Denim Shirt Dress Many ways.

I bought this shirt dress while shopping online as I like shirt dresses. They work well for me, often taking me around the knee or just below ( I am a 5ft 2 inch gal) which is as short as I like my dresses. This one, true to its shirty genre has a hem that is curved up at the sides, making it at its shortest just above my knee, so for me it is not going to be an item to be worn with bare legs.

It has no stretch so I am relying on the cut being right for me, as it will not give. As far as shoulders go it is great ( I am an hour glass and for my size (quite small and petite) I have a shoulder that is quite strong being 10 inch bigger than my waist and the same as my hip ). The bust also fits well and in fact it is the bust that ensures that I need a size 10 as in the shoulders, hip and stomach I have room, but the bust is just perfect.

When I saw this dress online I bought it with the intention of belting it. I have a collection of belts that I love, and I was particularly interested in trying it with my whisky coloured wide link leather belt. This belt is too wide to be worn in belt loops and is strictly an over the top waist definer – either tight to cinch or loose and low to add low slung elegance and interest.

When the dress arrived, however, and I tried it with the belt I found that it did not work. The dress is light weight but with little drape or stretch, so it just wanted to stick out in a strange way below the belt. I might be able to pull and tug it around and have quite a lot of dress above the belt, but that would then be more of a long shirt, but is also an ok idea, perhaps with a cardigan over the top to flatten the dress down a bit!

I found that I quite like the dress with no belt at all. It gives a very smooth elongating line that way. I do lose a lot of my waist definition, in that this dress makes me look heavier and less hour glass in the torso than I am, but on the whole I do not mind that too much. The contrast of the shorter wider hem with my legs makes my legs look very shapely in comparison, and the shirt hem (where it goes up at the sides) softens the hem and stops it looking too blunt. I have always been happy to hide my bottom and tops of my thighs and I like the fact that this dress doesn’t cling at all on this part of me.

I wear it loose over my old denim flares (yay for denim on denim) with an indian silk scarf that belonged to my mother. I also like it over navy or teal opaque stockings or with leggings. I am wearing it a lot with my cognac pointy toe booties and think it would look great with a mink orlight grey low heeled bootie or shoetie as well. It is also good with flats, but right now its winter and boots and socks are it! I love my feet to be comfy and high heels don’t really do it for me very much, but it would dress up quite well with heels, many different heels would work from wedge sandals to high heeled high boots, depending on personal preferences. I am a stay at home mum and I find its vibe to be great for smarter casual in our autumn or spring here. I can also layer it under my full length blue coat for winter, but tend to only if I am going to be ending up inside a lot (where I will be warm enough).

The dress itself is lighter weight than I had hoped for, but I liked the way it looked so kept it any way, and it was a very good price – $30 on sale, so if I find another denim shirt dress that I love more, then I haven’t already over commited myself. And if I don’t then I have had my fun in the denim shirt trend!