Black & White Striped Dress – how to love it (a Pinterest re-do)

I don’t know if you kids have noticed, but for the latter part of June and the early part of July, America has been on fire. And I mean that both literally in terms of Colorado, and figuratively in terms of the temps everywhere else. Usually those of us living below the Mason Dixon line have the market cornered on extreme Summertime heat. Not this year:

That’s a 106 over Nashville. One HUNDRED and six degrees. That is a lot of degrees.

Let me just say that it is very hard to dress for one hundred and six degrees because you are immediately going to sweat through anything you put on. So both I and the dying grass in my front yard were super-excited for the rain and the break in temps that came with it this week. Now I can finally wear clothing that covers more than the bare minimum that is appropriate in public! Maybe even something with sleeves! Maybe even something like this dress:

J. Crew Striped Dress (formerly, but no longer available at theoutnet.com) – $63

What a cute little knit dress!! And had the temps in Nashville not been equivalent to those on the surface of the sun, I would be living in something quite similar this Summer.

As you probably already figured out by the title of this post, I discovered this dress on Pinterest. And someone had styled it like so:

I don’t like this. I especially don’t like the pair of pantyhose someone fashioned into a scarf. I mean, I’m all for reusing items in your wardrobe, but this is a step too far.

Instead, I would reuse the dress and make it work across several seasons. How? I’m SO glad you asked. Here’s how I would wear that dress in our now moderately-climated Summer:

I am currently obsessed with bow belts. And I’ve always been obsessed with mixing patterns. Here I’m doing it by treating the black and white stripe as a neutral and adding a fun tribal-inspired wedge. I pulled the pink from the shoe to add a pop of color with the bag and I suggest wearing your hair up to show off a fab pair of gold hoops.

But as I’ve sadly been reminded by the flurry of e-mails from retailers in the past week announcing their new arrivals, Fall is just around the corner. (Insert frowny-face here). Let’s take a look at how I would roll this dress over into Autumn:

I love the idea of punching up a casual outfit with a fancy accessory like this gold bib necklace. And you can never go wrong with a classic denim jacket like the one here. *

*Unless you are pairing it with more denim on the bottom. I don’t care how many times magazines and stylists try to convince me it’s okay – denim on denim is NEVER okay.

And finally, because I was so judge-y about the Pinterest look above, here’s how I would wear this dress come Winter:

Even though Winter is my very least fave season, I think this might be my very most fave look. I do love a good black and brown combo and nothing ties the two together better than our old friend leopard print. Add in the always versatile turquoise earrings and the handbag I would sell my soul to own and you have one killer look for cold temps.*

*Which I’m starting to think we may never see again. But just in cases.**
**Name that movie and we can be friends.

So are you kids enjoying the recent cool down? Or do you long for the days of sweaty hair on your neck and legs that stick to your carseat? Try looking at the pieces in your wardrobe with a new eye towards transitions and you’ll be ready no matter what the weather fairy brings. Happy almost Friday!!