Such a loaded word, isn’t it? When it comes to style, “effortless” says so much … and so little. I’ve been thinking a lot lately of what it means to me, and the answer is like a slippery fish; it slides out of my grasp even as I’m confident I’ve (finally) got it down to a succinct one-liner. In lieu of that, I can say this: to me, “effortless” connotes a harmony of outfit and wearer that appears entirely natural, not contrived. It’s as if the clothes are nothing more than an extension of the person wearing them, as if they were made for the person, and made to be worn in precisely that way. Needless to say, I think varying degrees of actual effort go into the making of an effortless look. For every woman who rolls out of bed looking like a million bucks, there’s a woman who is making very deliberate choices every morning. But, in a way, I think both approaches can be considered effortless; it’s the instinct — of knowing which pieces to choose for your wardrobe in the first place, and how to wear them together in a way that’s distinctly “you” — that can’t be faked.
Sometimes, for us mere mortals, instinct is helped along by serendipity. Sometimes, a piece will come along and (metaphorically) march into your closet, pull out its perfect outfit companions, and throw itself at you. Such is the story of this MaxMara dress. As soon as I brought it home, I knew exactly what its inaugural outfit would look like. And it worked like a charm — a compliment-attracting charm.
To be perfectly honest, I thrifted this dress on impulse, because it’s a sheath (my core silhouette), a neutral floral, and made in Italy. Good enough for the $14 I spent on it. The only problem was that I could barely get into it. It looked like it should have been roomy enough (and my eyes are pretty good at guesstimating hip clearance), but I felt like Houdini in a straight-jacket trying to get it on (and off). I eventually realized that the lining was cut smaller than the dress, and decided it was a problem worth fixing. Not a cheap problem, mind you, but $28 later I can now walk (and sit) in the dress, thank goodness. It is such a classy looking number so regrets, I have none.
It’s a gorgeous dress and suits you perfectly!
Thanks, Tina!
Such a smart idea to not pair this dress with black. I would have done something predictable like that. But you have a knack of finding different, non-dominant colors to pick up in one item and build the outfit around it. I’d love to see a post where you share your top 10 outfits with unusual color coordination.
Thank you! Actually, black is always my first instinct, but I usually have to push myself to pick something different because I need variety for the blog, LOL! Blogger problems, y’all. But in this case, the greige blazer was my first choice — it kinda just jumped out at me. Not gonna lie though … I’m totally going to wear this dress with a black topper too 😉
I used to do a lot more adventurous colour pairings when I first started blogging, but it might be fun to see my evolution. It’s definitely an interesting post idea, if I can find the time to do it. Thanks for the suggestion!