Effortless Dressing with Solika

Zara blazer (similar)
Solika dress (c/o)
Adidas sneakers
Looks Like Summer handbag (similar)
Anine Bing sunglasses
Celine necklace (similar)
& Other Stories earrings (similar)
Location: Indigo Parkade – Winnipeg, Manitoba

When it comes to getting dressed in the morning, I will reach for pants before a dress every time. And yet, the appeal of dresses in undeniable. There is no mixing and matching, nothing to coordinate; all you have to do is throw one on and go. But dresses, for me, go hand-in-hand with dressing up – which I love, under the right circumstances, but every day is not the right circumstances. So when Solika reached out to me about styling one of their dresses, I hesitated. My closet is already full of dresses I rarely wear, after all.

But I said yes, in the end – because styling the Solika Aurel dress seemed like an opportunity for me to see if I could make a dress work for me for everyday wear.

The first time I wore this dress, my aunts were coming over to see the results of our kitchen renovation. I was running behind and didn’t have time to search through multiple drawers looking for the right combination of jeans and sweater. “You look so dressed up!” they both said when they arrived. But in reality, I felt pretty comfortable. The Aurel dress is loose and floaty, a bit like wearing a very glamorous nightgown.

Soon after my aunts left, my parents arrived. We were going to meet Ian at work. The first shoes I saw were my Stan Smith sneakers, so I put them on. “You’re bringing a change of shoes, right?” my dad asked.

“Of course she is,” Mom answered for me.

But I wasn’t. A true everyday dress is a dress I can wear with my beloved sneakers just as easily as with ankle boots or heels. And, as it turns out, my Solika dress is that – because it really did work with my sneakers, so much so that I went against my usual instinct and didn’t bother to change into jeans before we went for dinner later that evening.

This isn’t to say that I’m a dress convert. I still mostly wear pants, with the occasion skirt mixed in for good measure – usually with a very large sweater overtop. But the right dress – one that doesn’t hug or cling anywhere, one that feels simple enough to throw on with sneakers but lovely enough to pair with kitten heels for a night out – can fit into my wardrobe and become a piece I reach for regularly. I’ve worn my Aurel dress three more times, or an average of a little less than once a week, since that first time I took it out. I love throwing it on with a kimono and mules. Or my leather jacket and ankle boots. And, as the chill in the air deepens, I know it will work with a big sweater, a coat and a pair of tall boots, too.

I suppose the lesson here is that I am not really a pants person or a dress person – I want all of my clothes to feel effortless, and usually, pants are what feel most effortless to me. But the right dress can be just as easy to wear.