I’m not generally much of one for trends. I have to really like something on its own merit, beyond just “it’s new/different/what everyone is wearing.” One “trend/style” I have been liking is the “shirts tied over dresses” look.

I like it for two reasons:

1. It extends the season for warm-weather dresses by adding a second layer

2. It increases the styling options for dresses, making them looking like a skirt+top

I think it works best over shift/swing/a-line dresses that are simple without too much detail, and dresses with a simple seam at the waist. I’ve done it with a wrap dress, but then you have the issue of the bow/knot at the side of the dress, being bunched up under the tie of the shirt. It can work, depending on the thickness of the dress fabric and width of wrap tie; but just keep this in mind when selecting a dress/shirt combination.

Speaking of shirt selection, I find the thinner, more pliable fabrics work best…otherwise you can wind up with a bulky knot…but I’ll show you a way around that in the video below.

The video demonstrates two methods of tying blouses. There are also different ways to tie tee shirts, the easiest (I think), either actually tying a knot in the fabric, or making like a fake “bun” with a ponytail elastic, both of which are shown in the last photo below. And I don’t think you can really tell the difference between the actual knot and the “bun” knot, do you?

Here are the two looks I styled in the video below…

The video is under 4 minutes…and you’ll get to see me do a fun magic trick 🙂

Other times I’ve styled my dresses this way…

Have you tried this style?

What I’m Wearing

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