Well, Wendy B always says that, "Never is the next new thing" and I'm pretty certain I've said before that I would "never" wear a maxi dress, and that they look universally terrible. And yet here I am, wearing one, and liking it a great deal. A few things finally came together and prompted me to give this look a try: I'd seen Queen Michelle from Kingdom of Style and Emma at My Daily Clothes Fix look amazing in similar long striped dresses, I'd seen Sal wear long skirts to great effect last winter, and in fact when Mark and I were out in Minneapolis over the summer, Sal pointed out how big a difference there is between an unflattering mid-calf length and a true full length skirt, which further eased my doubts about wearing one.
So it was that when I saw this dress on the Forever 21 site for TEN BUCKS, the seeds of the idea had been planted and I knew I could reasonably give this sartorial experiment a whirl. For ten bucks, even if it did look terrible I could always hem it up to knee or even tunic length and it would still be worth it. The odd thing about this dress is that one of the straps is twisted; at first I looked at it and thought, "Ah, I see why it was $10 -- they sewed the straps wrong!" But when I went back and looked again at the listing, I saw that it was done that way intentionally.
To me the twist in the strap doesn't look very intentional though; it looks like a misguided afterthought. So what I ended up doing was taking a piece of black jersey and making a small, scrunched up tube of fabric that goes around the twisted part, which accentuates the difference and makes it look more finished. For this outfit I mostly wore it with the denim jacket, but next time I'll try it with the modified strap showing and you can tell me which you like better. Of course I also have 2 other options: either twist the other strap, or take the twisted one apart and sew it normally to match the other.
I thought it would feel odd and frumpy to wear a big long tube, but to be honest it didn't feel that way at all; in fact it felt sleek and elegant. I've seen lots of maxi dresses styled as summer wear, but I'm looking forward to layering this one up for some more cozy winter ensembles.Hat: ADS Hats
Jacket: Tulle, thrifted
Dress: Forever 21
Belt: Audra Jean
Socks: Sock Dreams
Boots: Bata