What I Look For In A Sweater Dress

It’s been the age-old struggle of my closet. If you were to open up my teeny tiny closet and browse through my clothes, you’d see ZERO sweater dresses. ZERO. Where as I’m sure many women love a sweater dress, I for the life of me, can not find any that I love. I’m not sure if it’s that I have broad shoulders and a bigger chest, or just don’t like the look period. But I struggle. And also so desperately want to have them because they look so cozy. I have sweater dress fomo to be honest. They’re such a good alternative for jeans in the winter too. Nothing is more miserable than eating a big dinner in high rise jeans, right?

Every year I go on a fall and winter dress hunt. Which I’ve talked about before. A lot. Because it truly happens each and every fall. I go on a shopping spree of dresses. And usually find nothing. Zero. Between the matronly long sleeve dresses for fall in dark prints, to the oversized unflattering sweater dresses, it’s always a fail.

Until I found this dress from Abercrombie.

How to wear platform boots — Photos by Hannah Lozano

What I Look For In A Sweater Dress

I noticed three significant things about this dress that I think has totally shifted how I shop for sweater dresses. When I got this dress in and put it on it was like a lightbulb moment. I had been trying for so long to wear what everyone else was wearing. The big oversized sweater dresses. And you know what, I hate them on me. I love them on you, hate them on me. I needed something else and I’m so glad I now have a direction to go in when I shop. Having a checklist in mind when shopping for your closet helps you to buy things you’ll love and wear. And to me, and my tiny closet, that’s super important.

Open Neckline

For one, an open neck. I’m rarely one who finds a turtleneck of any kind flattering on my body. It’s rare to see me in one. I think between my 32DD chest, broad shoulders and short neck (that’s a thing right?), I just think it overwhelms my body. I don’t feel my best in them. This sweater dress is a wrap style so it has a v-neck which is just universally flattering on everyone. They help to elongate your body and draw the eye up to your face. Great for people with broader shoulders and short necks.

Shape

The second thing is the wrap style itself. A cinched waist. Creating shape. I talk about this ALL THE TIME that creating shape and cinching your waist is key. Whether you do it with a belt, or a nice shaped jacket or blazer, creating a waist is always something I try to do with my outfits to make me feel good. And a wrap dress does that instantly. Sure there are other ways to do this, but I think I’m now kind of obsessed with wrap style sweater dresses. There aren’t many out there though. I know this because I instantly did a search the second I fell in love with this dress to buy them ALL up and there were sadly only about two out there.

Fabric Weight And Knit

The last thing I now look for in a sweater dress is one that is not super thick or a crazy big knit. A giant heavy cable knit sweater dress is not going to work for me. This Abercrombie & Fitch wrap sweater dress is a nice thin and compact knit material. It’s also insanely soft. But I noticed that a more body hugging knit was a better look for me.

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Two Ways To Style A Wrap Sweater Dress

Once I got this dress I knew I wanted to style it two ways. The first, a casual and edgy look with a denim j a cket and Dr Martens. Perfect for those warmer fall days. And second, a suede moto with leopard booties. For winter, I’d wear this with my favorite fleece lined tights and boots. So many ways to style it!