Finding a cute pencil skirt and black trousers for my Curvy, Classy, Confident image has been easy. Finding tops? Almost impossible. But what did I expect? That’s why I began Red Violet Project in the first place. [Note: Hourglassy was originally called Red Violet Project.]

It was so easy to wear my new Ann Taylor dress last Friday that I’ve begun to wonder if I should forego separate tops and bottoms entirely. Suze and Nancy’s advice on Tuesday night has me leaning even further in the dress direction.

Suze: “Collect dresses.”
Nancy: “My number one tip is to buy dresses.”

In fact, 4 of the 5 panelists wore dresses Tuesday night.

The biggest advantage of dresses is their continuous line from top to bottom. There’s no having to elongate our waists with an untucked shirt that borders on sloppy, and there’s no having to chop ourselves in two with a tucked-in shirt.

Here’s another beautiful advantage: We have the figures to look like Christina Hendricks on Mad Men.


Talk about embracing her shape, read what costume designer Janie Bryant says about the message Christina Hendricks’ clothing sends after the jump.

I love showing her hourglass figure. Her character is so commanding, and her clothes really speak that, I think. And also, I love to keep her in jewel tones. I think they’re so beautiful on her, and for me, it’s that image of strength and having that real command in the office.

You can read more here. If a dress can do that for me, sign me up.

Unfortunately, we will often run into the same dilemmas with dresses that we do with tops–they can fit everywhere but the bust. This is especially true for those of us 5’4″ and under, as evidenced by the back of my Ann Taylor dress below. I’m 5’3″, so ideally, I would wear this dress in a petite. I’m 34DDD, so there’s no way I can–hence the extra fabric that you see rippling down my back. I’ll ask my seamstress if she can fix this.


As with shirts, one solution for fit is to go the knit route. In today’s Wall Street Journal, an interviewer asked Derek Lam what people are buying today. He answered:

Jersey dresses have been doing amazing. Our top three best sellers are draped jersey dresses. I am always looking for what is the next new thing in jersey. It’s the miracle fabric. I think it speaks very much for now. It’s body-conscious but also has some softness. It is feminine, easy to wear. It fits a lot of body types.

I have good luck with jersey and especially love matte jersey. But does anyone else have problems with pilling that makes a dress look old before its time?