Rocking the Teddie

When the Teddie dress came out everybody's attention was focused on the decadent red version and I immediately thought that it wasn't for me. Honestly, people, where would I go in a red dress like that? School drop-off? Playground? I wouldn't even see myself going out with my husband in it, too much "trophy wife" (which clearly I am not) for me. I see this dress on a twenty or thirtysomething who is still dating or on someone whose social life is filled with gallery openings, fashion events and the likes. Not me.

But after (finally) seeing the dress in my store and liking the style and construction of it, I decided to give the saddle color a try. As you know I am looking for dresses that I can wear to a variety of school-related events this fall and I wanted to see if in the saddle it had more of a ladylike vibe. I really like the JCrew wool crepe in general and this is almost fully lined. I was a little bit late to jump on the Teddie bandwagon and after all the negative reviews I thought that it wouldn't sell out but when I looked there were only a few sizes left on the website (including mine). The saddle color, unlike the decadent red, wasn't waitlisted until December so I pulled the trigger.

The dress arrived yesterday. First, a note on the color. The saddle color in the wool crepe fabric is a very dark camel steering towards taupe. I had already seen another dress in this same combination so it wasn't a surprise for me but in case you are wondering it isn't a light camel like the heathered acorn. Second, the exposed zip in the back, is less evident/shocking in this color than in the red IMO, it almost blends seamlessly in the fabric:

Here is the 0 on me right out of the box. I would prefer it to be an inch or two longer but I don't think it's too short (I don't feel uncomfortable on it):

It bunches up a little bit at the waist seam (but it could be that I just have to iron it) and it think I prefer it belted (the bow belt that I am wearing is from WHBL and you can buy it here. It's a great little belt and can be adjusted in the back. I saw the real thing when I was in Italy and honestly there isn't much of a difference, besides the price):

I think that this dress has a lot of potential and can be worn two ways. It can be worn with ladylike accessories (like in the pictures above) and a tweed jacket like the Dauphine for a classic take:

But it is essentially a playful dress, even in this color, and it can be totally rocked with sassy accessories:

I think a leather moto jacket would look smashing with it, but because I am not going to buy one just to wear with this dress I will substitute with my other tweed jacket:

So I think that the Teddie in saddle is a winner. The only question is if I am going to order a 2 to gain a little bit of length. It "just fits" in the top so I think I could size one up without it loosing its shape. What do you think?

Have you considered the Teddie in saddle? Do you like it best styled ladylike or rocker chic?