As a tall woman, finding the right clothes can be quite a challenge. Pants never seem to hit the right spot, sleeves always fall short, and don’t even get us started on the dresses. One thing that was made for tall women though is the maxi dress.
A perfect maxi dress stops right below your ankles and makes you look like a lady. The good thing about these dresses is that they will take you from season to season and they are appropriate for almost every occasion. But for that to happen, you must learn how to style a maxi dress to flatter your tall frame.
Ready to learn a few tricks? Let’s go.
Define Your Waist for Shape
One thing I have against maxi dresses is that they can make a woman look like a tall, straight tree. If you get a straight, flowy dress, you risk looking extra-long and unfeminine. Our solution for this is to define your waist with a belt.
Ideally, you should buy a maxi dress that comes with its own belt and a defined waist, but that is not always the case. Using a belt to cinch in the waist creates the illusion of an hourglass figure, making you look proportional and shapely.
This is a great trick if you wear the dress as it is without a jacket or anything else, and you can match the belt with your shoes. Be sure to throw on some statement jewelry pieces to bring the look together because it’s an otherwise minimalistic look.
Go Extra Casual with a Jeans Jacket
Speaking of creating shape with a maxi dress, especially if it has pockets, nothing does this better than a nice jeans or denim jacket. The jacket’s hemline falls right at your waist, creating a separation between the upper and lower parts of your body, with or without a belt. The contrast of color also helps a lot, and blue jeans is a flattering color for any woman.
To complete this look, throw on some minimalistic white sneakers, a small handbag, and some minimal jewelry. It goes well with sandals or platform wedges too if you want to show off your well-pedicured toes.
Dress Down with a Buttoned Shirt
Continuing with the shaping theme, another alternative is a button-up shirt. Take any buttoned long-sleeve shirt in your closet (preferably a dress shirt) and wear it on top of a straight maxi dress. To create the illusion of shape, tie the hems together into a knot on your stomach. If you can get a maxi dress with pockets here, it will look even better.
Throw on a long-strapped bag, some sandals, and a popping gold or silver necklace. I love rolling back the sleeves a bit because this is a casual look and wearing a nice summer hat if it’s too hot outside.
The Leather Jacket
My all favorite maxi dress look is wearing a floral or bright-colored maxi dress with pockets and coupling with a leather jacket. It gives cool and fun vibes, and it’s an easy look to put together. Again, don some sneakers or sandals and you are good to go.
The leather jacket look is one of the very few exceptions where you can wear boots because they bring the look together. It works especially great if you wear a buttoned maxi dress and let the bottom buttons stay open.
If you are not a fan of leather jackets, a bomber jacket is a great alternative. It’s feminine, comfortable, and light enough for three out of four seasons. Match this with a nice tote bag, gold jewelry, and some comfy heels.
Go Official with a Blazer
It’s amazing that the same maxi dress that goes to the beach and parties can also be styled for an official meeting or even a casual Friday at work. All you have to do is throw on a blazer and then tie a belt on your waist. The belt creates shape to this outfit and makes it look more official than it is.
Because you want to look serious here, wear this with low heels or some pumps. The dress should still hit your ankles but let the feet shine as well. I’d wear some gold jewelry like a watch, necklace, and minimal earrings and carry a small formal bag.
Embrace Your Height with Heels
There’s the temptation to make yourself look shorter when you are tall, and it’s understandable. However, choosing to embrace your height with confidence instead of trying to tone it down can also be a style statement. When you wear real stiletto heels with a maxi dress, it makes you look like a runway model.
Next time you want to don a maxi dress to a wedding, dinner date with some friends, or church, throw on your favorite heels instead of sandals. This is a look you can go for if the dress has a natural cinch on the waist (or comes with its own dress belt) or a shapely maxi dress with pockets. Otherwise, a bomber jacket will work too to create color contrast and create shape on the outfit.
Embrace the Maxi Dress
There are many ways to style a maxi dress as a tall woman. Some will make you look shapelier, others will shorten your long frame, and some will make you look like a supermodel. However, sometimes you can just let the maxi dress be and embrace it just the way it is, no belts, no jackets, no nothing.
As we said in the beginning, maxi dresses were specially designed for tall women, and they can rock them just the way they are. For this look, I would go for a maxi dress with pockets and probably a pattern (or stripes) that creates a horizontal shape, especially around the waist and hips. This look will flatter your body even more if you are a full-figured woman with nice hips.
Throw on some sandals, a gold watch, tiny earrings with a matching chain, and some sunglasses. If you must carry something, let it be a clutch and a statement one at that. This is the look you want for brunch, lunch dates, or running errands around town. It’s easy, comfortable, and classically you. You are a model; embrace it.
Tall people can pull off many things elegantly but nothing beats a tall girl with a maxi dress. She can do flowy or straight cut, accessorize with jackets and scarfs during colder weather and look amazing either way.
The best thing about wearing a maxi dress as a tall girl is that length doesnt really matter. You can pull off an ankle-length dress or a midi without it affecting your height. If you want to highlight your sexy legs, wear a midi dress and some heels.
