I live in a very warm climate where summer dresses are a necessity, but I struggle with them for two reasons:

1) I have a wide waist. I'm not apple shaped - my stomach is flat - but I really do not have a defined waist. What makes it worse, and much more frustrating given the clothing options I find most often, is that any attempt to create a waist just makes the skin under the belt or cinched area stick out on the sides so I look fatter than I actually am.

2) I lift weights so I have large biceps. I don't mind that per se, but sometimes I don't want to draw attention to them because I just get tired of people saying dumb things about them. ("Do you work out??" Um, what do you think?)

My ideal summer dress is a t-shirt dress but I actually find them pretty hard to find. And also, I would like to wear more than one kind of dress. I feel like I tend to dress very boring and I hate it. But, it just seems like everything out there is elastic at the waist and sleeveless.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what I should be looking for to create the illusion of a waist without drawing attention to the widest part of my waist, and to de-emphasize my linebacker upper body? I am looking for casual and work outfits.

Thanks so much.

-Rachel