HOW I STYLED A PAISLEY SHIFT DRESS FROM DAY TO NIGHT

Hi everyone,

Reading the blogs of my fellow bloggers, I have noticed how many of them posted photographs wearing paisley or floral prints outfits.  I also like prints but I seem to gravitate towards more strong geometrical prints in bolder contrasting colours rather than soft feminine paisley and floral patterns. Not being exactly sure if paisley pattern could be considered as floral, I decided to Google it.  Turned out that "Paisley or Paisley pattern is a term in English for a design using the buta or boteh, a droplet-shaped vegetable motif of Persian (i.e. Iranian) origin".  So my guess is, they are not the same.

Anyway, back to the story.  Somehow the images of all those lovely outfits that I saw might have seeped into my subconsciousness because the next think I know, I am the owner of the paisley print shift dress myself and I am loving it.

And what not to love about it:  it’s comfortable, easy to wear, simple to style, extremely versatile and is great for almost all body shapes?  As for the print, it has a lot of different colours in it which means that I can wear almost any colour accessories I could possibly think of which is great because I like accessories.

The adaptability of my new dress came very handy the other day when one day I had to move between two totally different social activities within a very short time-frame and had no time at all to come home to change.  The first one was work related and the second was a small cocktail party that we were throwing for a dear friend of ours who just published her first book.  So, what did I do? I put on my new shift dress and a pair of flats to be comfortable while running day-time errands.  I also took a rather biggish size hand bag to accommodate the things I would need during the day:  laptop, paint swatches, interior styling magazines, etc.  Knowing that I would not be able to stop anywhere for a change of clothes, all I did was pack an evening bag with a pair of smart looking high heeled shoes and gave them to my husband so he could give them to me when we met later.

It is my strong belief that a pair of shoes can make or break any outfit: a pair of gorgeous shoes could elevate a simple looking dress from casual to looking special and in reverse, no matter how expensive a dress that you wear looks, a bad looking shoe will completely ruin it.  For me an evening shoe should have a heel, the higher – the better.  It visually elongates your leg, it makes you look taller and gives you more confidence. 

I also extent this belief to the hand bags.  These two accessories play a vital role when you putting together your outfit and that’s why those were the items that I needed to turn my daytime outfit into an evening outing.

When the time came to attend an evening gathering, I just got into my husband’s car, kicked off my flats and transferred whatever I needed from the day bag into my evening one.   A fresh paint of lipstick and voila, ten minutes later I stepped out of the car looking all poised, dressed up and ready for party. 

It is my strong belief that a pair of shoes can make or break any outfit: a pair of gorgeous shoes could elevate a simple looking dress from casual to looking special and in reverse, no matter how expensive a dress that you wear looks, a bad looking shoe will completely ruin it.  For me an evening shoe should have a heel, the higher – the better.  It visually elongates your leg, it makes you look taller and gives you more confidence.

This belief also covers the hand bags.  These two accessories play a vital role when you putting together your outfit and that’s why those were the items that I knew would help me to turn my daytime outfit into an evening one.

I am wearing:  Dress - Kachel, daytime shoes - Salvatore Ferragamo, hand bag - Mulberry, watch - Horse, evening shoes - Bally, hand bag - Bulgari.

Linking up with Not Dressed as Lamb, Style Nudge, Sydney Fashion Hunter, Living on Cloud Nine, Straight Style Blog, Fashion Should be Fun