This Summer I’m Wearing Dresses Over Pants
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The other day at the office, I saw the most stylish woman wearing a golden mini shift dress over black trousers. Completing the look was a black silk scarf wrapped around her head and little mule slides. She looked so elegant that I complimented her every time I ran into her throughout the day. A week later, at a preview forEileen Fisher’s fall collection, I noticed a mannequin styled in a long tunic over wide-leg pants and immediately copped the entire outfit. Something clicked in me sartorially. I decided that this would be the summer I wore dresses over pants.
There’s a bit of a learning curve to getting this combination right. You can’t just throw on any dress over any pair of pants and expect it to look right. The lengths, shapes, and material of both pieces matter. Based on pairings I’ve seen out in the wild and styled online, plus samples I tried on, I came up with some rules that make the most sense to me.
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Stick to the same fabric family
Dresses need to have either a bit of structure or drape, and that will largely depend on the garment’s fabric. In the case of the Eileen Fisher look, the shell, as the brand calls it, is made of linen, is cut in a straight silhouette, and has high side slits. It is meant to move.
A more structured dress is meant to stay in place and hold its shape to a certain degree. Take the example of this cotton dress from With Nothing Underneath that I called in. The short sheath dress is made of crisp poplin and slightly A-lined, which is necessary if it is to be worn over pants — but it shouldn’t be too flared.
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Proportions should be roomy — but not too much
As for the pants, they need to enhance what’s going on top by being of similar material and therefore feel. The Eileen Fisher tunic goes best with a similarly breezy pair of long bottoms that have a lot of movement. The poplin dress pairs nicely with trousers of the same material. Because the dress is short, the pants should be slightly cropped. Wide-leg pants are the best choice in both instances to preserve the overall proportion of the dresses. (Tapered or skinny pants would look funny.)
Trying these two outfits on, I was surprised by how effortless they felt despite how fussy — and perhaps excessive — they might seem in theory. Dresses exist to take theplaceof pants (and vice versa), making the choice to put them together a purely stylistic exercise. At the risk of looking like a wellness-cult leader, I’m going all in.
Some more dresses-over-pants looks to try
Toast has some fun dress-and-pants combos (sold separately) that are inspiring me to try the look with items I already own. That being said, any shift or sheath-style dress could work over pants as long as you keep the above guidelines in mind. Here are some options to experiment with.
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A strappier, linen alternative to the With Nothing Underneath dress above.
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A perfect A-line linen shift dress to wear over trousers.
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The pants are sold separately, but I love overall silhouette of this look.
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This cotton mini would also pair well with cropped bottoms.
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I like how wide-legged and breezy these pants are.
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These poplin pants have utility paneling but they would still work under a dress.
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