The Model and Me: Country Road spring-summer 2011

The Model and Me: Ever looked at a model wearing an item of clothing that appeals to you and dismissed the purchase out of hand?  Yep, me too.  Well, I’m here to tell you that you SHOULD get into that change room and give the object of your desire a try.  You may not look like the model (I don’t, I’m a size 14), but you never know, it just may look right for you.

Welcome back to The Model and Me for a new fashion season.  One that I’m really excited about.

Stop laughing.

I know I start frothing at the mouth at the start of every fashion season (a bit because I start to reach the boredom threshold in my wardrobe, conveniently around the same time as the weather changes) but this spring, I’m REALLY excited.

I talked up the colour excitement in this post where I previewed the new Country Road collection but I withheld the image below from you.  If you’re a Country Road fan, you’ve probably already seen it.

It’s the hero shot of the new-season.

This green colour-blocked striped maxi dress is just calling out for a long lunch with my girlies or a summer barbecue with friends.  Well, it was calling out to me when I first laid eyes on it online.  It called out to me to ring my local store and have it put aside.

And I’m very glad I did – and that dresses have the power of speech.

Because, as you know, I don’t look like the gorgeous model but this is one dress that I knew would work for me – and I know it could work for so many of you.

Just a few styling tips for you first.

There is actually a lot of volume in the fabric of this dress.  And, as is the case with a lot of voluminous pieces I buy, I’ll always try on the smaller sizes as well as my regular size to see what actually suits best.

Often I’ll find that the dress or top actually looks better one or two sizes down.  That was definitely the case with this dress.  Normally I’d buy size L but it was the Size S that I brought home with me.

Going down in size does make the length shorter and it also makes the neckline less plunging.  Happy on both counts here.

A dress with a built in tie and loops doesn’t always look great on me.  And by doesn’t really look great I mean makes me look like a raw sausage tied around the middle with a piece of string.  It’s not so much the curves doing their thing, it’s the fact I’m not long in the waist and the ties rarely sit in the right place to be flattering. When they sit just above my ample hips, well, they just make my hips look more ample.

The simple solution here was for me to take off the rope tie and replace it with a loosely tied leather plait belt.  I’ll also wear the dress in summer with flats without a tie or belt.

To get me through till spring hits for real, a denim jacket is an easy add-on.

Here is the model wearing the Country Road stripe maxi dress ($149):

Country Road stripe maxi dress $149

And here is me:

My style take on the Country Road stripe maxi dress

Outfit:  Country Road stripe maxi dress; Jag denim jacket – from nine years ago; Country plaited leather belt – from two years ago; wYse bodywear scarf – from two years ago;  coolbabycool bracelet (black); Wild Poppy Designs bracelet (silver);  Jewels of the Kimberley ring; Country Road platform sandals – from three years ago.

Who’s excited that the maxi dress is still around this spring-summer?