From the Archives: Where to Wear: Summer Maxi Dresses

The contemporary maxi dress (a dress style that reaches and sometimes sweeps the floor) made a comeback in 2008. It's interesting because there is an old theory that dress lengths follow the economy: good economy= mini dresses, slow economy=knee length, bad economy= cover-me-completely. While the opposite may be true (a floral mini-skirt may add a little "happy" during a depressing time), the comeback of the maxi's may be the result of the Bush war-era & '08 economic breakdown.

What is different, is that today's maxi dresses are colorful, sexy, feminine, stylish and so damn easy to wear. Fabrics are flowing and soft on the skin. Designs offer lots of skin-showing shoulders and plungey necklines to balance the long flowing skirts that cover up the leg.

For this reason, maxi's look best with a flat skin-showing sandal. This look makes the perfect outfit for summer barbecues, afternoon weddings, baby showers, early evening happy hour, girls day downtown shopping, a stroll around the farmers market, barefoot on the beach, or just lounging around the house with friends.

Alternatively, maxi's worn to evening gigs look better paired with a shoulder shrug and lots of jewelry to dress them up. Though a bit hard to dance your ass off in (you have to hold the dress up with your hands, which really impedes your ability to gesture with arms while dancing), adding a high-heeled strappy shoe can sex it up a bit for evening wear. Today's maxi's in general are meant to be casual, pretty and easy to wear. See pics below of Kick It maxi's now in stock, all sizes, easy on the pocket book too ($32 - $48):






For extra pizazz, add a floral bid necklace that complements the floral print.










And....add strappy heels, a lace back cardi-vest, jewelry and a Hottie Tottie flower to dress up this summer maxi for the evening.