Morning Line: August 20
Aug 20, 2015
Gabby Skye Printed Sheath Dress ($58)
Sheath dresses are a wardrobe staple for me. You can add a jacket or a cardigan as necessary, or just jazz it up with cool accessories.
This short sleeve sheath is a great option. Â If you want basic black, I own this Anne Klein sheath and love it. Â Need some color? Â Try this blue dress from Ellen Tracy or this one from Marc New York. Â I also like this burgundy dress from Andrew Marc.
Prefer long sleeves?  I like this Bailey44 dress in blue.  ThisMerona ponte sheath has a elbow-3/4 length sleeve.
Need sleeveless dresses? Â Jones New York makes the best utilitarian sheath. Â I also love this Adrianna Papell sheath in a mix of blue and black.
Plus-size? This Calvin Klein sleeveless sheath with a double belt is awesome. Â I also love this Connected sheath in dark teal.
Petite? Try this berry-colored NY Connection sheath. Â Try this Ellen Tracy sheath in black, white, or green.
Tall? Try this fitted, sleeveless sheath from The Limited. Â This basic black Liz Claiborne sheath is also worth a look.
I love your work dress posts. You always find the best ones!
I’m a pretty drastic pear shape (granted I have a D cup but my shoulders and waist are pretty small (size 4-6) in comparison to my hips/butt (anywhere from 8-12 depending on the brand). Because of this, I’ve always steered clear of sheaths, because, although I love the look on other women, I find that I would have to buy at least 2-3 sizes bigger to accommodate my hips. Even in this case, which would require serious tailoring on the top, I think I would still look a little vavavoom because of my shape. As a result, I’ve stuck mostly to a-lines/fit and flare style dresses. But the problem then becomes that while a-lines with sleeves are perfect, I find that combining an a-line without sleeves with blazers ends up looking pretty dowdy (unless the blazer is VERY fitted, I look quite mom-ish from the back). Am I destined to a sheath-less, dowdy future?
Why do you care how you look from the back? You’re at work. Ideally, no one’s checking out the rear view.
I mean…if I didn’t care how I looked at work, I probably wouldn’t be on this website in the first place. As Belle seems to understand, there’s a big correlation from how you look to how you are treated at work, whether you like it or not. I’ve made the leap from Hill staffer to lobbyist and want to make sure my look, whether it be too immature or too dowdy, doesn’t take away from my work.
Do you walk out of a room backwards? Not caring about how you look from behind is like not brushing the hair on the back of your head. To the post specifically, have you tried buying dresses that fit your largest area and having them tailored everywhere else?
Not brushing the hair on the back of your head would make you look unkempt, which raises questions about whether your work is also sloppy. I’m not clear on how looking more broad in the beam from behind than you’d like is supposed to reflect on your professionalism . . .
I guess my point is that the most professional look is not always going to be the most flattering, and that seems to be a particular risk for curvy women (I’m one myself.) Certain bodies are just more likely to be read as “sexy.” Sometimes you have to prioritize workplace-appropriate over the silhouette that strikes you as the most flattering for your shape, or else spend a ton on tailoring, which OP already said she didn’t want to do.
But if I don’t want to look dumpy from the front, why would would I be ok with looking dumpy from the back?
Do you have any recommendations on finding great work dresses on Amazon? I clicked through to your links, which led me to the black hole of loving the “recommendations” on the bottom of the page. Unfortunately, a lot of the dresses I clicked on didn’t have my size. I’d love a beginners guide to finding great dresses on Amazon 🙂
Sheath dresses and blazers are my work uniform too. If you live in the South, get thee to a Dillard’s Outlet IMMEDIATELY. I have found SO MANY fabulous work dresses, especially their house brand, Melani as well as Calvin Klein there. Everything is 65% off retail, and then they add extra sales on top of up to 70%!
Another amazing sheath (sizing up is a “must”) I recently added to my closet is the Seamed Pencil Dress from Felicity & Coco at Nordstrom: https://shop.nordstrom.com/s/felicity-coco-seamed-pencil-dress-nordstrom-exclusive-regular-petite/4148029
It is a bit on the pricier side, but so worth it! A staple for years.
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