Outfit | Open Back Maxi Dress

Uh oh, I’d better get a move on with these holiday outfit posts as we’re now definitely approaching winter here – since the clocks changed, it’s starting to get dark around 4.30pm already – and these outfits are most definitely summery! That’s what happens when you take your sunny holiday at the beginning of autumn though I guess!
I was inspired by the Forever 21 open back maxi dress that Annebeth at the Styling Dutchman wore to a pool party just before I went on holiday, and decided I needed one of my own – seriously, how beautiful is that open back with the tie straps?! Unfortunately that specific maxi dress was completely sold out by the time I got on to the website, but I chose another three maxi dresses to try instead, ending up keeping 2. The first was a simple khaki jersey maxi dress that I wore on the plane as it was SO comfortable, the second was this one, and the third was, sadly, FAR too low cut on me, as in, the neckline almost reached my tummy button – I’m afraid I can’t get away with that for a casual holiday look! This maxi dress however was a winner in my book – it has a gorgeous cut out/open back design and a slightly fitted shape at the top. I usually wear either a small or medium at Forever 21 and chose to go with a medium for this – I think the choice was right as the small probably wouldn’t have been so comfortable over my chest, but there is a fair amount of extra material around the waist. Nevertheless, it makes it a nice breezy summer dress.
One touch that I love in this dress (and the other maxi dress I chose) is that they have a (secret!) hidden internal layer. Due to the open backs, both have to worn braless, and fortunately I can just about get away with that! The extra layer does add a little extra protection though, plus it runs down to around mid-thigh, meaning that it acts a slip too so that the dress doesn’t bunch up. I have other items of clothing that have this extra layer but only at bust level, and due to my bust size, they tend to stop around mid-chest for me – not very useful really! So having the full length of it really makes that bit of difference.

But back to life in the present (rather than over a month ago on holiday, booo!). I’m still super busy at the moment – last week was a mish-mash of Brownie activities, an evening out for a Chinese with a few of my friends, plus a whole day on Saturday doing training (which I was quite nervous about, but it all went fine) and fitting a TV for my grandparents and lunch with them on Sunday. This week is set to be just as busy too as it’s choir tonight, Brownies tomorrow, Halloween with my sister at the weekend, and I’ve got SO much sewing that needs to be done – I’ve set myself a few projects to do, both for myself and for gifts for birthdays/Christmas for family and friends. I’ve barely had time to sit at the sewing machine recently, so I’m hoping I haven’t set myself too much to do, but we’ll see. I am massively stocked up on fabric at the moment though as I’ve got my big stockpile from America that I haven’t even dug into yet, then I bought a couple of vintage fabrics from Bakewell last weekend and an awesome Frozen print fabric which I’m planning to make a teeny circle skirt out of for my cousin’s 5th birthday – I’m more excited about that than I should be!