I love the sweater dress on you and I don't think the length is a problem, especially when teamed with boots.

The second dress may need shortened to give it a more flirty vibe.

The next look is fabulous, absolutely flawless and the fall version looks just as good.

Killer!! No wonder Angie was so head over heels in love with that outfit - thanks for posting it. It's an inspiration!

You look so pretty in that shade of purple, and you have the figure to wear that sweater dress! I am slowly getting used to the bare legs/slouchy boot look.
The MaxStudio dress is meh. I agree with your assessment.
Love the last two outfits! I'm going to copy that look, too. Hot!

Oooh please please keep the purple dress Marianne. It's such a gorgeous colour on you, the cut is perfect and the boots look fan-tas-tic, WOW!!!

The Max Studio dress certainly isn't bad, but if you need to return anything, I would pick this one.

Oh la la, copy away I say!-) Two perfect outfits, I think I need to copy you now! Loving your use of scarves too.

Purple is hot this fall so I love that purple sweater dress! Great color. Keep!

I love your Angie outfit. :)

Marianne, wow, that purple dress is stunning on you! I adore the color and it looks so versatile - you can wear it with leggings or tights or jeans and so many choices for accessorizing. I like the Max Studio dress too - it's cute and of course your "Angie" outfit is killer!

I like these dresses a lot. I think you could work to accessorize them many ways -- especially thinking textured hosiery, tights, perhaps a scarf or belt. Boots are a great touch, too. Wonderful.

Yay! Another frock convert! Happy dance! I love dresses! And I love them in Autumn! I just LOVE Autumn full stop! I feel so alive!

Okay, back to our lovely Marianne who looks KILLER in that purple sweater dress. Good grief! With slouch boots too. Hah! Sans hose :0). I love it. You are a fast learner. And I demand to see more dresses on your bod!

The Max Studio dress is sweet too. Keep.

I’m flattered that one of my outfits inspired you. And your Autumn version looks just as perfect. Another lass who wears purple so well :0)

I can see why Angie and Laura wanted you to post that outfit! Killer, both versions!

Loove the purple sweater dress. I like the other one too. I would keep them both.

Marianne, nice dresses! I love the first one on you. Great color. The second one is less trendy, but I like it because it fits you well and you can do a lot with it. And your last two outfits - WOW! Fabulous.

Thank you very much! *blushing*
I tried a bunch of Max studio dresses at the Rack, but they were all kind of blah on me. The empire line that many of them feature usually hits me at the wrong spot. This one seemed OK, but I am not loving the picture. It sort of makes me feel like a little girl, which is not the goal. I'll try a few combinations with it and see...maybe add something "tougher"-looking. :)
Glad the sweater dress gets thumbs up! It's very comfy.
I am still getting over my mental block wrt bare legs, as I mentioned on the blog.

marianne, I'm late to the party, bu I simply had tot ell you how HOT that purple dress looks on you!! The whole outfit is just fantastic. The Max Studio dress is sweet too. And the last two are just superb! More dresses for us please, marianne!

Marianne, where did you get that purple sweater dress...is that the Esprit one? You have a lot of luck shopping at Esprit! I think you can do better on the second dress, but it doesn't look bad. LOVE your Angie inspired outfits! I love how you wear the slouchy boots as well!

The purple dress is killer! But really, I have to tease you about the color being "too bright" ?!? Love the Angie inspired outfits as well. The Max Studio dress, I'm not crazy about but I also have a personal thing with empire dresses.

Thank you Vani, Dani and Patience! Yes, I am still a bit hesitant about bright colors.
Dani, yes, the dress is Esprit. I've been buying a lot from them since I've been home. Their stuff works very well for my lifestyle, and shipping policy is great. I just have to be careful because many of their things have a "young" look.
I will return MS dress - I can't spend much right now and might as well look for better options.