The Seaport Maxi (Evening Version)

I finally broke out my Seaport maxidress this past Saturday. It was about time, since I bought it in the dread of winter. To be completely honest this is one of those things that would have probably been a pass hadn't I bought it so ahead of the season. It was the excitement for one of the first purchases of the new season to make me oblivious of the fact that a thin maxi with sleeves isn't the most practical piece of clothing for our summer weather. Add to that that my husband doesn't like it and that in the meanwhile it went on sale and you have a mistake. Under the old return policy I would have returned it for a store credit but since I am stuck with it I decided that at least I am going to make the most of it.

Don't get me wrong, I still like it and I still think that it is a very chic dress if styled it the right way. Which I think I did Saturday night to go to friends for dinner. It was the perfect evening for this dress because it was warm but a bit windy so having sleeves was actually a plus. But as I said evenings like this are not the norm here in the summer, it is suddenly so hot that you want to be sleeveless.
The thing with this dress is that it needs to be belted. Without a belt it is a bit old-ladish IMO. In this case I used the flower elastic belt from a few seasons ago (I love these, I also have the winter version with rhinestones and sometimes it still pops back on the website). I accessorized it with the double-strand giraffe necklace because one of the strands has the same cream/black color scheme of the dress, but I wore it with the clasp (the giraffe head) hidden behind my neck. I am wearing a XXS:




One of the effects of my shoe storage reorganization is that I rediscovered these Donald Pinter nappa sandals that I had bought years ago at Saks. They are are very comfortable, have a manageable heel and look stylish with both pants and skirts. Love the slints on the sides of dress, BTW!



In case you are stalking this dress in the sale section, you should know that it wrinkles very easily because of the linen content and tends to stretch out.
Do you have this dress? Do you like how I styled it?