The Shirt Dress?

The shirt dress is in. And I’m not talking shirt dress in the Vogue or Sass & Bide sense of the word (http://www.mycatwalk.com.au/pages/sass-bide_12.html). I’m talking a man’s shirt, on a woman, and I’m not quite sure how this caught on. Did someone get a letter wrong in the last list of must have dresses and we somehow went from the shift to the shirt?

Everywhere I go or look, a girl somewhere has either her boyfriends or her Dad’s collared shirt on with a whopping great belt and little else (maybe something to do with a certain lady in SATC?). AskBronny knows it has always been the epitome of sexy to shimmy about the house in your boyfriend’s oversized shirts after a naughty night in, but when did this trend become acceptable on the street?

Some girls can definitely pull this trend off, don’t get me wrong, but even those stunners with mile high pins and itty bitty waists still look more like they should be headed for a croissant and coffee and then back to bed, than to a café for lunch and maybe a spot of shopping. That said, I have seen a couple of women looking seriously hot in this style. Sadly, the ratio to the number of girls wearing this trend is tragically low, but for the one or two that managed to get this right, they’ve managed to due to a couple of reasons.

Firstly, the shirt has been fitted enough to not look like they just grabbed any old man shirt off the rack, and long enough to cover a little more than the necessities without compromising on the leg show, and without them ending up looking like a total prostie. Secondly, they’ve thought the whole ensemble (if you can call it a whole ensemble...) through. The belt complements the shirt, the shoes match the belt, and the result is an outfit. Of sorts. This is a difficult style for a lot of women to look good in – realistically you need to have the legs, the height and the waist to seriously make it work - so if you are going to attempt it, you need to actually think it through.

The really brave women taking this style on are getting about town in half an outfit, and I have seen many a lady who is perhaps having second thoughts tugging at her barely there shirt as she totters down the city streets, but others clearly wanting to have a go but not quite so brazen about their upper thighs are opting for shorty shorts beneath the oversize top. Whilst I commend their modesty, I have to say even this element to the trend is kind of odd. Catching a glimpse of shorts beneath a massive shirt is somewhat confusing – are we meant to see them? Or is the wearer just ensuring we’re not catching a glimpse of her bum instead? And if you’re that worried about the public seeing that far up your shirt, why wear this style at all?

My other issue with the shirt dress is where exactly is this considered suitable attire? It definitely can’t translate to the office. It’s not really glam enough to hit the bars in, and it shows a little too much flesh to be considered okay for a daytime picnic. Am I just a super cynic or is this trend as awful as fluoro? I agree that if you have great legs by all means show them off, but how about we try putting a whole outfit together rather than just opting for half of one?