How To: Accessorize a Maxi Dress Like A Pro Part I

Ta-dah! The photo shoot I promised is finally ready to show you all. The pictures came out beautifully thanks to the wonderful photography of our favorite guest writer Chris Stetson and the editing genius of my fiancé Michael. Also, the models are pretty darn good looking too. Oh, and one more little teaser... Eventually we will have behind the scenes video and photos just to give you a little glimpse into what happens in between the photos. I will tell you that we laugh. A lot.

We got so many great shots this post will have to be a two-parter. I asked my friend Erin to come and help me out modeling since we are totally different body types. I thought it would be helpful to have two different body types so anyone who reads can hopefully relate to something in one (or both) of us.

Erin is wearing a really simple straight blue maxi dress that has just a little detail at the bottom. This is a great dress to have because you can almost pair it with anything. I have a really simple tank style black maxi dress that I can't find, but I love it. For our first looks we wanted to show you how you can dress up a simple maxi dress for a nice lunch with friends or even a bridal shower or something. Accessories are key to dressing up something so simple! For Erin we paired her blue dress with this simple yellow sweater, red clutch, and simple but colorful jewelry. Notice that nothing is super matchy-matchy but it all coordinates. Play with color when you have a simple canvas like this dress. Erin's super cute red sandal clogs are straight from Sweden. It's amazing how red shoes like this can go with almost anything. I'm pretty sure she sleeps in them based on how often I see her wear them! 

I decided to experiment with my dress a little. The actual dress has spaghetti straps and basically no detail (it doesn't need it because of it's cut and design), but I thought it would be fun to turn it into more of a maxi skirt look by wearing a thin t-shirt (which I tied in a little knot and hid under the belt) and cinching it with a wide belt. Please ignore the fact that my beaded cuff bracelet is falling apart and focus on the fact that it's cute. I kept my accessories unique but simple. My bracelet and my necklace are wood beads and my bag is just a simple silver clutch that has a little bit of design on it. Carrying a clutch instead of an oversized bag helps to make something a little bit more formal.

Isn't she pretty? This is just a closer shot of her coral bead necklace and multi-colored bead bracelet. If you are more apple shaped like Erin (she has skinny awesome legs all the time... It's sick), wearing a cropped sweater like this helps to create a waist. Also, her empire waist dress helps to flow over anything she might want to hide. Don't button up your sweater if you are apple shaped. 

Here's where I show you an up close and personal shot of how poorly I hid the knot. If you are built more like me, use belts to accentuate what is most likely on of your smallest body parts... your natural waist. Thick belts are great for turning things into things they are not naturally. They turn a shirt over a dress into an awesome whole new outfit, and they can turn a relatively straight body into a curvy one. Yay belts! 

Here's just a little creative close up shot of my necklace and belt. Cool right?

This is more of a casual look with the same dress. We removed her sweater for a more summery look and added this great leopard print scarf, the straw fedora, cuff bracelet, and nude oxfords. This is simple with style. It took us two seconds to put this outfit together just pulling accessories out of the bag Erin brought with her so don't be intimidated! Her scarf is tied by just looping it around your neck so the ends face behind you and then come around. Tuck them in a little to the scarf so they don't fly about. 

Aren't those cute?! You definitely want to make sure your dress isn't super long if you are going to wear shoes like these. You want them to show!

For my more casual but covered up look I paired my super long flowy maxi dress with a simple denim jacket. Also, my accessories are exactly the same as the last outfit. See how many outfits simple wood bead jewelry can go with? Also, like I've said before, you can't go wrong with oversized sunglasses. These are from Target. 

I thought it would be fun to pair my dress and denim jacket with super classic white Keds. The secret is, I bought these at Target for 10 bucks. So really I paired my dress with Ked-like sneakers. Yep, that's how I roll. That gold ring I'm wearing is my sisters. I love it. It's so simple and just a gold circle. 

So there you go, you have two different looks that you can use to style your Maxi dresses. These dresses have so much versatility. The one I am wearing is slightly less versatile than Erin's, but it's always good to have both. Go for a dress with a bold print that you can dress up or dress down and keep your accessories simple. It's also great to have a really simple dress like Erin's so you can really have fun with your accessories and add more prints and colors. 

There are so many more great pictures and one more whole outfit to show y'all so part 2 will be coming later this week. I hope this inspires you and gives you ideas on how to look great with minimal effort. Have a great start to your week and check back in sometime this week for the second half of the photo shoot!