This plus size gray work dress can absolutely be worn year round! A great way to make your work dresses more versatile is to layer. Be it adding a cardigan or a blazer on top or trying one of my favorite “tricks:” adding a button down underneath. Even if your dress is sleeveless or short-sleeved, you can always wear a crisp white button down under it.
You can roll up the sleeves or, as shown in this outfit, leave them down for a chic look. Note that the button down should have long sleeves if you aren’t going to roll them up. Meaning, don’t combine a dress with an elbow length sleeve with a three-quarter length sleeve button down. The proportions will look “off.”
However, a three-quarter length sleeve button down will be perfect under a sleeveless dress in the spring! So, a good guideline is to have ample length between the dress and the sleeve sticking out or have very little showing, like that of a rolled up sleeve. Am I making any sense? I am writing this pretty late and I am starting to wonder! Lol. And to really change up the look, layer a button down under the dress and then a blazer on top! There are so many possibilities!
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Plus Size Gray Work Dress Outfit
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I am confused at why you call this shirt a “button-down”. Button-down shirt has a buttoned down collar. Wikipedia: button-down collars, or “sport collars” have points fastened down by buttons on the front of the shirt. The shirt you have pictured is just a collared shirt. ???
Oxford shirts like this have always been referred to as a ‘button down shirt’ because it buttons down the front. A button down collar is different from a button down shirt. If you google ‘button down shirt’ the results will be oxfords such as this.
I have always used “Oxford shirt” and “button down” interchangeably. I thought everyone did, but perhaps that’s just something I was taught incorrectly. According to this article, “‘Button-down’ is the most misused word in men’s clothing. A button-down, you know, is a men’s dress or “business” shirt which has collars that are each secured down to the front panel of the shirt by… a button! Shocking, I know. But we have become confused however with the button-front shirt, which nearly all men’s office-type shirts are, as they have buttons as well, just down the front, not at the collar-tips, and also the popular phrase, “button-down culture,” which technically means a culture of uniformity.”
Interesting. Apparently everyone I know uses it incorrectly! I learn something new everyday! 🙂
Checking on your personal experience with eShakti. I’ve ordered plus sizes from a few Asian-based storefronts before, only to discover that while the body part of the shirts were fine, the sleeves were still sized for smaller women – which rendered the shirt useless. And because it costs nearly as much to return the package as it did to purchase it, the experience was a total fail. Are you hearing anything specific to this vendor? LOVE the look of their shirts – but don’t want to throw away my $$ once more…
Hi Susie,
I recommend choosing their custom sizing/customizing option. For $10 you get to choose several options, like length, etc., but also get to input your measurements. It is 100% worth it (and then some)! The pieces I have done custom are the best fitting garments I own! And I was able to take all of the necessary measurements myself. I hope that helps!
WOW – that IS a deal! Thanks so much for pointing it out. LOVE YOUR BLOG!
Thanks!!! 🙂