Dresses

Matching a Length to the Occasion

Hem length carries more social information than color or print does. A mini reads as casual or evening depending entirely on the fabric it is cut from. A midi is the most forgiving across settings, which is why it works for an office and a dinner without changing anything but the shoes. A maxi commits to formality or to vacation, rarely to anything in between. If a dress has to work for more than one kind of event, a midi in a matte fabric is the length that stretches furthest. Height changes where each of these lands, so the same dress can be a midi on one person and close to a maxi on another.

How Fabric Decides Whether a Dress Skims or Clings

Two dresses cut to identical patterns can sit completely differently, and the fabric is usually why. Poplin and heavier cottons hold their own shape and stand slightly away from the body. Microfiber, jersey and anything with elastane follow the body instead. Chiffon does neither: it floats, which is why it is layered rather than used alone. A print will always cling less visibly than a solid color, which is worth knowing if the fit is the thing you are unsure about. Matte finishes flatten light and satin reflects it, and that alone changes how a silhouette reads in photographs.

Sizing When the Waist Sits Differently

Dress sizing goes wrong at the waist more often than at the bust or hip, because the waist seam is placed by the designer rather than by your body. An empire line sits under the bust, a natural waist sits at the narrowest point, and a drop waist sits on the hip. Check where the waist seam is drawn before comparing your measurements to the chart, because the same number means different things on each. On a stretch dress, size to the smallest measurement rather than the largest; on a woven one without elastane, size to the largest.

Know the length you want already? Go straight to Mini Dress for above the knee or Maxi Dress for ankle and floor, and for black tie the long formal styles are in Evening Gowns.