What To Do With All These Mini Dresses/Tunics?

If you live anywhere near Oakland, CA, you'd look a little silly sporting a mini dress (or long tunic) and a pair of dainty heels because today, the weather is feisty: up to 60mph gusts and raining cats and dogs (I think I even saw a few hamsters coming down). But there is more than one way to wear a tunic and many of them involve what is on your legs and what is on your feet.

First and foremost, tunics are really mini dresses, and depending on the length, your height, and situation, many mini dresses can be worn alone with a great pair of shoes, be they flat, heels, or sandals...heels obviously add a bit more sex appeal, but you can tone down the bare flesh factor by wearing a cute pair of flats. In winter, just add tights, either opaque or something with a little pattern. Save the hosiery for fancy occasions.

If you are still not brave enough to brave the mini alone, slap on your boots. What? No boots? Get thee to a bootery! Twenty Two Shoes, our neighbor here on College Ave has a nice selection, and so does Deliciouz in Walnut Creek. It's not necessary to wear tights with your boots, as long as they just show a flash of skin between the hem of your dress and the top of your boot. If there is more skin there (i.e. you are tall), then put those tights on in winter! If you are wearing low slung boots, please wear tights of some sort, otherwise, you may look like the latest Hollywood dunce.

It's also OK to put a pair of pants on under your dress! NO you won't look like a Berkeley student if you do it right. I personally avoided this style until one day I had just the right combination of skinny pant and blousy dress, and I was hooked. It's a great way to dress up your denim and a great way to dress down your delicate party frock. Think BALANCE when pairing dresses with pants and keep lumpy pants out of the mix. If your pants are wide, think slimmer top. If your top part is blousy, think narrower bottom until you get the right mix. It's like fine tuning Cosmopolitan. Add or subtract a wide belt, a long necklace, different boots or shoes or just come to iniam and we will help you do it.

Look for mini dresses and J. Brand (a new line of denim we are carrying) this month!