February 3, 2020

How to Wear a Winter Floral Maxi Dress

Sezane Floral Maxi Aquatalia Booties Elephant Clutch Free People Faux Fur Coat Look by Modnitsa Styling

Happy February! I’ve been seeing all these memes on Instagram about how it feels like “January 74th” — but to be honest, I felt that the month actually raced by for me. I’m really excited that January is done though, as February always feels like a short month (and of course, it is – even if just by 2 days) – and then it’s March, and then Spring is just around the corner.

I’ve been seeing a lot of Pre-Spring collections hitting the stores, and just this past Friday I shopped two of my favorite stores with one of my clients – and saw some amazing fresh colors on the racks. Check out my Instagram under “shopping finds” to see some sneak-peeks 😉

As we continue with the cold weather though, I’m still trying to infuse as much creativity and color into my looks as I can – despite all the layers, and for today’s outfit, I wanted to share a fun formula that’s Winter-friendly but can work its way into Spring.

This look is centered around a Floral Maxi Dress – which is a fabulous piece for all Seasons – and I’m sharing how you can style it across Seasons with different suggestions and styling tips, see below!

The exact ingredients of this outfit formula are:

The Floral Maxi Dress. This one is from Sezane – a style called Delphina, it’s in a light-weight cotton with a fully-lined skirt. I love the shirt-dress silhouette of this piece, with a fuller skirt, featuring a bottom flounce, small shirt collar, and flirty belt you can tie into a bow. The key elements that take this dress across Seasons are the following:
a) The buttons – which you can open up a little at the bottom to let in more air and give your legs a chance to peak out along with any fashionable hosiery you might have on, showcase your shoes and lengthen your lower body to balance it out with your upper body.
You can also open them up at the top to reveal more of your neck and any jewelry (or keep closed for a more demure look). Maxi dresses tend to take up a lot of real estate on the body, so balancing them via length & width elements is very important. Buttons themselves are another elongating trick as they move the eye up and down, again, emphasizing length – slimming and flattering along the way.

b) The 2nd element that helps balance it is the belt – cinching the waist and creating proper proportions.
The Simple Booties. Whenever the rest of the look is busy, I tend to choose simpler, cleaner-looking shoes to go with it. These Aquatalia Fuoco Booties are neutral (and weather-proof) and come in a variety of leathers/suedes and colors. You can see and shop some of the ones I found below! These booties will go right into Spring, and when the weather gets even warmer, can be swapped out for peep-toe ones to freshen up the outfit. To make this look a bit more exciting, I also added a pair of sparkly Wolford tights – which you won’t need in the Spring.
A Cozy Faux Fur Oversized Coat. The length of this coat is slightly exaggerated for this maxi dress, but because of the dress being belted, and a bit unbuttoned, it doesn’t overwhelm it. The softest, most luxurious fabric of this Free People Kate Faux Fur Coat makes it cozy and warm, and adds a touch of glam to the outfit. To transition this look into Spring, I would swap out the faux fur for a Leather or Suede Moto Jacket to complete the look.
An Embellished Clutch Bag. To complete this outfit, I chose this super adorable beaded Elephant Pouch. It repeats the colors of both the dress and the coat – and spices up the combo.

I hope this inspires you to try out a similar look this Season to add some femininity & fun to your wardrobe! Please feel free to share the outfits you create via Instagram, using hashtag #ModnitsaOutfit in your posts, and I’ll be sure repost them on my stories!