How to Dress Down a Dress

At Mint Julep, we love boutique dresses! There are so many different styles that can be worn with virtually anything, and because they are so versatile, they can be found in multiple styles. 

Life as we know it has gotten a lot more casual over the past year because of the pandemic, which means that while we have been wearing dresses a lot less, we haven’t stopped wearing them altogether. A lot of us are staying home, but that doesn’t mean that we don't want to get dressed. Many of us are wearing dresses at home because some of our favorite styles can also double as great loungewear. And for the dresses that are more formal, if you’re wondering how to dress them down for a more casual setting, we have you covered!

Whether you're looking to dress a dress down for a certain occasion, or you just want to make the dresses in your wardrobe more casual, we've included a few styling tips to help get you started. 

Add a Sweater 

By adding a sweater over the top of a fitted dress like the slip style, you can easily make that dress a lot more casual. This will give your dress a skirt vibe, and depending on the type of sweater you choose, you can transform pretty much any dress into a more casual outfit with this trick. 

Top It Off with a Faux Leather Moto Jacket 

If you have big plans, but not the kind that require a super formal dress, you can easily give any dress an edgy and more casual vibe by topping it off with a faux leather moto jacket. Moto jackets instantly give any outfit an edgy look, and when you pair trendy jackets with dresses, something really beautiful happens! 

Throw on a Long Sleeve

Are you trying to take one of your favorite summer dresses and make it more appropriate for winter or dress it down a little bit? If so, try adding a long sleeve shirt under your favorite tank top dress. You can easily tuck this long sleeve into shapewear or your underwear—especially if the dress is a more fitted one. What this trick does is make the dress less of a statement piece. You can also try this styling hack with lightweight sweaters or a chunky turtleneck, as long as your dress has enough room in the body for both so that it doesn't make you look too bulky.

Tie a Knot

If you're wearing a really long and flowy maxi dress that looks a little too elegant for whatever you have planned, tie a knot at the bottom to create an asymmetrical look. This styling technique instantly makes a dress more casual and it also gives you a very tropical vacation vibe.

Wear an Oversized Cardigan

Dial back a more formal dress with an oversized cardigan. Oversized cardigans are naturally really casual looking and when you pair them with a really structured and beautiful dress, you get a really cool and laid-back look. If you're aiming to make a bodycon dress a little bit more versatile, styling it with an oversized and slouchy cardigan is a great way to achieve a more casual look.

Belt a Flowy Dress

If you have a dress that's flowy and was made for a special occasion, you may be able to make that dress a little bit more casual by adding trendy belts to cinch the waist. This will also transform the dress, giving it an entirely different look. We love this simple hack for dressing down a fancy or flowy dress.

Put on Some Sneakers

If you were to tell us that trendy sneakers for women and dresses would be a match made in heaven a couple of years ago, we probably wouldn't have believed you. However, thank you to celebrity street style and New York Fashion Week runways, sneakers and dresses are definitely a pair. You can take a dress from ballroom to approachable street style by pairing your dress with some fashionable sneakers!

Dresses are a lot more versatile than most people think. Over quarantine, we've seen just how versatile dresses can be by wearing them at home as loungewear. And hopefully, with this style guide, you will see just how many ways you can easily make a dress more casual in just a few simple steps.