This was one of the dresses in my wardrobe that I never quite had the confidence to wear. I thought maybe it didn’t suit me, maybe it didn’t flatter me or show of “my best assets” (insert one million eye rolls). Maybe it didn’t fit me right, or it gave me Madonna pointy boobs. I try to ignore them, but the old magazine advice headlines “Don’t cut off your legs at the thickest part!” “Don’t wear flats with a longer skirt!” stick in my head like demons to bat off my shoulder. But after doing a massive minimisation of my wardrobe it survived for one reason.
I like it. I feel like it really fits in to a personal style that I’ve developed for myself. I’ve never really got comfortable with super tight clothing. You couldn’t get me in a bandage dress for a dare. And in my college years I would have been embarrassed by it. I would have thought it would be scoffed at for not dressing to “show off” my figure. It was a pair of mom jeans, strangely, that helped me turn that corner. Longtime readers might know, the saggier the better in my opinion: I love them. So roomy, so comfy – I even buy them bigger to make them saggier. My butt most definitely looks horrendous but I absolutely don’t care.
That was my style changing point: I got rid of anything that I dreaded putting on because I wasn’t comfortable in them and relished all the things that I thought were too “aging” like chunky kitten heels over stilettos.
So here it is, a not so little black dress that I now love. I call it “my grown up LBD”. I wear it like this with jewellery for fancy occasions, or throw on a denim jacket and flats for a more casual look. When Sam and I went to the interactive Gatsby play a few weeks ago, I even jazzed it up and wore some accessories to make it suit a 20s flapper look. These aren’t the best outfit photos I’ve ever taken; my hair is frizzy because of the drizzling rain and I got massive goosebumps halfway through. But I’m trying hard to ignore nonsense imperfections because hey, I have a dress that I really love.
What’s your take on the little black dress?
