I confess I am conflicted about sundresses, vacation dresses, leisure dresses. I will allow that there are days when a dress is the coolest thing to wear. And yet, I did not bring any with me to Hawaii. At the last minute, the dresses I was considering seemed like they would be too wrinkled to wear on arrival; I had no assurance there would be an iron. And who wants to iron on vacation anyway?
I may have mentioned this before (to the point of annoyance) but as a rule I do not wear synthetic fabrics. So the coral maxi dress I bought for $1, thinking I would bring it, did not make the final cut, partially because of polyester content. Is a polyester-blend dress really cooler than shorts and a tank-top?
At any rate, today I am test-driving the double-layer cotton skirt as sundress substitute. And we are going to the county fair!
Bringing sundresses with me, I think, would have been more work (shopping) and alot of them are just too drapy for me. I prefer crispier fabrics. When I was poking around the web a little just now, thinking about the issue, I found this. I think this is so much cooler than the standard sundress. If it were cotton, it might actually be the other kind of cool as well 😉
I think you’ve nailed some of the challenges I’ve had finding just the right dresses. I like crisp clothes, but don’t want to iron. (Can’t they make them out of that no-wrinkle fabric that is readily available in shirts now? Not perfect, but OK for casual.) Knit is less wrinkly, but usually too clingy to be very flattering. Synthetics aren’t very cool. A textured cotton weave would be ideal, but seersucker seems way out to me.
Other issues: Finding the right coverage up top–I want sleeveless but not spaghetti or strapless. And down below–I don’t like really long, but I don’t want to have to worry about bending over, either. Also, I’m very picky about florals–they need to feel very abstract, not like a walking flower garden.
I did pick up on clearance a knit dress–really simple, solid denim-blue color, tank top, above knee skirt. It feels very informal–almost more like a swimsuit coverup than an actual dress. But it *is* nice and cool, so I mostly wear it around the house and throw a button shirt over like a jacket if I go out.
This is irrelevant to this post, but I think I’ve figured out what my main style challenge is. I have a fairly “masculine” personality. My Myers-Briggs type is ENTP, and I’m pretty high on the thinking over feeling scale; I tend to be rather combative not to say brash. When I run my writing through those “gender determining” sites it comes up as male (same has happened when it was read blind, by people who didn’t know me). So that’s one aspect. On the other hand, I have a very curvy figure, longish curly hair, and in general a very feminine-looking body. So I think that creates a tension that is hard for me to reconcile–stuff that fits my body feels too “girly” for me, stuff that fits my personality doesn’t look right.
That (the irrelevant part) is very interesting. Hmmm…
Yesterday I wore the skirt, which actually turns out is linen, to the county fair here in Kauai. Lol. Pretty brave – there was ALOT of blowing red dirt. It actually stayed pretty clean; I can definitely wear again without washing. But I did not like the stickiness with the heat and humidity of not having a fabric covering on each leg, if you follow my meaning. Walking around in shorts and top would have been more comfortable for me.
Today we went to the “Kauai Product Fair” which is a little cluster of vendors like you would see at the fair, but it looks permanent. There were some better offerings for summery, leisure dresses. What I really liked was that most were either cotton or rayon, very few polyester.
My daughter wore a dress yesterday that was a cute style that might work for you if you could find one: knit, tank top, high low hemline. Hers is some gray or blue or something, chunky horizontal stripes (she’s ISFJ).
More later. I will be thinking of you. But not alot 😉
Okay, that knit dress (my daughter’s) might be too drapy.