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About: Outfit Formula: Dresses Over Pants

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Sometimes you know exactly why

April

Veteran

I had commented today that I can't bear a dress over a pair of clearly unrelated pants. Sometimes it's hard to know why you dislike something but in this case I know exactly why.

I grew up in New England and my mother felt little girls should only go to school in dresses. So in winter, she would make me put on corduroys under a dress. Bunchy, uncomfortable, overheated by 10 am, and most of all not in any way cute. Especially when paired with hand-me-down boys' snow boots from my brother.

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34 replies

Latest reply was from Zaeobi

Lana

(website)

Veteran

I feel this way about plaid sine I went to a catholic all girls high school. It’s taken me a long time to try it again.

Jules

Veteran

Oh boy April, I seem to remember my mother doing the same, except that it was my idea to wear dresses in cold weather. Not a good feeling! But ironically, these days I do wear dresses over jeans.

Vildy

Veteran

I was a little girl in Massachusetts and while it was surely cold, it wasn't the weather that put me in dresses over pants. I was sent to a strict ultra-Orthodox Jewish parochial school and they forced girls who needed to wear pants - they were called leggings or snow pants at the time and were baggy and matched my coat - to wear a dress anyway. I kept trying to get the grownups to explain this to me but they wouldn't because it's a Jewish law not to put a stumbling block in front of the blind. If somebody breaks the law but doesn't realize, you aren't supposed to inform them because now they might be breaking it on purpose. I only learned this in college doing a research paper on this kind of stuff. My family was *not* religiously observant, though a generation back they were, and so many things I found out about their inexplicable behavior became ohhhh moments for me.

Bijou

Veteran

Yes! Certain clothes can evoke memories. Whilst I liked my school, I did not like the ugly school uniform which was a most unappealing shade of dark green and the summer uniform colour was even worse. I was envious of my brother whose school had a lovely uniform in black and grey with red trim.

April

Veteran

Vildy - high five, fellow Bay State gal! (and yes, we too called snow pants leggings)

I'm glad I'm not the only one with clearly identifiable wardrobe triggers.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oh, I did this too, April. Bunchy and horrid. Especially with the snow boots (galoshes) and the mitts and hats....

No wonder I rarely try this look and never feel great in it. Had not made the connection.

Roberta

Veteran

Ha, I just commented on the blog that I had to wear dresses to school in the late 60s, and in Ohio winters we necessarily wore pants under them. We took them off once we got to school. I never minded this look, because I never really liked dresses all that much, and that might be why I like the dress over pants look so much today.

cat2

Veteran

Ha! So true. My junior high school gym clothes were some weird concoction that looked like a boiler suit on top and had massive bloomers on the bottom. I am still repelled by fashion overalls.

rachylou

Veteran

I’ve wondered about this, dresses and winter, being from California and not experiencing snow fall until I was like 20! Now I know the answer!

pirouette

I went to convent catholic school which was pretty strict Our uniform was navy and light blue. I can’t wear either colour to this day although I admire it on others.

phoebe

The heck Vildy, fascinating side road there with the "stumbling block in front of the blind"

I wish someone had thought to add pants to my mandatory school skirt during the winter but the pants and dress combination is still not for me

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

That's an interesting memory, April, and very understandable that you have an aversion to the combo even now. I think I wore pants under a dress, too, in cold weather. Fortunately, it didn't create such a lasting or negative memory for me. I'm fascinated by Vildy's reminiscence also!

Janet

(website)

Veteran

This is related to why I don't like the shorter full-length pants for myself. They remind me of wearing flood pants as a growing girl -- my legs have always been long relative to the rest of me, and I hated getting teased for wearing too-short pants!

April

Veteran

Another response to Vildy's Judaic scholarship:

We have a relative who became ultra Orthodox in adulthood. His parents could not be more secular, and he spent years telling them all the laws they were breaking.

I consulted with my rebbe (an Orthodox friend whose name rhymes with rebbe) on this topic and asked if there wasn't some Talmudic teaching against hectoring others on Jewish law. She did not mention the stumbling block idea but referred to a far more famous rule: Honor thy father and mother.

Ok, back to wardrobe. Besides her "dresses only" rule, my mother also believed that little girls should never wear anything black unless they were in ballet class. When I had a birthday party to go to after ballet, she would bring a jumper (American meaning) to toss on over my leotard and instruct me to inform the mother/hostess that I had come straight from ballet.

Like a beleaguered mother dealing with 12 little girls on a Saturday had nothing better to think about.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oy vey. We lived through years of the hectoring young 'un. He still hectors on occasion but of course when the hectorer became a parent as well, the "honour thy father and thy mother" commandment suddenly made more sense.

BlueJay

Veteran

YUP! I also have <ahem> fond memories of wearing pants under a dress and it being "Bunchy, uncomfortable, overheated [and] not in any way cute"! (I also have bunchy memories of stuffing a dress inside traditional snow pants!) UGH!

Irina

Veteran

In my childhood I had to wear wool leggings under a school uniform dress in the winters. The legging stretched in the course of a day and were constantly sliding down on my scrawny legs and I had to hitch them up. Maybe this is a reason I avoid legging even now unless I wear them under pants or jeans.?

Kyle

Veteran

I loved fashion growing up, but the Cleveland weather, and my mother’s attempt to keep me warm, did not always cooperate. So I can understand and relate to your comment all too well.

Vildy

Veteran

You know, KarenBritChic does this look all the time and very successfully. I think the trick might be to have a smoothness to both fabrics otherwise you get the dreaded 3/4 sleeve underjacket bunching type feel.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Hah! Makes sense

Irina, I can relate!

I had to wear scratchy woolly tights as part of my school uniform in the Winter. To this day I refuse to wear tights. Sheer and pretty pantyhose is fine though. But tights are non-negotiable.

Vildy

Veteran

Hey, yeah, pantihose were good enough for Joe Namath.

April

Veteran

OMG Janet - I never had long legs but there was no way my mother was going to buy me long-enough pants if last year's pair still fit in the waist, so I too cannot bear the sense of wearing pants too short.

My little bro talks about being shamed for wearing a boys' "husky" size, not because Mom felt boys should be thin (that was for girls) but because the husky size cost more.

I have spoken before about also wearing endless hand-me-downs from a girl cousin who was 3 years older and 6 sizes larger. And tall.

Believe me, I am 100% sympathetic to the issues involved in raising children on a tiny budget. I am also 100% sympathetic to children wanting to feel comfortable, accepted, and as if they have something of a say in how they look.

Little husky bro got sent to Catholic school for one year (age 9) and used to come to me daily in tears because he had - again - misplaced his clip-on tie.

Whatever my other failings as a parent, I know I never browbeat my son into wearing anything that was stressful for him. If he wanted something beyond my (tiny) budget, the rule was I would provide what the budget version cost and he would save up and kick in the delta. Worked for us.

Indigoprint

Veteran

Same experience for me! The only difference is the pants were hand me downs from my brothers as well. I did have my own furry hat with pom-poms on the ties. I suspect it was quite a sight as I walked to school.

PamelaK

Like a few others, I also had to wear too big (wide) hand-me-down dresses that I was never going to grow into. I struggle with dress fit still - I usually opt for a skirt and quit trying to figure out what works.

And I get it, some things are just...unrecoverable. I have been able to embrace the dreaded 'flood' pants but only because the time of my ankles growing out of my pants was brief. I am sure if that same growth pattern continued, short pants would be equally not fun.

I like this look of pants under a dress - it reminds me of a fabulous area with in Chicago with wonderful diverse and creative neighbors, where I lived my first few years on my own.

Anonymous

Wow - lots of baggage carried forward from school uniforms and such in childhood!

I have no such thing…went to public schools and never had to wear a uniform. This was in Florida, too, so no winter clothing nightmares. In fact, my favorite outfit was a snake skin print mini skirt (not super short) worn with a red Hang Ten tee. This was the late 60s. We lived on the coast with a big surfing culture so Hang Ten tees were the thing to wear. Anyone remember them? They had the 2 bare feet insignia where the polo player is on other shirts. [Sorry to deviate from the post topic…reading the responses just brought back memories!!]

jussie

Veteran

Just as an aside, as a child I hated tights due to the scratchiness, but as an adult I have found some brands of tights amazingly comfortable and cozy. Sadly I can’t off the top of my head remember the names of the brands which is no help to anyone. There’s some at Myer that are shockingly comfy.

BlueJay

Veteran

Yes, Allora, I remember the Hang Ten tees! Not from the 60s though...70s and 80s in Toronto...! Maybe people bought them in Cali?

April

Veteran

I remember Hang Ten as well, though there wasn't much of a surfing culture in my inland Massachusetts town. Maybe I saw Hang Ten when we visited the cousins in Virginia Beach.

We didn't have "label clothes", we had whatever was on steepest markdown. Which often meant garish colors, weird cuts, and last year's fads.

I desperately envied those Virginia Beach cousins (older girls), who lived in graphic tees and cut-off jean shorts, all faded from the sun - way cooler than the little girls' matching print shorts/tank top sets my mother bought me for summer.

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Jenni NZ

Veteran

Oh but April your little pic above is so cute!
Mind you I remember saying to hubby about our daughters in teenage that they were “still cute, but in a different way!” Maybe your older cousins were cute in a different way also!
And Allora, we even had Hang Ten in New Zealand in the 70s- it got all the way across the Pacific!

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