the process of pointing out with her shirt dress challenge, shirt dresses are very versatile garments. (Read: you get a lot of bang for your buck!) I have worn this khaki shirt dress as a trench of sorts layered over another dress, for a more casual look over a button-down shirt, as a way to tone down a triad over a skirt and tee combo, and today, over this bright pink cowl neck top for a dressy-casual approach. I’m now excited to see what E. does with her shirt dress for more inspiration of how to ‘remix’ this favorite item.

And speaking of remixing, Jentine just wrote a lovely post on why ‘remix’ is such a kinder term than perhaps other alternatives. Well put, Jentine! S.