Friday, January 16, 2015

Fashion Over Fifty: Is It a Short Dress or a Long Top?

 Hello!  I was wearing this dress of my daughter's last Sunday when someone asked "Where do you buy your long tops?  I can never find tops long enough to cover my butt when I wear leggings."  I didn't have the heart to tell her that I wasn't wearing a top at all, but a short dress, so I just replied "It's my daughter's.  When she was home for Christmas we exchanged some clothes.  I kept a few of hers, and she took a few of mine, and we'll get them back next time we see each other.  It's like having new clothes without having to buy any!"
But my friend's question got me thinking.  Is it a long top or is it a dress?  Well, I think that depends on who's wearing it!  In the religious circles I run in, this would be way too short to wear as a dress.  But, put a pair of leggings underneath, and it's perfectly acceptable.  However, if I were to start blog surfing, I would find lots and lots of pictures of women wearing skirts and dresses this short. Even though midi skirts are making a huge comeback, and maxi's were all the rage last summer, short skirts are still very, very popular.   Technically, this is a dress I'm wearing.  But I could never wear it as a dress, so I pair it with a pair of black leggings and wear it as a long tunic.

Because the dress is polyester, it is very comfortable, and the leggings keep my legs super warm.  Sometimes if I think a dress is too short, I'll wear tights underneath, like I did with this outfit HERE.  But this dress was even a few inches shorter than the skirt I had on in that photograph, so leggings were a better choice.

For shoes, I wore silver metallic flats (old).  If your wondering how I wear shoes like this in my climate, I don't wear them outside.  I wear my "protects up to - 40 degrees" Kamik  boots whenever I walk outside and I put my flats inside my large bucket bag.

My leggings actually have a cute little zipper detail on the outside by the ankle but they didn't show up in the photograph too well.

For jewelry I wore a gold and black necklace (old) from Charming Charlie's, and a white and black bracelet (old).


There is a constant on-going debate about the appropriate way to wear leggings.  I, like most fashion designers and stylists, believe that leggings ARE NOT pants and the only correct way to wear them is with a tunic or dress that covers your butt.  However, no matter how many times this is preached, I can't set foot outside my door without seeing one or more women wearing leggings as pants.  Sometimes I think part of the problem is that it is hard to find long tops or sweaters that cover the butt.  Even the ones that are advertised as 'long' only go about half way down from the button of your pants.  However, there are plenty of short dresses out there, so if you want to wear leggings, check out the dress department!  Sweater and sweatshirt dresses especially are perfect to wear with leggings:  check out these posts  HERE, HERE, and HERE as examples.

So what about you?  Do you have any clothes that were originally designed to wear one way but you re-purposed them and wore them a different way?  I love it when people are creative with their clothes. I'd love to hear some of your ideas.

I'm linking up with Trendy Wednesday,  Sophisticated Style, and I Feel Pretty,  join us if you can!

Have a great day!  Amy


4 comments:

  1. I just love that dress with the leggings and your necklace goes perfectly with it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Amy, Love your outfit and the snow in the background. Stay warm, God Bless...Kathy

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love this trick! I have a lot of dresses that double as top :)

    xo,
    Abby
    http://www.fashchronicles.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love the outfit! Thank you for joining the Trendy Wednesday Link Up!

    Leanne,
    Classy Yet Trendy
    http://www.classyyettrendy.com

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. I love feedback from my readers. If you have a blog, I always return the love by visiting within a week whoever leaves a comment.