How to style a shrunken dress

Chinny:

That shrunken dress dilemma....you put your fav dress in the washer dryer, get it all nice and clean, then pull it out a few days later and find out. It's. Two. Sizes. Smaller!!! Ahh!! The horror!!

This happened to me a few years with this pretty ankara print dress. I wore it a few years (yes, it's been years!!) ago, styling it for winter. It was already a lil bit too short for my taste but I adored it. After a long day of running errands in the city, I popped it in the washer and it came much MUCH smaller. Ugh! I was distressed, I didn't wear it for another 2 years....until a few days ago when I had a light bulb moment on how to salvage it. Here's what I did:

First, I tried it on again. Yep, length was still an issue but instead taking it off and throwing a tantrum, I took a step back and thought to myself 'How can I salvage this?'

Everything fitted the same - it wasn't too tight and the fit still felt the same, just shorter. The biggest issue here was the length.....so how do I make myself feel comfortable with a shorter length?

Then it came to me, by making it feel it even more causal!

The first thing that came to mind was sneakers. As a flat shoes lover, any pair of shoes that are comfy and stylish get a major thumbs up from me! I have a lot, and I mean ALOT of flats...but that's a blog post for another time.

Next, I threw on my diy denim vest - once a shirt till I got rid of the sleeves. Clever, right?

I know what you're thing, "why bother with a vest? It's not gonna change the length of my dress?" Because it adds an extra element of cool to the look. Suddenly this itsy bitsy dress becomes a cool daytime look! Not risqué or thigh flashing (ok maybe a little), it's simply a causal sporty look with a tiny edge.

If you've ever had a dress shrink on you. Hope is not lost! (Get it? Hope sign above ;)).

Even if it's ridiculously short. Think of how you can dress it down a bit. Dig our your favourite flats or sneakers or vest or button down shirt and strut your stuff.

Photographer by Dee.diary