holiday dresses.

Lace Dress: ASOS. Silk Blouse: Everlane. Tights: Gap. Shoes: Enzo Angiolini. (similar here.) Clutch: Old. (Similar here.)  Lips: MAC-Russian Red. Nails: Essie– Really Red.

Okay, let’s talk about holiday dresses for a hot minute.  Because we all know the best part of this time of year is having a lot of reasons to get dolled up. ;-) But holiday dress shopping can be tri-cky.

This year I am really into lace. (that’s a huge understatement, I’m dreaming in lace.)  I love the classic beautiful vintage vibe you get with a great lace dress.  And they always look classy and timeless.  (Side note: I’m kind of OBSESSED with everything Self-Portrait right now, so pretty)  Anyway, when I found this dress online the other day while shopping for my holiday duds, it was totally love at first click.  The length, the high waist, the sheer paneling, back detail, the 3D lace: I couldn’t put it in my cart fast enough.  Thank goodness for ASOS’ super affordable 2-day shipping because I could not wait to wear this beauty, and it did not disappoint.

All that was left to do was get it modest-ready.

I know everyone has different modesty standards, but my personal/religious ones are: nothing less than short sleeves, and dresses/skirts that fall to my knees.  Keeping myself to these standards never bothers me, but it can sometimes be tricky when shopping for something a little more formal, namely dresses.

Assuming I can find one in the length I need, my favorite “make-it-modest” trick is the silk blouse.

A silk blouse makes all attempts at modesty look intentional and not like, ” Hi, I just did this to make this dress more modest.”  I hate that so much.  I spent way too many years settling for awkward unnatural layering in a sort-of resolved-to-my-fate “this is the only way to dress modest” kind of way.  Luckily there is the internet which makes finding modest clothes (especially dresses) a whole lot easier (thank you ASOS for having a billion and one options), and also I’ve learned what kinds of things I can and can’t make work…

But back to the silk blouse.

It looks intentional (because, why would you not add a silk blouse?), it’s so lovely and classy and drapey, it just makes sense.

A silk blouse is a total closet commodity, I mean, breezy enough for summer, still fab in the fall, winter and spring.  Season-less.  And I really find myself pulling it out more than ever during the holidays.  When I found this dress I knew right away it would pair perfectly with my favorite white silk blouse, and I can’t wait to try it with my red silk blouse through the holiday season, and a pretty blush one in the spring.  (Or maybe next week if I can’t wait that long.)

Have you bought your holiday dress yet?  If not, might I suggest a fabulous black lace frock.  Lots and lots of beautiful option below for you.

Now go forth and get glam.