Last week on a warm day a friend of mine showed up to 8:30am drop off at Henry’s school in a very casual 3/4 sleeve dress just above the knee and a messy top knot bun. Maybe some light pink lip gloss and a little blush. Not too sexy or showy, but feminine, fun, and confident. I on the other hand was wearing leggings, a sweatshirt, and a baseball cap thrown over my dirty morning hair. It really didn’t take more effort for her to get dressed than I, but she looked so much more put together!
Ever since (and even though the warm weather hasn’t returned yet) I’ve been on the search for a few casual, easy, everyday dresses to add to my wardrobe and I quickly realized why I don’t have many: they are really hard to find for a few different reasons…
The biggest issue being length! So many dresses are just too short to be practical as a mother who runs around from work to school to soccer games and dinner prep during the day wearing so many different hats. I’m 5’4 and I’ve found for me that means a dress needs to be at least 34-35′ long from the shoulder (most companies tell you that measurement on the site), hitting right at or above the knee.
Another reason is versatility. I want a dress that can be paired with virtually any kind of shoe (bootie, flip flop, converse, oxford) to transition from one activity to another.
Fabric is a huge one: it has to be something I can throw in the wash so I can collect rocks with Henry without worrying about dirt and dry cleaning (white is okay if I can spot clean or bleach it at home).
Below are a few I’ve come up with that fit most of these criteria. But I’d love to hear, do you have a favorite casual dress you love? If I did another no jeans challenge soon would you do it with me?
(white smock above which I have a similar version of in a slightly longer length)
1. Denim dress (boy do I love this one)/2. Gray Striped $67.99/ 3. Midi black $56.44/ 4. Blue and red $52.99/ 5. Simple jersey dress $19.99/ 6. Summer embroidered dress $79.99 (love this style) 7. Striped wrap dress $74.99/ 8. Striped ponte dress $69.99/ 9. Blue eyelet $137.99 (so pretty)/10. Paisley dress $168
Also, I love the casual ‘play’ dresses at Sonnet James and lots of pretty reasonably priced ones at Ruche.
Oh, and if you’re up for something a little fancier: Boden is having a great sale right now on their spring dresses through tomorrow. This gingham, the flowershow, and white eyelet dresses are on my wishlist.