How to Style: The Maxi Skirt (& Petite Fashion Challenge #14)

This month's Petite Fashion Challenge is hosted by Couture Coco. The challenge:

"Holiday Emergency: You have a pre-booked dinner date on the first day of your holiday (vacation), but your luggage is delayed. This month’s challenge is to style your travel outfit into a special evening look using whatever you carry in your purse and anything else immediately at hand."

Please visit Couture Coco's post to see the other ladies' outfits. The participant list is short, as this was a true styling challenge requiring resourcefulness and/or creativity (I loved reading ktrstyle's entry). The scenario may not be realistic for everyone (I never check luggage when flying), but it certainly is for some...I'm always hearing about people's luggage getting lost or delayed while on vacation. Here's my travel outfit:

Old Navy maxi skirt (on sale & runs big), H&M shell & belt, LV Speedy 25

Michael Kors tortoise watch, Gap hat (similar), Prada sandals from eBay, F21 necklace

Maxi skirts and dresses are perfect for traveling, and transition nicely for casual daytime outfits after reaching your destination. The jersey fabric and elastic waistband on this are super comfy, plus the length will keep legs warm on chilly flights. I usually bring my LV Speedy on trips because it folds nice and flat into my carry-on tote. Be sure to take off all your metal accessories before going through the scanner and put them into your purse (to avoid leaving anything behind).

My dinner date outfit came to mind almost immediately. Before reading the challenge, I had conveniently just tried on this maxi skirt as a tube dress. Nick was fooled and gave my new dress a thumbs-up, which is good enough for me to wear something in public.


I know this isn't a "special evening look" - more like a casual dinner outfit. When I think of vacation, I dream of sunset walks along the beach and al-fresco dining, so I kept the look fairly relaxed. I used the exact same accessories except swapped the satchel for a clutch. When traveling, I usually bring this H&M convertible clutch/messenger bag along for holding my wallet, passport, tickets, etc. - it's one of my best purchases ever for $17! Scroll to the bottom of this post to see a second, simpler variation of outfits I did with this maxi skirt.

Old Navy chiffon print bow tie top (XS), Old Navy maxi skirt (XS petite, taken in)

I wanted to take a moment and discuss how lengthening long skirts and dresses can actually be on shorter women. The piece just has to be not full or poofy and not too fitted - it should graze your figure and create a seamless line almost to the ground. A skirt that sits higher up on your waist will create a longer line than a low-rise one...

When I initially posted about this skirt, several of you seemed intrigued and asked for styling ideas. The possibilities to me are endless - patterns, stripes, dots, solids plus a necklace and belt...I really like how it looks with the green print top above, kind of like a peacock effect.

I popped into an ON store and got this skirt price adjusted for a little under $13. The blouse was available in-store on that day for the same low price, so I stood there hemming and hawing over whether or not to keep it. An XS runs generously and is sheer and thin (all as expected). I could have made it work, but one thing that bothered me was how low the neckline dipped underneath the bow. It was not going to be simple to take up via the shoulders due to the bow neckline, thus I returned it.

The skirt in Petite XS also ran very generously. It may run even bigger than typical ON sizing, because a store associate saw me holding it and hollered at me to size down. The waist measures 13.4" across on a Petite XS and the length is 33" - perfect when the waistband was hoisted up to my natural waist. The material is on the thinner side and may show undie bulges if it's too fitted. I took the waist/side in along one side, and will get lots of wear out of this come warmer weather.

I wanted to show how easy it really is to style a maxi skirt, and thus did a simple second variation for this challenge using super-affordable pieces that every woman has in their wardrobe:

 Tee: Gap, Belt, tube top, and clutch: H&M, Necklace: F21, Sandals: both from Target

Including shoes and accessories, each of these outfits are under $50. For daytime, you can pair a maxi skirt simply with a solid, print or patterned tee (if solid, add interest with a belt and necklace). For evening, you can transform your look by:

- sweeping your hair into an updo or tousled, voluminous high ponytail
- adding statement earrings
- adding sultry smokey eyes, and/or lipstick

You can also escalate the date night look by baring your shoulders with a tube top or tube dress. When I wear white or clothes that might get easily stained, I actually do carry a back-up in my purse. This is a super fitted and short H&M tube dress that has seen better days at the club, and now I'm looking forward to reviving it under some conservative bottoms.

This has been a Petite Fashion Challenge. To find out more about these challenges, please visit here.