I Wear: The Tee-shirt Dress

Move over shirt-dress! The teeshirt-dress is here! Nothing matches the comfort of a tee-shirt for the hot weather. But I often find denims too heavy for the heat. Shorts and skirts require a certain fit of the tee-shirt they’re worn with, so as not to look too sloppy. The tee-shirt dress is a perfect alternative. It’s easily thrown on, best worn loose & comfortable and can be teamed up with anything from sneakers to floaters to strappy sandals. It’s a great wardrobe option for a girl who wants to look good without being too girly. Tee-shirt dresses were made for the tomboy girl who grew up.

Presenting exhibit A: A salmon-pink one by AND. Remember when Lacoste brought out a range of women’s tee-shirts? Well, this is the same material as our favorite alligator-logo’ed tee-shirts. Take the sleeves off, let down the hem a bit and snip-&-sew it into a snug shape and voila! This particular one has a very tennis-player feel to it, which is why I usually pair it up with my orange-and-silver Catwalk shoes (see also in I Wear:Coffee & Sunshine). The bag, of course is my favorite red Baggit tote (see also in I Wear:Flourishing Feathers).

The second was actually marked as ‘Long top’ on the label. I was window-shopping in Mega Mall, Oshiwara when I spotted this hanging with the dresses in Max on the ground floor. I was struck with an idea the minute I saw it. Curiously enough, my vision involved buying an extra-large size and XL was the only one that they had in stock! I got home and pulled out a top I’ve had for over a decade but never used – a grey tube top with thin elastic shoulder straps. It came as part of a set with a similar coloured full-sleeved jacket. I never liked that look much but this top has finally found its soulmate after 10 years! The grey perfectly matches the stripes of the ‘Long top’ whose sleeves actually sort of drift off near the edges of the shoulders. It falls to about an inch over my knees, making it a perfect summer dress. I wear it with grey-green gladiators.

And finally, here’s a piece I picked up last week and still haven’t worn. It has a T-back (or a racer back, if you will) and falls in one straight line to an inch above the knees. There ought to be a number of ways to wear this. Firstly, there’s obviously the sailor-girl theme, given the navy-and-white stripes. A pair of white tennis shoes should work well for that. For a more fashionasta look, it could be teamed up with navy blue jeans and ballerina flats in a colour pop (I’m thinking majenta). But I think the one I’m really going to go in for is to wear it on its own with a long chain, loads of pendants, colourful sandals and maybe a floppy hat or a hair accessory.

Interestingly this piece was labelled XSmall. I did try on the larger sizes but they looked closer to maternity gowns than tee-shirts or dresses on me so I stuck to my usual size. It is priced at Rs.740 and available at Cotton World, Palladium.