There’s almost nothing more versatile than a black, cotton, maxi dress. Wear it in spring and summer with sandals, in fall and winter with boots – unless you live in a frigid climate, I suppose. Or maybe you could throw on a parka? Hmm. People in cold climates, let me know what the deal is.
Anyways, I confess that I ended up with this dress somewhat by accident a family friend got it as a hand-me-down from a niece, but it didn’t fit, so I got it. Yay for me! It’s a beautiful cotton gauze maxi dress from Madewell.
Another confession: I totally changed it. Ha! The bust was too loose and I didn’t like the round neckline, so I stitched in a black strapless bra. Voila! It gave me the magic combo of a great fit and a slightly square neckline. Yesss.
On the Belt
By now you may have noticed that I have a bit of a mania for defined waists. I’m short (5′-1″), and I like the leg-lengthening that a cinched waist gives me. I also have junk rattling around in the trunk, and I like that. Defining the waist line accentuates any curves you have, which gives me a little boost in the bust and a big bud-onka-donk boost in the rear. No complaints here.
Point being, I slapped a waist-belt on this maxi and stood out on that hill and photographed everything but my ego, which is much to large to get in frame.
On the Boots
Can we talk about these BOOTS? They’ve made brief appearances on my Instagram but I have yet to talk about them here. Being from Ralph Lauren Collection, they are by far the fanciest shoes I own so far and it shows. They are beautifully constructed and designed, fit well, and that block heel makes them very wearable.
I linked a similar pair from the same brand below. They are pricey, but if you’re in a place where you’d like to invest in some basics you can’t go wrong. I also included a similar looking pair from See by Chloé which are less expensive, although by no means cheap. Let me know if you’d like more affordable options and I’ll hop to it!
I prefer to wear ankle boots with caution to silhouette. Short legs + ankle boots = impression of even shorter legs, if I’m not careful. A lot of folks nowadays are wearing ankle boots with shorts and skirts and I say, GO FOR IT! But for me, at least right now, I find that having the boot ending at the ankle, a boxy expanse of leg, then another horizontal line at the hem of whatever bottom I’m using doesn’t create a line that I like on my body.
To counteract this effect, I either pair ankle boots with a maxi dress or skirt, or with dark denim. Easy peasy. If you ever see me in ankle boots with shorts or a shorter skirt. I would be stepping WAY outside my comfort zone. Maybe one day.
The Extras
Simple accessories here – geometric earrings that I’ve had for ages and a black beaded necklace that also appeared in this post.
Boots: Ralph Lauren Collection
Fado Prom
These photos are a bit moodier than usual, which I find appropriate given the weather and the tone of the clothing. Working on this post, I kept mentally calling it “Fado Prom” because the all-black-moodily-accepting-your-fate tone of this shoot reminds me of old-timey Fado singers (click here for info on Fado).
Also of note: we may be hearing a lot more about Fado soon, since Madonna’s new album is said to be heavily inspired by Portuguese music. Heyyy—ooooh! At some point I’ll do a post on Fado. Would that be interesting to you?
Signing off with love,
Stig
