I'm just the opposite of you: Proportionately small waist with a devil of a time finding dresses to fit and flatter. For a long time, I felt guilty about not having a LBD or a L-any color-D and hardly wearing the few dresses I do have (sheaths?) since easy breezy ones don't look good on this body. Maybe our two wardrobes combined would fulfill the *you should have* edicts out there. <gr> As everyone has mentioned above, wear what makes you happy and works for the life you lead.

I love dresses too, and this thread is encouraging me to stick with that. Very practical for my warmer climate. Like you, I enjoy having a smaller wardrobe and separates can feel more versatile, but I wear dresses so much they are getting a great CPW. Sounds like you are in this camp too. And if you have the accessories, etc. to go along, I think a dress-heavy wardrobe can be great, where you use shoes (which wear out more quickly) to show updated style. My advice to both you and me: stick with what fits, flatters and feels great.

I'm with Diana! To me, dresses are very flexible, but even if they were not, I love them for both how they can create the impression of a long vertical line (I have hips that make high-contrast tops and bottoms tricky) and in terms of how comfortable they are (the ones I wear are anyway!). But I also agree with the other comments, that they can so easily be the basis for many very different outfits depending on how one styles them. And dresses can easily take up less physical space than tops and bottoms, because most tops extend below the waist level of the bottoms. Having said that, I am quite partial to two-in-one dresses (top and skirt in matching fabric, sometimes joinable but not necessarily) too. I suppose for me it is mainly that I like the look of the long unbroken line.

I also like dresses that are freeform shapes that can be worn in all sorts of different ways -- lots of variety in one single garment.

Sarah

Yeah, I tried to limit my dresses to about 100 last year. that so totally did not work.

Ladies, thank you for the encouragement!!!! I just purchased a cobalt drapey tank dress today (which I've been hummin and hawing for WEEKS) and tried them on with my tall buckled fluevog boots and they WORK!

I've decided on a criteria for dresses:
- slim silhouette or a very slight a-line (for shift dresses)
- must be machine washable
- must be comfortable and allow movement
- tailored or draped
- must be in my tried and true neutrals (black and white) and vibrant jewel tones
- must be compatible with most of my basic footwear
- multifunctional: something I can wear to either two of the following: work (smart casual environment but can translate to business casual), casual weekends, weddings, social functions, job interviews. The odd thing is, all 6 dresses I have so far have berm worn for multiple functions! I do have one semi-formal only dress though.

Again THANK YOU for helping me out with this!!!
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I love how even though we both love dresses, there's so my style variation and "flavours" of dresses that our criteria list is almost completely opposite, and there's no "right" or "wrong" about it!

Good luck with your frocks and I look forward to seeing you be a "frock-star!"

Thank you, lyn! Yeah, we certainly have almost opposite styles when it comes to dresses! I tend to have a slight RATE or "hard edge" to my style. WIW to follow!

Frock on girl!