dress week: day 1

gap sateen fit & flare dress   ·   old navy chambray {thrifted}

crown vintage tisha pumps   ·   mossimo belt

i am so happy to be co-hosting this dress theme week with andi of just another smith!  andi is known for her great theme weeks that have helped me to plan my wardrobe on more than one occasion and i was so glad she wanted to collaborate with me in bringing you this theme week of dresses.

i certainly love a good dress, but i don't know that i am always that good at picking out dresses for myself.  in planning for this theme week i realized i have a lot of sleeveless dresses that i never wear on their own - i always layer a shirt underneath or a blazer/cardigan over.  i knew that's exactly how i wanted to wear this dress this week though with alice as my inspiration!  i loved the look of the chambray she wore underneath this same dress that she styled back in april.  the stripes on the dress are dark navy, as are my shoes, and i accented with a mint colored belt.  i'm not sure why i didn't add a statement necklace?!  don't you hate when you realize something was missing from your outfit after you take pictures?

get the look:  exact dress / similar chambray / similar belt / exact heels

i'm looking forward to seeing how you find different ways to style dresses this week.  you can add your link to this one link-up tool andi and i are using all week either here at my blog or at hers so join in whenever you can.  see you again tomorrow!

An InLinkz Link-up

never been worn before: striped dress.

gap sateen fit & flare dress   ·   j crew cardigan {thrifted}
in pink necklace   ·   merona bella flats

i feel like i am cheating a little bit with today's "never been worn before" look featuring this striped dress i just bought, but it still fits the criteria of my theme week, right?  this bold striped dress is a bit out of my comfort zone and i knew i may need to push myself to wear it right away.  i don't think a lot of people i encounter day-to-day "get" pattern mixing, so instead of replicating the look i made when i tried the dress on after receiving it in the mail here that i really liked i accented with solid colors instead.  it's hard to tell, but the stripes are navy and i'm wearing navy tights and shoes.  i think the stripes are dark enough that they could pass for black too though.

alice runs one of my favorite blogs, happiness at mid-life, and she also bought this dress and is wearing it today.  i love seeing how she styled it for her climate (california) versus how i did in mine (minnesota) where i'm still layering like a madwoman and preparing for a foot or two of snow tonight.  i think our two looks show how versatile this dress can be year-round or in any climate!

get the look:  exact dress / similar cardigan / similar button-down / similar belt / exact necklace / exact flats

an old standby & a new dress.

old navy honeycomb sweater   ·   loft button-down {thrifted}

our world boutique necklace   ·   talbots skirt {thrifted}

i feel like i just wore this outfit... and maybe i did since this sweater + necklace combination is really similar to what i wore here, but i'm trying not to worry about when i last wore something and making sure "enough time" has passed before wearing it again (like i talked about here) and i'm just putting outfits together with clothes i really like... and this sweater is definitely at the top of the list!  i also really wanted to wear this necklace.

however, i had a moment of, "ugh, really?" when i got to work and noticed in the harsh fluorescent lighting that the navy sweater and navy pattern of the skirt didn't match exactly.  i'm also not always a fan of leaving sweaters untucked with a full skirt, but that annoyance soon went away after receiving a few compliments on the skirt and necklace.  i have a hard time writing that but feedback from others throughout the day helped get me out of my head about minor aspects of the outfit i was unhappy with, allowing me to focus less on the slightly different shades of navy (i know, i know) and more on what i needed to accomplish today.  do you feel that receiving compliments from others also helps you in that same way?

get the look:  exact sweater / similar button-down / exact necklace / similar skirt / similar wedges

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and just for fun & because i'm pretty excited about it (i look way happier in this picture than the one up above!), here's a quick outfit i put together with the gap stripe sateen fit & flare dress i received in the mail today.  i'm 5'5"-ish and ordered the "tall" but there's about a 2" hem i'll still probably let out when it comes time to wear it with bare legs just for a bit more length.  i can't imagine where it would have fallen if i'd ordered the regular sizing.  why do stores have to make dresses so short?!  maybe that's just me!  i'll share more about this dress in my one in, one out post around this time next week but suffice it to say, i'll happily find a dress in my closet to get rid of that this one can replace!