1 Dress 4 Looks Take 21

Behold my third ever attempt at this ‘1 Dress 4 Styles’ thing with an OP on this blog. Although with British Crown I also have the comfort of having done it once already – then again, that’s four looks I’ve already done and now I had to come up with four new ones. Still, I’d like to think that I gave it a pretty strong go.

Look 1: Elegant Navy

Just for this dress I bought some grosgrain ribbon in navy so that I could mix and match it with the red one that originally came with the dress. In due course I’ll also try making a matching bow for the neck. While British Crown features as much blue as it does red, so far I tended to pair it more with reds. Time for that to stop. Because of the layers this coord is better suited to early autumn or cooler spring days and I could easily substitute the heels for flats if I needed to be more comfortable/casual. And I’m so pleased with that blue crown brooch, it is just made for this print!

Look 2: Military Dress

I just love military-style looks, don’t blame me. Thanks to the crown print this dress works pretty well for dress uniform-style outfits, so I had to do something more like this. If I had the little pieces, I’d love to take this further with some extra detail, like adding epaulettes and a swagger stick, maybe even swap the jacket and hat for slightly grander ones that would really convey the dress uniform feel. But I still like this, whether it’s a base for more or an outfit on its own.

Look 3: True Tricolour

| Angelic Pretty Candy Fun Fair OTKs | DreamV bag |
offbrand cardigan, beret and heels |

It’s actually surprising that the print’s colours are more true shades than jewel tones. We expect royal, classic prints like this to feature more muted shades, but this one actually isn’t that. So while it works with jewel tones like wine and navy, I knew I had to put together my blue cardigan and socks combo and see what happened. It turned out to be the most fun to play with, although it took me a few attempts to settle on the hair accessory. Ideally I’d add some extra clips in both red and blue, however, I don’t have any hair pieces at all in that shade of blue. Well, other than what’s here and one bag, no pieces in that shade of blue, full stop. It’s still such a fun outfit to look at though!

Look 4: Muted Royal

This last look was a result of a mini-epiphany. As I sat there, trying to decide what outfit to create next that I wouldn’t have done in some shape or form in the past, it struck me that that’s not the point of OPs. We like them because they’re so easy to wear, literally one thing to throw on and boom!, most of the outfit is already there. So while it’s great if they can be versatile, I need to accept that they’re not made for this level of versatility. Instead, I’m enjoying the fact how I can change the socks or the hair accessory or add a different bag and that’s my new outfit with this dress. In this one I’ve embraced the mismatched reds/burgundies and let the print do the talking. It doesn’t need much more than that.

Truth be told, I’ve considered a few times trading this OP for one of the JSK cuts in ivory because of that feeling that I could do so much more with a JSK. But then I remember the joy I had when I discovered that I could fit an unshirred Angelic Pretty OP (even if they did lie about the bust measurement and it will only fit if I’ve a sports bra on) and that with a cut like this it is a great ‘fancy casual’ piece. And so for now it stays as is. With the collection of cardigans that I have I shouldn’t really complain about it being less versatile, right?