166 The Faux Tiered Dress experiment
15 May 2009- As an ardent fan of the high waist, I love to tuck my blouse in whenever I wear separates. But a few years of dressing in the same mould has also taught me that the high waist isn't always the best way to present an outfit. And since I am only twenty-one, why should I limit my style of dressing after all? Beginning this semester, I wore my French Provincial blouse loose and untucked over a pair of Ali Baba-esque pants. And today, I try wearing my top tucked out over a skirt to fake a dress.
Today's outfit is made up of two layers: an asymmetrical mini dress (as the top) over a lacy skirt.
Barring the asymmetrical hem, this mini dress looks ordinary from the front, so I was surprised when I turned it over and found it was another convertible piece. The dress comes with a row of buttons and buttonholes at the back fanning out into an inverted V shape. When fully buttoned, it allows you to tighten the bodice into a fitted upper silhouette:
For this outfit, I left my buttons completely undone to create a smoothly falling tent shape.
Not comfortable with the shorter hem on one side, I decided to layer my dress over a skirt. I chose a skirt with a similar A-line, so that the transition from dress to skirt wouldn't break the overall tent shape. This gave the appearance of a one-piece tiered dress, which fooled F and my mother!
I usually dislike tiered dresses because they remind me too much of a wedding cake. But my version had the upper layer falling over the second in an asymmetrical, diagonal fashion - this was different; I can't see the resemblance to the wedding cake, so I liked it. The lace and pleats on my skirt also brought some variance of texture to the all black of my tent "dress".
Both my jewellery picks for today are in burnished silver, because I wanted something understated against the rest of the outfit. It isn't obvious in the pictures but I had a necklace around my neck: a beautifully carved crown pendant that is a little Gothic, a little antique. In the picture above it plays crown to the king of the forest, my lion stamp from my childhood.
The belt ring is one that I wear very often. The darker, burnished silver makes it easy to match, while the quirky subject of the ring never bores me! Look at the attention paid to the cutout that represents the belt hole. Considering the ring only cost me S$6 thereabouts, I must say I am very satisfied with the quality indeed.
Standing out against the sea of black is a pashmina scarf looped twice around my neck. My scarf introduces some colour into the outfit, and what a myriad of colours it brings - these are not cut off into regimental bands like a perfectly segmented rainbow, but are wonderfully blended, like tie-dye, except this is masterfully weaved. Each individual end of the scarf is a different colour. To complement the scarf I chose one of its colours, purple, as the colour of my bag today.
black U-neck dress with asymmetrical hem & adjustable buttons - Hong Kong
black lacy skirt (worn underneath dress) - Hong Kong
colourful pashmina scarf - gift from Fourth Aunt, Tierack
purple bag - Perllini
crown pendant - Hong Kong
belt ring - South Korea via lovemelancholy
black flats with criss-cross straps - Charles & Keith