Ah Le Spring Dress! Ah Le Spring! Has there ever been a more perfect combo than the two?
Hello my friends and welcome back to another edition of Karin is managing to blog regularly right now, but who knows how long that will last? 🫣.
Don’t listen to me, I don’t know what I’m talking about. Well actually, ignore that last sentence because I DO know what I’m talking about when it comes to Le Spring Dress (I’m going to keep saying it like that until I’ve annoyed every single one of you… just kidding, I’ll be done now). I happen to wear a lot of dresses in spring and summer, and one of my most asked questions I get is how I manage to wear so many dresses with four kids. Now for the 10% of you who actually want an answer and aren’t just being snarky, I’ll tell you a secret:
I have always been a sundress kind of gal… even when I was a little girl I always preferred them to shorts and the reason is that I have quite a few… sensory issue when it comes to clothing and when it comes to sweat so in the summer there are a lot of days where I’m feeling over stimulated already by my #momlife and I quite literally cannot handle the idea of a sweaty waistband at my waist or a shirt that requires a bras with a sweaty band around my midsection… it’s the metaphorical straw that broke the mothers back (or was it a camel’s back? I guess we’ll never know).
So on those days I reach for a loose fitting sundress that I can go braless in and while, yes you judgmental 90%, it’s a little impractical to do life in a sun dress when you have young kids, I’ve been wearing them for so long I honestly don’t feel any different wearing a dress vs. shorts.
So there’s my very long dissertation on why I do actually know what I’m talking about when it comes to sundresses. But, in all seriousness, you guys know how much I do love a good sundress and this one caught my eye immediately last month. I’m at a point with my closet where I’m very strict with what I add to it. I’m very particular in what I like which ends up translating to me gravitating to pieces that are almost identical to what I already own when I’m browsing new season styles. In the past this bloated my closet with a lot of unnecessary choices, but now I’m trying to keep things really simple and only add new pieces if they truly are different and will add something fresh to my closet while still being something I feel 100% drawn to with no hesitations.
And that’s why I was drawn to this dress, it is a very simple silhouette at first glance with an almost fit and flare type vibe which I normally really don’t go for. I’m usually drawn to much more of a draped straighter line fit, however what caught my eye with this dress is that it has the slightly dropped waist, which for me is a game changer. I have a very short torso which is why I typically stay away from fit a flare styles… they accentuate my shorter waistline. But with the dropped waist on this dress it gives the allusion of more length and adds a bit of proportion to my body that would be lacking in this style normally. And I do think this dress would actually work really well for longer torsos as well because it would actually accentuate your length without cutting you off like you might find normal styles do.
I also love the mixed fabric which will make this dress really wearable for everyday. It’s all cotton, but the bottom is poplin which will make it light as air and the top has stretch to it which will make it super comfortable and forgiving/and easier to hide a braless bosom (don’t judge, it sounds better than boobs) underneath.
Oh and it does have pockets which is a big plus for everyday wear! Okay so I thought I would show you how I’ll wear it when it warms up and how I’d wear it now while it’s still a bit chilly to give you a couple of ideas. First up the chilly version:
Outfit Details:
Sizing Notes: I got a small in the Dress. The sweater is last season from J. Crew.
One of my favorite ways to make a sundress work in colder weather is to throw on a simple cardigan, but this isn’t the cardigan of our childhood okay my friends? Although it kind of is because we’re in a 90’s inspired era of fashion… but I digress. What I mean is we’re not styling it with sweet little flats and leaving the cardigan open and putting a bow in our hair etc. I like buttoning the cardigan up to give a little bit of visual interest and then pairing the whole look with a riding boot to kind of throw you off in terms of what exact genre this look should fall under. Then a nice little bag, an oversized jacket, and some pretty gold jewelry. It’s a statement without it going over the top. These days, fashion is really about taking the basics and then having fun and making it your own… we’ve spent so many years following exact recreations and looking like clones and I think it’s time for a bit of fun individuality (even if your version is a bit more straight laced than someone else’s… the point is that it’s truly yours).
Outfit Details:
Sizing Notes: Sandals are true to size
I’m pretty minimal when it comes to my warm weather fashion. I don’t go for a lot of bells and whistles and to be honest if I was just going to be home all day wearing this I’d wear my flip flops, but I styled this as if I’m actually leaving the house and really the only upgrade is that I went with a chunky sandal in a slightly matching/slightly unmatching color (my mom would say it doesn’t match 😘). I love adding a chunky sandal that almost seems like it doesn’t belong with a more feminine silhouette like this on top. I’m kind of over the tennis shoe with the dress vibe that was really in a few years ago, but this has definitely replaced it for me. It’s still a similar type of look, but the sandal adds so much more visual interest and texture and it complements the dress in that it keeps the integrity of the feminine vibe. Whenever I wear a chunkier sandal like this I like to keep it center of attention so I keep my jewelry really simple and in this case just went with a wrist of bangles which I think sets off off the whole look perfectly… and of course a basket bag is my go to for spring and summer and I’m sticking with it for this look.
Well what do you guys think? Do you live in sundresses like I do? Or do you think I’m a little bit crazy 😁? Let me know what your preferred summer outfit is in the comments below. And I hope you all have the best weekend filled with LOTS of sunshine!
Until next time,
Karin
