The Bias Cut

First, I would like to give you a belated welcome back from your fall break. I hope during your time off you enjoyed city bars, a man or woman of high maturity level and made use of my last column’s advice (even if the climate didn’t allow you to wear your new purchases as soon as you wanted to). I am also very hopeful that loyal The Bias Cut readers were not the people I spotted around New York City wearing a mini dress when they had no business doing so.
Dresses are wonderful, especially mini dresses and the “little black dress” — just ask any straight boy who likes a good peak, or any die hard Coco Chanel fan. Throughout history, fashion trendsetters and Hollywood celebrities have been loyal patrons of the mini dress. Brilliant designers such as Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent continue to create mini dresses that have been worn on red carpet events (even the ones that we make fun of while secretly wishing we were a part of…).
Mini dresses are not only perfect for the right celebrity or celebutante, but they are also perfect for the average college student. Mini dresses are convenient and can often be an easy outfit or part of a fabulous ensemble. They can sometimes be more expensive than you expected, but they are often worth it. For instance, a great mini dress causes less chaos getting ready and can potentially prevent you from spending all that extra money to complete the ensemble that entails matching the appropriate denim with your top, the belt that brings the two together, a pair of shoes to match the belt, the right light weight jacket and so on. Exhausting right?
When wearing a mini dress do take full advantage of accessorizing. Clutches that you can keep forever, big cocktail rings, bangles and fun earrings are all items that can be purchased to perfect the outfit (they also can’t be ruined by alcohol or torn during embarrassing falls). Pairing a mini dress with the cheap accessories from Claire’s can be a disaster area. You don’t want to ruin your classy look by adding the wrong accessories and becoming walking advertisement for Joyce Leslie or Charlotte Russe. Cheap accessories that look cheap are a no no, but let’s not rule out all cheap accessories. I mean Sharon Stone did wear a cheap Gap turtleneck to the Oscars and she looked the best she has in the past decade.
Lets also remember, dressing for your body type is always important. Cuts are important and they are many different cuts for different body types. For example, shorter dresses with a higher neckline emphasize one’s legs. Celebrities like Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Aniston (or Maniston according to Perez) are two people who use the mini dress to emphasize their great legs. Whatever your shape or size the golden rule with the mini dress is to make sure that the hem hits your legs in the right place. This place is different for every girl but getting it wrong makes or breaks a look.
Whichever mini you choose I advise that if you are looking in the mirror and thinking to yourself, “Do I look like a cheap ho?” and you have to ask your friend the same question, CHANGE. Looking cheap doesn’t give you the benefit of the doubt when you’re falling down stairs drunk or trying to hold your head up high after you half trip and spill a little of your drink. The walk of shame will also be much more shameful if you leave the house in an ill-fitting mini. Mini’s can be great but if you have any sense of doubt, leave it on the hanger!