Kelly's Closet: Dresses

Alright, faithful readers. Yes, all.... one or two of you. As I promised in the last "Kelly's Closet," I'm going to share with you my collection of dresses. I really do consider it to be a sort of collection. There's nothing I love more than a pretty dress, especially now that I have a very boy-ish haircut and have taken to walking around campus in jeans and my boyfriend's oversized college hoodie. Whenever I feel like I'm losing every last shred of my feminity, I race to my closet and pull out a fun, flirty dress--and often pair it with a lot of additional clothing, now that it's gotten so cold out. I didn't pair the dresses with anything for this post, though, since that would have taken forever. Also, I apologize in advance for shitty picture quality and the lame backdrop that is my roommate's side of the room (not that her side is lame, it's totally not. I just-- Ah, you know what I mean.) Improvements coming soon!


So, for the first of my HUGE collection of dresses (okay, I have eleven; is that a lot, or no? Leave the number of dresses you own in the comments!), I'm starting things off with one of my favorites:


My mom bought me this dress in Bethlehem at the annual Musikfest there. It's just so damn pretty. Whenever I wear it, I feel like dancing through a flowery meadow barefoot with hippie music playing in the background. I love wearing it in the fall with brown leggings and a warm cardigan.

This dress I got from K-mart or WalMart or something like that for 6 bucks:
My boyfriend's opinion is that anything with black and white stripes either makes you look like you just escaped from prison, or like Beetlejuice. But I don't care, even though I sort of agree; I love the pockets and the 3/4 sleeves and the pleats and the way it hugs the barely-there curves of my body. I like to pair it with a blue vest or colorful tights and a cardigan to break up the jailbreak theme a bit.

This is a Wet Seal "dress" that I got off eBay for about $15:
As you can see, it's a bit too small to be worn by itself as a dress. It has to be paired with something to cover the rest of me up (unless I'm wearing it over my bathing suit to the beach, which it's great for). Anything from leggings to a baggy cardigan helps, and it's easy to mix and match things with it because it's got red, yellow, black, and green. I also love the little heart pockets, though you can't see them too great in this picture.

This I found at Goodwill for less than a dollar:
It was so cheap because it has a large rip in the back, but it's definitely wearable. It's a very clean rip, and I fixed it up so that it looks like an intentional open back. I either put something under it or wear it as it is, depending on the weather and occasion. I adore the double-breasted buttons and slightly puffy sleeves.

I forget where I got this from (possibly Kohl's?):
Who doesn't love stripes? I also love the wide waistband. The neckline does have a rather daunting drop, though, so I pretty much always wear something under it, be it a camisole or a long-sleeved shirt.

This I definitely got from Kohl's, I forget for how much, and it's a size L or XL:
Although it's much too big on me (the neckline usually ends up drooping somewhere near my waist), I love the colorful design and, again, pockets. I often wear a bright orange or blue tank top under it.

This dress was a gift, so its origin and price will have to remain a mystery:
It's a lovely, flowy material (that also tends to cling a bit, so I have to watch out for pantylines and such), and the color is so much nicer in person than in the picture. Here's a closeup of the detail on the straps (they're covered in tiny bronze and gold plates):
To me, that small detail makes the dress.

This dress I found in a little shop in my old college's town; a group of friends insisted I buy it, and it was around $30:
So far, I haven't figured out an appropriate time to wear it. When I bought it, I pictured myself wearing it while having a Victorian tea with Oscar Wilde, the two of us sitting daintily amongst the May lilacs. Um, that hasn't happened yet. I'm scared to wear it because it's so white and so... I don't know. Wedding-ish? Hey! There's something I could wear it to. In like 10 or 15 years...

This dress was a gift from my amazing friend, Jill:
It's easy to dress up or down. I wear it with a cardigan and tights (and of course, my trusty vintage lace-up chunky booties!) to class , and with red heels to fancy thingamajigs.

This is ModCloth's Stormy Weather Dress, and I found it for a bit cheaper on eBay (around $15):
It's a frustrating dress, through no fault of ModCloth's. It's a size small, so the tight waistband tends to squeeze my kidneys rather painfully if I wear it for too long, and gives me a caricature version of an hourglass figure (making me look kind of pregnant). On the plus side, as my boyfriend likes to point out, it makes my boobs look big. Cheers to that. Anyway, I usually wear it over or under something: an oversized sweater, a tight black T-shirt, black tights, etc.

This is from the same store where I purchased the white dress above, and was about $30 or $40:
It's actually meant to be worn as a skirt, the kind that touches the floor. That's not my style at all, so I wear it as a dress. The elastic band at the top makes it perfect for this. In this instance, I paired it with a silver belt that my mother handed down to me. Sometimes I pair it with a black belt, but I always have something cinching it to give it some form.

It's so pretty I had to include a second picture, this time of the back, while I'm swirling like a crazy fool (I often do that when wearing dresses):



And there you have it! The eleven dresses that I have in my closet. I still want more, too; it's an insatiable hunger for me. It's gotten bad enough that whenever that Cotton commercial comes on, I want to kidnap Zooey Deschanel and force her to hand over all her pretty dresses. Actually, here's a better idea: maybe I'll have a feature on the lovely Zooey and her awesome fashion sense. We'll see!
Oh, and next from Kelly's Closet will be bags. You know, purses, handbags, totes, whatever. I don't have as many of those as dresses, but it's either that or underwear, folks.