See these Awesome Maxi Dress Outfits

Maxi dresses are a summer staple for the weekend and vacation. Here you find various ideas how to wear a maxi dress in a modern way.

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A Maxi Dress Is not Like The Long Dresses of the Early 20^th Century

In the 60s, Oscar de la Renta designed the maxi dress as we know it today. It is an informal dress fitted around the chest with a flowy floor- or ankle length skirt leading to a breezy silhouette. It comes in various prints, colors and textures and is typically made of light cotton or polyester. Necklines range from holder neck, over V-neck, scoop or crew neck and even crawl neck. They may or may not have sleeves. The maxi dress is quite different from the long dresses of the late Victorian or Edwardian Eras Motor Fashion.

On the contrary, the long dresses of the pioneer time had full skirts and were worn often with several underskirts. Their necklines were high and they always had sleeves.

On What Occasions Can You Wear a Maxi Dress?

A maxi dress is very versatile. Depending on how you style it, it works for beach outfits and beach weddings, summer vacation and garden parties, date or girls’ night, dancing and even on Casual Friday for the office in casual work environments.

Here I am showing one of my dance dresses. I wear this red beauty for our smooth dance performances this year. The title of the song is Lady in Red.

Note that dance dresses are often custom-made. Sometimes I make them myself. See this post with a tutorial to make a maxi dress.

How to Style Breezy Maxi Dresses

Of course, the footwear and accessories depend on where you go, what you will do and finally on the vibe of the maxi dress. As a rule of thumb, wear your breezy maxi dress with sandals except when you wear it for a dance performance. Pairing your piece with simple sandals in a neutral color is playing it safe. Strappy heels are best for petites, while tall women can wear this floor-length beauty with flat sandals. Try wedge espadrilles or gladiators. For a very relaxed resort style look or vacation vibe fancy flip flops can make a statement.

A Bohemian style maxi looks great with ethnic jewelry, suede fringe clutch and strappy rough leather sandals. A glam style asks for a patent leather or metallic clutch and metallic or patent leather strappy high heels when you go to a club or indoor cocktail party. Avoid heels for a beach wedding, garden party or back yard BBQ.

Make an informed decision to wear the right look in every situation by looking up what to wear when in How to Dress for Success in Midlife. Buy my book now.

Who Can Wear a Maxi Dress?

Every woman, but she has to pay attention to her body type with respect to the cut to get the proportions right. A maxi dress can easily overwhelm the frame of a petite woman like me. Thus, when you are petite and absolutely want to don this style, go for a sleek version and wear it with heels or wedges. It may be that you have to shorten it to avoid trip hazards. You can find a tutorial how to shorten a high-low hem dress at this link.

August Stylish Monday IG Party

Now let’s take a peek at how the other hostesses  style their maxi dresses. Visit these ladies’ blogs to see their looks in more details as well as to read what they have to say about this summer favorite.

Photos of me: G. Kramm

Other photos: Courtesy to these bloggers

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