Checked Shirt Dress

OVERSIZED CHECKED SHIRT DRESS, STUD STRAP BOOTS: TOPSHOP / *NAVY FEDORA: c/o ASOS / NAVY BAG: MICHAEL KORS 

Although I'm not someone who's a fan of checked shirts (I just can't seem to pull them off!), I do love a good shirt dress. I think it's the size of the check that really draws me to them; checked shirts tend to have a smaller, tighter checked pattern whereas on this dress from Topshop, the checks are a little bit bigger and I just feel that on me, it looks better. 

Don't be fooled by how bright and sunny it looks on the photos - I was bloody freezing! However, I just couldn't wait any longer to banish the black tights and get my pasty pins out and plus, I couldn't bring myself to ruin this outfit with the dreaded things. That would totally ruin the "borrowed from the boyfriend" look that shirt dresses give off!

The hardest thing to get right with shirt dresses is the length in my opinion. You don't want them to swamp you by being too long but you also don't want to look like you simply forgot to put a pair of trousers on. A little tip from me is to try on the "tall" version, even if you're not tall. I'm quite petite so didn't need to do this but quite often when things are just too short on my mum (who's around 5"5), I tell her to try the tall version on, even if they end up being longer than the style is supposed to be. It's all about how comfortable you feel so if you're medium height and just feel the normal fit is that little bit too dangerous, don't be frightened off by the word "tall"! Here's the link to the tall checked shirt dress if you want to give it a try! 

If it does get a little bit too chilly to even think about bare legs, I'm a big advocate of the "dress and jeans" look as it's a brilliant way to rethink the style of the dress and if it's a bit more of a going out dress, if you can make it work with jeans you've got a sure fire way to get more wear out of it! Of course, it doesn't work with every dress so make sure you try it on first to make sure the jeans and the dress compliment each other! We needn't worry about that with this type of dress though - I wore this with jeans to uni the other day and it was one of the comfiest, slouchiest outfits ever. 

Finally I'll just give the boots a quick mention - DREAMY. I definitely did not need needed another pair of black ankle boots in my life (because you can never have too many right?) and these ones are beautiful as they really elongate the leg thanks to the style. 

Are you a fan of the shirt dress?

Amy x

MY SHIRT DRESS PICKS BELOW!