I know what you're thinking, how hard can it be to wear a dress? What's the point in this column? Are we running out of ideas? Do we just like putting up really embarassing photos of ourselves for you lot to laugh at?
But seriously, many people are scared of this season's new staple item - the maxi dress - so, yet again the girls at Shiny Towers have road-tested the look so you know exactly what you're letting yourself in for before you buy. Both Gemma and I turned up on one of the hottest days of the year so far 'working' our takes on the look.
[left: Laura doing her best Posh Spice impression and Gemma doing 'shocked at how much fabric there is in a £14 dress']
Laura: It's always a bit of a gamble when getting dressed in the UK as the weather is incredibly unpredictable. Usually I stick to the rule of 'if I wear boots it will be sunny, if I wear flip flops it will definitely rain'. Despite this, I decided to be adventurous on Tuesday morning and wore my maxi dress over a plain white tee with my trusty Havaianas flip-flops.
I bought my dress last year from ASOS (it's in the style of Paris Hilton, apparently) but unfortunately never really got an opportunity to wear it. I think I associated maxi dresses with major dressing up events and was slightly afraid to wear it casually. But in the name of research, I gave it a go.
Whilst travelling to Shiny Towers a noticed a few people looking at my dress (its pretty hard to miss). It was hard to judge whether they were looking at me thinking, "she'd better be going to a wedding in that dress," or, "ooh a maxi dress, what a great idea." I also encountered a few problems on the long tube escalators where I was convinced it would get caught (could be very embarrassing).
It was very comfortable, although mine was more fitted and less flowing than other maxi dresses which are available. The length is also an issue as surely there need to varying lengths of the maxi dress? I got lucky with mine but other friends have complained about all of them being too long for her.
Gemma: After speaking the other day about 'taming' the over-voluminous empire maxi dress by adding a waiscoat, I decided it was only fair I gave the look a little street test of my own. I even went for the exact same £14 Primark dress. I topped it with a past-season waistcoat from George at Asda. it's not the perfect match but good enough for a trial!
The dress - and this probably won't surprise you - was obviously not made with 'normal' women in mind. it's generously cut where you don't need it, but skimpy on the bust. I'm wearing a size 12 in the picture and still found myself to drowning in fabric, giving me a nice 'I could be pregnant' look. At 5'7 I'm fairly tall, but I still had to wear high platform wedges and adjust the straps as much as possible so I wasn't dusting the streets of London as I walked. The downside of this was that the flimsy cups of the 'bra' part of the dress kept slipping up above my actual bra. Not a good look! The waistcoat helped hide this and keep all that excess volume hidden, but it also more or less hid the fact it was a dress in the first place.
On the good side, I was out of my house for all of two minutes before an off-duty bus driver shouted "lovely dress, darlin'!" at me as I walked past. Was he being sarcastic? Do I care? I was greeted in the office by coos of 'oooh, you look nice, what a lovely dress' etc etc, but folks in Sainsbury's were less impressed as I got the hem caught in my sandal and hobbled around the fruit and veg section. it was also a nightmare dealing with that much fabric on a rush-hour tube train.
I think if I'm to really fall for the maxi dress, I'll be following Laura's lead and going for something with less volume next time. Maxi dresses can be flattering, but because they make a statement, you have to be careful to pick a dress that doesn't wear you!
