You know, “make it work.” 

I got this absolutely lovely dress less than a month ago from Anthropologie (one of my favorite stores, by the way) on clearance for 60% off. I didn’t want to pass it up, but sadly, it was a size too big.

 

What to do?

 

In many cases, there’s nothing to be done. Sometimes a dress that’s too big is just too big.  There’s always the tailor, of course, but, as I’m the type of person who can only afford Anthropologie when I shop in their clearance section, I’m definitely not the type of person who can afford a tailor for everything.

 

Regardless of the fact I knew it wasn’t likely to work, I decided to try it on and give it a chance anyway. Maybe it wasn’t quite as big as it looked on the hanger? I’m a hopeful person, especially when it comes to clothes.

 

So I tried it on, and things were exactly as I expected – it was simply too big to be worn as-is. The shoulders actually fit okay, and the sleeves looked appropriately flowy, but the rest of it was baggy and awkward. I was thinking I ought just to give up, regardless of how much I loved the complementary blue-orange color scheme and mixed textures, when I thought of an idea. What about a belt?

 

The end of this story is obvious enough – I bought the dress because I couldn’t resist the price, and when I brought it home, I simply threw a simple black waist belt around it to balance out the bagginess. The perfect solution? Maybe, maybe not. In general, I prefer to respect the will of designers and wear clothes the way they’re meant to be worn (except in the case of oversized vintage work shirts that can be worn as dresses…), but sometimes, you’ve got to do as Tim Gunn says, and make it work.

That’s it for today! I’ll see you in the next one. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com

(And yes, Project Runway is a guilty pleasure of mine. I wonder when its next season will be on?)

Dress: Anthropologie

Belt: Forever21