How to warm up your dress for early spring?

April challenge: dress in the morning when it is chilly and keep the same clothes until the afternoon when it feels like summer.

For months you have been dying to wear you little summery dress.

And there, when you finally put it on, you feel like a flower in the flowers, the sun shines through the window, you go outside and boom, cruel reality hits you. It’s only 8 degrees (46 F°).

You go back in your closet and look for something to warm it up but what?

1. Something for outside

Wear your outerwear opened to add more style to your outfit.

You can complete with a scarf to warm up your neck.

You could use:

a. A biker jacket

I love to break the femininity and sometimes innocence of a dress with a biker jacket.

redpoppystories

Red poppy stories

miss pandora

Miss Pandora

Just pay attention to the volumes. Avoid to wear a bulky biker jacket (there are some very tiny ones) with a stiff skater or A line dress. Volume + volume leads to a inelegant result I think (make your own mind with pretty Emma Watson, not at her best).

Therefore:

– with tight and/or flowy dresses uses larger biker jackets

Misha by Louise Enhorning for Oystermag

Mischa by Louise Enhorning for Oyster mag

– with voluminous dresses use tighter biker jackets

If you want to add a spring feeling to your moto jacket, try different colors and fabrics: suede, pastels, etc.

b. A bomber jacket, a jean jacket, an army jacket, etc

My recommendations for those jackets are the same than for the biker jacket.

They all look very cool and therefore are for casual days.

You can also use them to break a very feminine outfit.

thelittlethingscom

The little things

Sincerely Jules 3

Sincerely Jules

c. A trench

A trench on a dress with bare legs is always effective.

trench sur robe the beauty and the geek 2

The beauty and the geek

the bubbly speckle

The bubbly speckle

You can of course opt for longer versions if you need to/like to.

d. A summer coat

Meaning any coat made from a lighter fabric. Usually cotton.

It can be stiff or fluid. Shape can be straight, A-line, boyfriend, etc.

This season it comes in lots of different prints, colors and fabrics. Perfect to make early spring feel happy!

ashley oh summer coat

Ashley Ording

2. Something for inside

I advice to wear your opened tops opened.

1. A blazer

Always chic.

Be careful, if you choose one that is too stiff and too cinched, your outfit might look very square.

I recommend fluid versions and/or the ones that fall straight, creating vertical lines.

balibulle

Balibulle

The problem with the blazer is that they do not always fit under the aforementioned outerwear.

2. A cardigan

The issue with the cardigan is that it can look mumsy.

To avoid that my tips are:

– to choose a cardigan without (or with few and bigger) buttons

– to choose a rather long version (waist lenght at least)

You can also

– choose a color that contrasts with your dress

– choose a very long version with a boho feel (therefore not very good for some offices)

And last but not least: do not close it, even with a belt on top… (I have seen that on pinterest a lot, for me it looks old stylish.)

panna lemoniada

Panna lemonadia

slouchy cardigan long dress

Unknown

The cardigan is a perfect layering option

c. A shirt

You can wear it either opened, closed or knotted.

It can be oversize or more fitted, fluid or stiff.

If you want to make it office ready, go for a neat fabric and avoid the knot option.

dahingcokr

Dahong

the style voyager shirt on dress

The style voyager

The shirt is a perfect layering option.

d. A sweater

I use this option a lot.

It transforms your dress into a skirt but you can remove it later in the day and it has the advantage of looking modern.

sweater on dress

Unknown

The above look is very laid back but you can make it work with a little black dress and a chic minimal sweater.

The sweater is a perfect layering option

e. The kimono, the light bomber, etc…

Think different shapes and different fabrics! Fashion is fun!

Alors? Ready for dresses?

Comments
8 Responses to “How to warm up your dress for early spring?”
  1. Bambi says:

    Hello,

    Je ne me lasse pas de ton Blog… Merci pour cette mine de conseils applicables IRL!
    Tes articles m’ont déjà sauvée de quelques situations “stylistiquement” périlleuses 😉
    Suggestions à l’occasion… Comment s’habiller quand on est (très) petite (1,59m)?… Et mon favori du moment (ils attendent malheureux dans ma penderie) Comment porter la “veste-kimono”?… Si ça se porte encore, sans quoi ces jolis cadeaux attendront le prochain turn-over “modesque” d’ici une dizaine d’années, LOL.

    Surtout n’arrête pas d’écrire, j’aime le fond & la forme, et adapter “Dress like a Parisian” à “mon” Bruxelles est devenu un vrai passe-temps plaisir!

    Merci pour tout ça,
    Bambi

  2. Margaux says:

    Salut,

    J’adore ce blog et en ai dévoré tous les articles en deux jours après l’avoir découvert, il est vraiment top !
    Je me permets de suggérer un sujet pour un prochain article, parce que c’est quelque chose qui me pose problème tous les jours en ce moment : Comment superposer une veste d’extérieur sur une veste d’intérieur pour avoir du style dans les deux situations ? J’ai beaucoup de mal à ne pas me sentir trop serrée ou stylée, notamment quand je dois porter une veste de tailleur en intérieur, et que je n’ai pas la possibilité de la dissimuler complètement sous un gros manteau.
    J’espère que cette idée sera une bonne source d’inspiration 🙂

    Margaux

  3. V says:

    Bonsoir,

    Ça ouvre le champs des possibilités.
    C’est avec ce type de posts que l’on se rend compte qu’il nous faut trouver LA PIECE avec les tons et les proportions justes.
    La chose n’est pas aisée, demande de l’exercice et un œil aiguisé ( le notre ou celui d’une personal styliste 😉

    On peut par la suite étirer sa garde-robe a l’infini..et par la même entamer sereinement une detox de sa penderie.

    C’est bluffant
    Bonne fin de week-end

  4. Alex says:

    This post was very useful (I love pretty summer dresses but. living in London, I never go anywhere in summer without a jacket in case it rains).

    Would it be possible for you to do a post on choosing a capsule wardrobe for a holiday – e.g. if you are only taking cabin luggage for a city break?

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