Minutes before we left for church on Sunday, I discovered that the dress I wanted to wear was dirty, so I quickly changed into my all-purpose Mala, added the Liz Claiborne cardigan that I bought last spring, and dug out a wide black belt that I purchased two years ago when I thought I would finally begin wearing belts all the time (especially after these experiments based on inspiration from others).

I was pretty happy with the result!

big bust transition mala dress to fall

It looks better with the sleeves scrunched up, and I need to experiment with necklaces, but compare it with the unbelted look below.  It’s okay, but . . . .

big bust mala dress open cardigan
Yes, I know I need to go shoe shopping.

After I took these pictures, I was intrigued to read Bras I Hate’s strategy of sizing down in a cardigan to one that “would NEVER button over your boobs, and maybe wouldn’t even button over your waist. The function here is to eliminate flapping, bagginess, and shapelessness that can come as a result of wearing an unbuttoned cardigan.” Like one of her commenters wrote, this blows my mind. I must try it.

Needless to say, I won’t be trading my Mala dress at this Saturday’s clothing swap. It’s super versatile, and I get compliments on it all the time. My latest compliment doesn’t really count, though. On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Campbell told me, “You looked nice today.”

“Oh really?” I gushed. “Did you like how I wore the cardigan with my dress?”

“I was really thinking of your cleavage,” he said.