With Christmas just a week away and New Years Eve around the corner I felt it neccesary to feature my wardrobe hero for the holidays– the shift dress. In the right color and fabric with a sharply tailored cut, the shift dress is perfect for Christmas dinner at your in-laws, happy hour with the girls, a dinner date with your guy, or a holiday party at the club. I love the simplicity of the shift dress’s silhoutte because it allows daintly details like tea length sleeves, a tulip hem, lush fabrics and rich colors to stand out creating an understatedly classic and elegant look.
Another aspect that I love about the simplicity of the shift is that with different accessories, jewelry, shoes, and coats, you can wear the dress time and again year after year but always in a fresh way. Because of its versatility you really only need about 3-4 great shift dresses in your closet. What do I mean by a great shift dress? First, it has to fit you absolutely perfectly, so this is definitely an item to take to your tailor to make sure it’s just right. I like my shift dresses fitted in the shoulders for a feminine look, but with a slightly looser skirt. Other than being incredibly comfortable to wear, the seemingly more modest looser skirt actually is much more flattering than a tighter fit both for the behind and the legs. Secondly, pick dresses in equisite fabrics and rich colors. My go-to shift dresses are in crepe, silk, and wool, and jewel tone shades of red and green, as well as a cat print.
I really love jewel tones because they bring such vibrancy to a woman’s natural beauty. Rich jewel tones look beautiful colorblocked with other jewel tones making for a very fun holiday look reminiscent of Who-ville holiday attire (totally a good thing,) but sticking to just one jewel tone color perhaps paired with silver or gold metallics makes a very elegant statement at the holidays. With styling a shift dress, you can either make the dress the star of the show pairing it with neutrals, or alternatively use it as a canvas for statement accessories, shoes, or coats. I didn’t do it here, but one styling trick that I often use for shift dresses in the winter time is layering a crisp button up shirt underneath. This is a great way to make your sleeveless or short sleeved shift dresses appropriate for colder climates, and it adds structural and textural elements to the dress.
I came across this dress last year when it was a new release and was totally smitten with it. Even though I was head over heels, I didn’t exactly need a new shift dress at the time and decided to wait it out. Alas, the Mister and I took our boys to the mall the week after Christmas and sure enough I found the dress in my size 40% off. I took that as a sign it was meant to be, so it became mine 🙂 . What drew me to this dress was the deep shade of emerald green, the beautiful wool crepe fabric, and the faux wrap skirt. All very subtle features, but it’s the small things that make a big impact. I like the Christmassy pairing here of the emerald green dress and gloves with a red lip and shoes, but this dress really can be worn in so many different ways. I wore it to a holiday party at the Duquense Club last night with gold metallic heels, silver and gold jewelry, and a navy and red color block overcoat and it felt like an entirely new dress.
The versatile shift dress is a great piece to pack in your suitcase for the weekend because you can wear it during the day with some boots or flats, and then swap for statement jewelry and heels for an evening of dinner and drinks. With a blazer layered ontop, a shift dress is also great for workdays during the holidays. To save from running home for a change, all you need to do is swap the blazer for some bedazzled jewelry and you’re ready to toast your way through the slew of holiday parties on tap for the evening.
If you happen to be on the lookout for a new shift dress to add to your collection, here are some great frocks available now:
