This fall I’ve been buying a LOT of dresses as opposed to skirts and it’s led to the tricky problem of trying to style them in more than one way so it doesn’t seem like I’m wearing the same outfit week after week (which I still do pretty often). Dresses always feel like one hit wonders – you wear it the first time and it feels so fun and stylish, but then you’ve worn it five times with that time jacket and boots and it gets boring pretty fast.

So in an attempt to challenge myself and to show y’all that dresses can truly be versatile pieces in your closet I’ve been trying to wear some of my new dresses in surprising ways. This plaid dress I picked up from Zara for under $50 (basically my price point kryptonite) is the perfect example of a dress I’d normally just wear with flats or booties. But honestly, I think it looks even cuter with a bit more layering and disguised as a skirt! I can’t even tell ya how many people asked where I bought my skirt and were shocked when I said it was a dress!

SHOP PLAID DRESSES:

STYLING TIP:

The key to layering with your dress is to play with lengths and ensure it doesn’t feel too bulky. Since I was going to be outside all day in my layered look I wanted to stay extra warm with a thick bulky sweater, but added my more fitted denim jacket on top versus a long coat. Since short boots or flats might have unbalanced with the layered top I added over the knee boots instead to keep everything even.