Not So SHORT Story: Dressing up for summer

Before 1- Kristina's typical summer style

Kristina was in desperate need of an update to her summer wardrobe.  She was tired of the tee-shirt-and-shorts look she had been wearing since, well, high school.  She felt like her look had no real style, and needed help putting together outfits.

Before 2- Kristina wanted to get away from just tees and shorts

We needed to do some serious shopping to get her ready for her trip to the Galapagos Islands next month.  Off to Bloomingdale's to take advantage of their end-of-season sales on summer clothes right now (additional 40-50% off the already reduced prices!!)...

Now you may look at this Aqua brand dress (below) on the website and move right on past it, probably because it doesn't seem very versatile.  Isn't silk too dressy for the day?  Sure Kristina could wear it on her vacation, but how was it going to translate into her day-to-day once she got home?  How do you make an outfit out of a dress?

Image of dress as styled on the Bloomingdale's website

First thing we did was to remove the belt that came with it (simple matching fabric sash style), and replace it with the rich brown Michael Kors woven leather belt.  The elasticized waist and flowy fabric of the dress were calling out for something with a little structure.  We balanced out the heaviness of the belt with this great military green jacket from Guess.  To pull the colors all together and finish off the look, we added dark brown sandals.

Re-styled dress Option 1

To change up the dress some more, we decided to keep the belt (it looked so great already), but soften the look by replacing the military green jacket with this great sleeveless cardigan in an oatmeal/tan color.  We replaced the brown leather sandals with some Marc by Marc Jacobs ballet flats to balance out the structure of the belt, and to bring back that military green color into the outfit.

Re-styled dress Option 2

Kristina left our shopping appointment happy and loaded down with shopping bags full of fresh ideas for her summer wardrobe.

What is your summer style?  How do you make an outfit out of a dress?

Dress image courtesy of Bloomingdales.com