I'm slightly nervous asking this after my 'loaf of bread grandad shoe' thread but what would you wear with these dresses?

[iwouldgoouttonight]

I am clueless with fashion, as proven by my Bread clown shoe thread

The grey dress I bought before I stated my new job thinking I'd need something smart. The office turned out to be quite casual so I wondered if there is a way I could dress the dress down a bit iyswim?

The green dress was given to me and I like the fit, although it's not the kind of thing I normally wear. The problem is the top bit, it's quite low cut so I don't feel comfortable with it. Could I wear something with it to make it less so? If so what colour?

Sorry no clue with fashion this end either but after laughing lots at the brown bread shoe thread I didn't want to miss anything!

I remember reading about your bread shoes! Nothing particularly helpful to add but I do like your grey dress, very simple and nice. Some flat shoes (not the bread ones!) and colourful jewellery?

Not such a fan of the green one...

The first one looks like a smart shift dress. Kind of worky or smart day wear. I probably would wear the first one with black tights [ black] black shoes/heels or even boots and a little cardi. You could perhaps experiment with a long sleeved tee under it but I cant really say how that will look as I have no idea how fitted it is.
The second one is a summer day. I personally would wear it with cork wedged sandals and a little cardigan that picks up the green.

Cardigans, cardigans, cardigans. A patterned embellished one will relax the lovely but very staid grey dress (and you can have a tailored jacket in reserve for the occasional posh meeting) and a plain one will make the lovely green dress less revealing.

I've seen a lot of great Monsoon ones in charity shops if you're on a budget - if you're not then they're easy to find - Uniqlo had loads.

Unless your style mojo is 'little girl' and you have a whole load of colourful tights, Mary Janes, cute beribboned cardigans, I'd chuck them both.

One year for Christmas, dh sat and watched me try on everything of accumulated to make a mismatched patchy wardrobe. We chucked everything and worked out what suited me - eg no v necks, no waterfall cardigans, flared or wide trousers etc, grey, green not red. Bless him it took hours.

Anyway you could do this?

None of them are offensive :)

I'd not of

I love cardigans
So practical. I think its a mistake not to have a few. I have loads. Makes things less revealing, keep you cosy and add to an outfit.
I hate waterfall cardigans however.
I have short ones and boyfriend ones and that's it. Most of mine are V-neck and not round because I hate the way they sit when they are open.

I'd wear the gret dress with black tights and ankle boots - maybe a low heeled biker style if you want to dress it down.

Not sure if you wanted something more spring/summery. Possibly ballet flats, maybe in a bright colour? Denim jacket, some kind of colourful but boho style necklace?

With the green one though, you can do a safety pin hack to make wrap dresses slightly less cleavagy. I had to do this with my favourite ones when I was pregnant and enormously norky all of a sudden.

Just pin the bit where the front of the wrap crosses over, but slightly higher up so it covers more, and pin it from the inside of the dress with a tiny safety pin and a tiny bit of pin actually holding it closed in the new spot so you can't see it.

Agree with poster advising cardigans.
Grey dress seems fine. Dress down with bare legs, sandals and belt matching colour of shoes/sandals?
Depends on what it looks like on.

Wedge sandals would probably be nice , Primark are selling cheap versions of the ghillies that were popular last year, and there is always the stalwart ballet shoe.

Cardigan, necklace. Surely it's a standard grey dress which means it's very versatile.

The question is if it loves you back when you wear it? Does it flatter you?

The green dress is trickier. Can you learn to deal with the neckline? If the fit is great, and flattering, all should be fine. However, I know that I just don't wear things if they make me feel self-conscious, and it sound as tough the neckline makes you feel self-conscious.

Technically, you could try wearing a green vedt underneath (kew used to do these -but they've closed). In practice, no-one ever does this because it makes you feel like a heffalump.

Would wearing a cardigan be enough to take the self-conscious edge away?

And in agree with the poster who has advised pinning it to close higher. Have you tried that?

A pale grey cardigan would look great and summer the grey dress up a bit esp if it is a lovely clean pale grey. A pair of nice sandals would work with bare legs too on that dress, agreed.

I had that green dress. I wore it with a little pink cardie on holiday, with white birkies.

I think the grey dress is very officey. Unless you could get it shortened, then wear it with thick black tights and clumpy boots. Maybe with a black cardie?

Oh dear. My fashion advice appears to amount to "pop a cardigan on, dear" 😳

How old are you?

Green dress is hideous.

You could wear the grey dress with a white shirt underneath à Alexa Chung for work.

For the green dress you can get cami bras - ie bras with built-in cami panels.

But I'd be inclined to bin them both and start again.

Send the green dress to a charity shop. The style is a bit old fashioned and if you don't like the neckline, pinning it or filling it in with a vest won't encourage you to wear it.

Re the grey dress: I'm in the bare legs/sandals/matching belt for summer camp. It's nice. I don't think that sleeveless dresses look good with black or other opaque tights; bare arms look a bit weird when everything else is covered up.

Thanks all. Will definitely look for cardigans. The green dress isn't something I'd have chosen myself but I do kind of like it on, I think with a cardigan it might make me feel less self conscience about the neckline.

I'm just relieved that the reaction to them wasn't quite as bad as the shoes

I'm 44 size 12 btw if that makes any difference to accessories.

I wouldn't dismiss the green dress out of hand. I'd try and work out what you like about it e.g does the colour or shape suit you? If you can figure that out then you can look for something similar but with a better neckline and maybe a bit more modern.

What fabric is the grey one? Unless it's cotton, I don't think it will work for summer. I'd try it with black tights, black heeled ankle boots and a biker jacket for Autumn/Winter. If it's cotton, maybe low top Converse or black sandals and a little cotton black cardigan.

Unless you love the print of the green one, I don;t think it's worth keeping. If you do love it, can you try it with a white cami layered under it and a cotton cardi over it?

I keep pressing ; instead of ' - driving myself mad with it!