Spring/Summer Staple: The Maxi Dress

The silhouette of a maxi dress on a hanger never seems to appeal to me. A long, floor length dress for someone that's 5'4 and lacking long legs or a long torso?? Yea..not very flattering on me. 

But it's the bright prints, colors, and California 'casual without trying' vibe that always draw me in a la Vanessa Hudgens & Lauren Conrad.

 

I always look bigger, wider, and stumpier than I am in them...so I always swear to vow off maxis.

But instead of erasing the simple ease of a maxi from my wardrobe, I should have been asking myself how to make the maxi work for me! 

It wasn't until I saw someone wearing a light grey maxi with a wide belt and pendant necklace that it clicked for me! 

I WANTED:

• a SOLID colored maxi with regular tank top straps!  (So I could mix & match as much as possible since I don't plan on investing in more than one maxi dress)
• NO floral/busy prints. (I only wear them in a flattering cut that I know works for my body type)
• NO strapless/halter straps! (They don't look flattering on my chest)
  

So believe it or not, the hard part was trying to find a solid/neutral colored maxi with wide tank top straps for under $30..hey now, I live in NJ, not Cali.

So where did I turn?? EBAY! I did a generic search and compared quite a few grey maxis, crossed my fingers & waited. See the Ebay seller's store here.

 Sweater: New York & co. $25

Belt: New York & co. $12

Sandals: New York & co. $12

Neckalce: Aeropostale

Other options

Target has 2 versions of the gray maxi:

This one wasn't fitted and the shade of grey was too dark, see here. 

This one was fitted, but it was racer-back and not the length I wanted, see here.

H&M also had a grey maxi for $35, but it was racer-back & had a huge number '6' on the front of it.