Do You Struggle Wearing Dresses? Here's Your Solution

Tina, here.

Women who struggle wearing dresses usually have two complaints. 1. You don't like showing your legs. 2. You're one size on top and another size on bottom, so dresses never fit, and you can't find attractive skirts. But sometimes pants are not an option, and you need to know how to buy a dress or skirt and how to wear it.

I have two words for you. Bias cut.

Bias cut skirts and dresses, in particular. Wear a longer bias cut dress if you want the length without the frumpiness, and a bias cut skirt and top if you need 2 different sizes. We'll look at skirts today as dress alternatives because you can do more with them.

Do You Struggle Wearing Dresses? Here's Your Solution

This is a bias cut skirt. The fabric has a lot more movement and a much more forgiving drape than a straight cut pencil skirt.

This is a straight pencil skirt. It is a rectangle. Cut in a straight line, unlike the bias cut above, cut on a flattering diagonal.

Bias cloth, cut on the diagonal. Image Wikipedia.

Why the bias? Buckle down here for a brief primer:

A longer dress or skirt can be really tired, bottom-heavy and frumpy. So you need to create some movement. A piece of fabric cut on the bias is cut on the diagonal, which is supremely flattering to the human body. It creates an S-curve, or contrapposto, which if you were awake during Art History, you'll remember is striking a pose where your hips and shoulders rest at opposite angles, aka the ancient Greek's and the Renaissance's standard of perfection for beauty. Think, think real hard, and picture David and the Venus de Milo. That's an S-curve.


Venus de Milo. Today we can create this standard of perfection by wearing bias-cut clothing, because it's real hard to walk in a straight line when you hold your hips at an opposite angle from your shoulders. Try it and you'll see what I mean.

Here are 2 ways to wear a bias cut skirt, plus one straight skirt example where I'm showing you how to achieve a bias cut look with a belt. And be sure to check the January Style Vault to shop my picks for some great bias cut skirts and dresses.

Members, log in here to see one of my favorite bias cut dresses I've tried on this winter, plus 3 bias cut skirts (in January Style Notes).

1. Midi Bias Cut Skirt

If you like your dresses and skirts longer to hide your knees and legs, they must be cut on the bias so you don't look like you're wearing long, heavy curtains.

The issue with dresses is you have to buy for the largest part of your shape, and alter to fit the rest. With a skirt and a top, you can buy 2 different sizes. Shop a bias cut midi length skirt, just added to the January Style Vault, Style Notes.

Bias cut is great for twirling.

2. Long Bias Cut Skirt

If you are hard to fit because you're a bit curvier on the bottom half, a bias cut skirt or dress is your answer because the fabric is more fluid and it stretches and drapes more gracefully over curves than a straight-cut piece of fabric.

Just added to the January Style Vault, a pretty, feminine bias cut skirt (shorter than this one), over 50% off! In petite and curvy, too.

With a longer skirt, please wear heels! You need to add back height that the length takes away.

3. Wrap A Belt On The Bias

If you don't have a bias cut skirt or dress in your closet, you can still create a diagonal line with a belt wrapped diagonally across your waist.

I've got a longer pencil skirt (below my knees) and to achieve that flattering diagonal line and keep it from feeling like a shower curtain, I wrapped a belt around my waist, but at an angle.

Remember, if you go more fitted on the bottom, go a little looser on top.

Here you can see how I've got my belt at an angle. Check January Style Vault, Style Notes section, for a good D-ring belt like this one.

With longer skirts or dresses, if you're not wearing heels, which I really beg you to do if at all possible, wear boots. You would think it would weigh the look down even more, but trust me, it is way better than a long skirt with flats.

Spring is around the corner. Truly. To get us up close and personal, we'll come to your closet and give you the full wardrobe makeover treatment. For your personal style makeover, check out our one-on-one wardrobe packages here. And check out the Style Vault for all my must-haves and how to wear them, shop them all from inside the Vault!