Many people believe that separates lead to more outfit options than dresses. After reading this post you can maximize your wardrobe options with your separates as well as your dresses.
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- Look at Your Dress Not Only As a Dress
- Dress as Shirt
- Dress As Skirt
- Look at Your Clothes beyond Their Obvious Purpose
Look at Your Dress Not Only As a Dress
Dresses can be very boring when one wears them always the same way. Thus, when I buy a dress I always imagine it as a dress, skirt and shirt. In this game, of course, living in Alaska is a great help. When adding a cardigan, sweater, vest or skirt one adds some extra insulation. That extra layer comes in handy when it is cold outside. That means you can get some extra mileage out of by also wearing your summer dress in spring and fall with some layers added. Furthermore, it looks like you have tons of clothing and/or an infinity closet.
Dress as Shirt
Garments with sleek skirts are great candidates to serve as shirts under a wide skirt. Also try a knit dress under a skirt or a sheath. More on how to wear knit dresses in different ways in the guide at the link.

Wear your dress as a shirt with a skirt. Maximize your outfits. Click To Tweet

Dress As Skirt
Fit-and-flare dresses are perfect candidates to be worn as a skirt with a sweater or cardigan as a top. A perfect separates apprearance.

Stylist tip: Add a belt over the sweater/top to enhance the seaparate appearance. Or pin the sweater so it looks like a half-tuck.


You have seen this dress before several times this summer, for instance, styled as a floral summer robe with a black cardigan and another time I wore this floral dress with a leopard print cardigan as top. It actually was one of my favorites because of the bold colors on the nude print. In case you missed the looks, see the posts at the links.

Wear a dress as skirt to get another outfit from your closet. Click To Tweet
Look at Your Clothes beyond Their Obvious Purpose
I like to look at any item in my closet beyond its original purpose to get new additional outfits. In this OOTD, I wear my floral summer dress as a skirt as days now already feel like fall here in Interior Alaska. Below I added a couple of other outfits with this dress to demonstrate the possibilities. But that’s not all. There are many other garments that you can wear differently. See this comprehensive guide how to get more wear out of your wardrobe.
Wear your cardigans also as tops to get more wear out of your wardrobe. #Styletip Click To Tweet
Do you wear a dress also as a skirt? Which of the above outfits is your favorite?
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Photos: G. Kramm
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