Reader Remix: Jana of small town, BIG SMILE!

Hi there! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Jana, of “Small Town, Big Smile!” and I’m absolutely flattered to have been asked to be a guest blogger for the Flock Together gals! In keeping with the Flock Together theme, I’ll still be talking about remixing clothing, but instead of it being with the help of several different people’s creativity, I’ll be talking about solo-remixing… Challenges, go-to ideas, and thinking outside of the box.

For today’s post, I chose one of my favourite dresses… and it truly is a great remix-able dress, as it’s consistently stayed one of my favourite dresses for almost three years now. It’s a white dress with strawberry-floral-polka dot print on it by Trollied Dolly.

The easiest way to get the hang of wearing a dress is in the summer months, when layering isn’t a necessity, but instead, an option. My original look with this dress was just to pair it with similarly white shoes. Simple, classic. Another easy option: pair the dress with a pair of neutral tights (I chose black) and add shoes that are the same colour as an accent colour in the dress. You can instantly change the look of the outfit with the level of pop you chose. For me, I like to add some punch, so I chose blue, which is a colour in the dress, but a down-played one.

The next step to remixing a dress: adding layers. Being Canadian and having to deal with LOTS of cold weather, layering for me is second nature. Cardigans and tights? An absolute must. I like to choose two different colours, and mix and match them with tights, cardigans, shoes, and accessories. Two of my go-to shades for this dress are browns and reds… varying from bold shades, to toned down tans and burgundies. An easy change up? Rotate your layering colours! From tan cardigan, burgundy tights, brown shoes, to tan tights and red shoes! Remixing can be just *that* easy!

And my last piece of advice: think outside of the box. A dress doesn’t always have to be a dress! It can double as a shirt, or a skirt! I’ll often add a skirt over a dress, and have the dress double as a blouse. The other option: add a sweater, cardigan, or opaque blouse over top, and then your dress becomes a skirt! It’s a great way to multiply your outfit options and really max out your closet (instead of your credit card!).

To show you just how easy thinking outside of the box can be, here’s an example of two more styles, paired with a cowboy-patterned dress. When I first bought this dress, I was worried about how impractical it would be. Truth be told, most novelty-patterns can be the most versatile dresses you own, because the remixing options are endless… if you’re just willing to look at all of the options!

Smiles, jana