What I Wore: Summer Shirtdress
dress | shoes | bracelet | bag | lipstick
Dress: c/o ellos (M) | Shoes: Aerosoles | Bracelet: c/o cabi | Bag: bought at a boutique years ago (similar) | Lipstick: L'Oreal ‘Eva's Red'
If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you got a sneak peek of this dress this weekend. I can't believe this is the first time this dress is in an outfit post (it was in this post about the Strong Women in Fashion event). This dress has become one of the hardest working pieces in my wardrobe. Since it's 100% cotton, it's very comfortable in the heat and humidity.
I've worn it to work, I've worn it on the weekends with Converse Shorelines and flat sandals, and here I dressed it up a bit with these wedge sandals from Aerosoles (love them, they are sooo comfy), and a clutch I picked up several years ago from a boutique in Rehoboth Beach.
I had a dress similar to this one years ago (see it here), but I literally wore it to death. It got faded, threadbare in places, and I had replaced lost buttons multiple times. It was such a perfect dress, it became my uniform back when I'd be Karl's assistant on wedding photo shoots. I'd clamp a fanny pack on, fill my pockets with batteries and memory cards, and run around capturing shots, smoothing trains, and wrangling relatives. I was sad to donate the dress, I never thought I'd find something similar until I saw this one at ellos. This dress comes in five different colors/prints and goes from size 10/12 to 38/40.
ellos reached out and asked if I'd like to try some of their collection; I ordered a box full of items since the line is new to me. My two absolute favorite pieces are this dress, and this top (which unlike the title is not off the shoulder). I wear each of them weekly. I also wore their denim jacket in this outfit post. I found their pants and jeans to be too narrow for my calves, but well made. I'm considering these jeans; think they'd look great with striped tees, in the winter with a black turtleneck, and I bet would look great with this red blouse I wore on the blog last week.
ellos didn't sponsor this post, they only sent me some clothes to try out without expectation. But I'm happy to promote a company that has such an expansive size range, nice prices, and style without being a trend salad. The quality is good in relation to the prices. They do charge for shipping, but have free exchanges within 30 days and reasonable returns within 90 days.
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I own the same dress in white with a blue stripe, it’s the perfect summer shirtdress even for the American deep South. I particularly like how full the skirt is with the hip pleats; it feels like it stands away from your legs, so you don’t have that “Ugh, fabric touching me” feeling when it’s super hot and humid. Love your look!
That dress fits and suits you perfectly! Win!
Thank you!
This dress is probably the most flattering, sexy outfit I’ve seen you post on this blog. You look fantastic!
Oh wow, thanks Kris!
This dress looks great on you! I haven’t heard of ellos but now I want to take a closer look 🙂
You should! It’s a pretty nice clothing company!
One of my bugbears is button-front dresses where there is hardly any overlap on the fastening, so that with the smallest miss-fit, it will bulge open over the bust (and yes, I am wearing the correct size, although I do have quite big boobs). A corollary of this is that I usually wear a crossbody bag and , big or small, it tends to nudge the buttons open. Not a great look on the London Underground! Any advice or comments?
I suspect you’ll find better suggestions here, but before I had my breast reduction surgery (32G, so I had a definite problem with very large breasts on a small back and shoulders – prime for “button busting”) I used to stick on the little 3/8″ Velcro dots between the buttons on any shirts and dresses that had them. They work best if you give the adhesive time to set – I used to apply them when I’d steam or iron clothes, but even the night before seemed to work. They generally came off in the wash without even leaving residue, so they didn’t hurt any of my fabrics, though I’d be careful on anything especially delicate. Not ideal, but much stronger than fabric tape, and I actually had female friends wonder about how my button fronts always looked so neat. Maybe worth a shot?
Super late to this but have you tried the clothing line from Bravissimo? (I think it’s called Pepperberry although it may have rebranded.) They do their clothes with cup size adjustments and I’ve heard good things although never purchased from them. There’s a store near Oxford Circus and another one between Cov G and the Strand!
@disqus_duy66IwI4G:disqus and @disqus_rmUQLGsEO9:disqus thank you so much for your great suggestions for @ruthslavid:disqus!
What a fantastic dress and super flattering ! I have wanted something like this for a while, I will check them out. Thanks!
Thanks Kathleen!
I love Ellos! I found them (or they found me) in March. The clothes were great for all them time I spent at the hospital with my husband and they work in my life as an office manager for a small logging company. They are great quality and very comfortable.
I’m glad you found them, I think it’s a great brand!
Looks great on you! I also like the new look of the blog. I love the look of a shirt dress, but they always look funny on me. The ones I’ve tried have too much fabric from the waist down & end up looking frilly. The hunt continues.
They are a tough item to find. Too short, too fluffy, too fitted… good luck with your quest!
So adorable and affordable! And they have a polka dot version that’s calling to me…what do you suggest if I’m between sizes? I’m typically a 16/18 (large bust), but they run as M (14-16) or L (18-20).
If in doubt, I’d size up. Especially if you accidentally put in the dryer or if you have a large bust or fuller upper arms. Glad you like it, the polka dot one is so cute!
Ugh, that’s true, my husband has been known to throw everything in a load into the dryer :/ And truth be told, I may have accidentally dried something that should have been hung to dry ;p Thanks so much!
It really shows on your face when you love what you’re wearing. This is perfect on you.
Thank you!
What a great, classic style. Did you find that the dress needs ironing?
When I received it i hung it up in my closet and after a day or two most of the shipping creases were gone. After laundering yes I did have to iron it since it’s 100% cotton. I did find that it held up well; I wore the dress a second time after ironing, it wasn’t all creased from a day of wear.
Ellos has so many items — it’s be great if you reviewed some more. After I saw your dress on FB I ordered it and some other things but it was hard to order blind. More Ellos reviews, please!
I’ll try to work them in!
It fits beautifully Ally ! and I really like how your hair looks 🙂
Thank you!
Great dress on you. I love 100% cotton too, but its so hard to find.
It really is!
I love Ellos! I have that striped tee too, as well as another from them with short sleeves and a cute little pleat in the back.I also love that they are part of FullBeauty.com so I can combine orders with them and other items for one shipping cost although most of the site’s discounts don’t apply to items shipped directly from retailer (Ellos, Ulla Popken, etc.).
I have tried their striped shirt dress which is adorable but just not for me, even though like you, I have chucks that would look perfect with it. I will definitely continue to shop with them directly or otherwise.
Great shopping tip Michelle, thank you!