4 Different Ways to Wear a Dress When Traveling

A Dress as a Top

This is one of my favorite ways to transform a dress. Just add another skirt over it to make it look like a top only. Originally I was going to wear my black, fringe skirt over the dress.

However, while I was trying it on beforehand, the zipper broke. So I grabbed option two which is my faux leather skirt. My mom made this skirt for me, and both Nancy and mom have one also. We’ve worn them many times on the blog. Just like I talked about in my fall trends post, leather is good for any woman whether in the form of a jacket, pants or skirt.

A Dress as a Skirt

This is the other option that I’d never really considered is to wear a top or sweater over the dress to cover the top portion. You’ll see that Nancy, my mom, and Maureen, all wore longer sweaters, so you don’t see the skirt of the dress much. My sweater is shorter, so you can cover it as much or little as you want. It could be a great way to get some use out of a top or sweater that might be too short otherwise.

Nancy’s dress has some ruching on the sides which you will see when she wears it alone below. Therefore, she had to experiment with a couple of different sweaters to make them look good. This poncho is long enough to cover the ruching and its asymmetrical design makes it interesting.

What I love is she also added a third color with the necklace and her accessories. You’ll see this necklace in a post by itself in the future!! It’s not easy to see in these photos, but it’s turquoise colored.

My mom wore her pink, fuzzy sweater that she received from Soft Surroundings. She has gotten a ton of use out of this sweater because it’s so warm and comfy.

This is also a great way to add a better color near your face, if your dress isn’t your best color. It’s also the perfect way to camouflage any extra belly that might be there at the end of a cruise.

Maureen also chose a longer sweater to wear over her burgundy, tank dress. These open weave sweaters are always so great for the transitional weather. Yet if you want to wear them throughout winter, it’s easy to layer them over heavier items.

I chose a shorter sweater for this look. You can certainly see more of the bottom part of the dress this way, yet it works for any length of top.

A Dress with a Topper

I’m sure everyone has worn a dress with either a jacket, blazer or cardigan over it. To me, this is the second most obvious way to wear your dress. Especially with the dresses that are sleeveless. Yet I think this can really change the look of a dress, even though you see the dress under the topper.

For this option, my mom matched the blue panel of the hemline of the dress with a blue blazer. My mom has worn this blazer on the blog before when she was inspired by Joy Behar, from the tv show, The View.

When Maureen bought this outfit it came together as a set. But it’s a great example of how each piece can be mixed and matched so easily. Maureen wore the kimono many other times on the cruise for casual days. And in this post, you can see how the dress is super versatile.

Since my dress is a print, I wanted to play up the pinks that are in it. Since I only brought one pair of heels which were blue, I thought I’d experiment with my Walking Cradles sneakers for this look. I added in fleece lined tights because the cardigan isn’t super warm.

A long cardigan lends itself to be a topper over a dress so well. In fact, it’s almost like cape or coat. These longer cardigans are very much in style right now, and we wore some last month.

A Dress by Itself or with Accessories

Of course this is probably why we buy a dress in the first place. As something that is easy to wear because it’s one and done. This doesn’t mean you can’t add accessories and scarves to it, but you don’t have to try to match your top with your skirt.

Maureen added a black wrap with the sleeveless dress.

Seeing Nancy in her dress by itself, is a great showcase of how it’s not just a shift dress. It has all of that ruching up the sides, along with the panel in the front. Yet it proved to be just as versatile as many other dresses.

I think it’s a good example of how you may not think this type of dress could have so many options. But once you start playing around with the other items in your closet, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Since this light grey of mom’s dress could wash out her complexion, she added a blue scarf. This is one of the reasons that scarves are fabulous for us. Not only can they keep us warm, but they can add the right colors to our outfits.

Make sure to click over to the blog to find some tricks and tips I included as well as the video of us showcasing our outfits in real life.