Dresses5 minute read
How to style a blazer dress: rich, not gaudy
A blazer dress is a jacket that became the whole outfit. One dress worn three ways, the boots and layers that suit it, and how to choose between our three.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, / But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy. Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, scene 3
To style a blazer dress, let the tailoring be the outfit. Keep the rest quiet: a boot or a heel, and one small bag.
A blazer dress already has a collar line, buttons and a shaped waist. Everything you add should serve those, as the three Masidas blazer dresses show below.
What a blazer dress is, and where it came from
A blazer dress is a jacket cut long enough to wear alone. It keeps the shoulders, the buttons and the front of a blazer. The hem usually lands at the upper thigh.
The jacket came first, by a long way. The word blazer began on the river at Cambridge. The rowers of the Lady Margaret Boat Club, founded in 1825, wore bright red jackets. The club says they were termed blazers because of that red cloth.
Women borrowed the tailored jacket and then the whole suit. In 1966 Yves Saint Laurent cut a tuxedo for women and called it Le Smoking. It was the first suit of its kind to earn wide attention. The blazer dress is the next step: keep the jacket, and let it be the dress.
The jacket is the outfit. Everything else is punctuation.
How to style a blazer dress three ways
One dress can do three jobs. Our velvet double breasted blazer dress is cut like a double breasted jacket, with a collarless V neckline and six buttons in two rows. Its page says that with heels it stands on its own. It also sits over trousers, as the pictures show.
Alone, it is a dress for dinner. Over black trousers it becomes a long jacket for work. Over a wide leg it turns relaxed. The tie waist wide leg trousers are cut very wide and move like a skirt as you walk. The tailored wide leg trousers have pressed front creases and a leg that skims the floor.
How to style a blazer dress with boots
A short hem and a bare leg can feel like a lot. A tall boot solves it. The boot covers the calf, so the gap between hem and boot is small and even.
Both of our button front dresses are shown this way. The corset blazer dress has a small shirt collar and seven covered buttons. Pressed pleats on each side shape the waist like a corset. For the boot, our tall riding boots are knee high, with a plain shaft, a round toe and a low heel.
How to style a blazer dress for day
A deep neckline is for the evening. By day, put a layer under it. The page for our deep V blazer dress says it plainly: heels are enough at night, and by day a fine knit underneath softens it.
A black turtleneck is the simplest choice. Our turtleneck long sleeve sweater has a tall folded collar that fills the V. Add a bag that sits close under the arm, such as the belted baguette shoulder bag.
Which blazer dress to choose
The three differ at the neck, at the buttons and inside. Here they are side by side, in the words of their own pages.
- Neckline
- Collarless V
- Buttons
- Six, in two rows
- Shape
- Cut like a jacket
- Inside
- Unlined
- Neckline
- Shirt collar
- Buttons
- Seven, covered
- Shape
- Pleated, like a corset
- Inside
- Unlined
- Neckline
- Collarless deep V
- Buttons
- Nine, covered
- Shape
- Shaped by long seams
- Inside
- Lined
Choose the velvet one if you want a jacket as well as a dress. Choose the corset one for the most shape at the waist. Choose the deep V for evenings, and for the lining.
How a blazer dress should fit
Start at the shoulders. The seam should end where your shoulder does, because padded shoulders cannot be altered easily. The sleeve should reach the wrist bone.
Then check the length. Each size table gives it in inches, so measure down from your shoulder and see where the hem will land. If you are tall, plan for tights, trousers or a tall boot. In cold weather, a long coat goes over the top. Our longline tailored coat is cut long enough to cover a short skirt.
Questions about blazer dresses
What shoes go with a blazer dress?
A tall boot by day and a heel at night. Our block heel zip ankle boots work for both.
Can you wear a blazer dress to work?
Yes, with more coverage. Wear it over trousers, or add opaque tights and a knit underneath. Our guide to the business casual office has the full dress code.
What do you wear under a blazer dress?
A fine knit by day, as the page for our deep V blazer dress suggests. At night it is worn alone.
Can you wear a blazer dress to a party?
It is made for one. See our guide on what to wear to a holiday party for the rest of the outfit.
Masidas sells knitwear, coats and dresses for women and men. See all three in women’s dresses, and the coats to wear over them in women’s coats and jackets.
Polonius gave the advice four centuries ago: rich, not gaudy. A blazer dress is that advice with buttons.
