This past weekend we made a quick trip to visit my family in upstate New York, a quiet respite from the city. My parents showed us this trail with this quaint covered bridge over a beautiful pond, right around the corner from our house. I’ve been home so many times, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t come across this gem before!
This vibrant tiered dress from Banana Republic gives off the most beautiful movement as you walk. It has a slight bohemian vibe with the gathered tiers, and buttons down the front center. I like it unbuttoned to show a little leg to amp up the look, and can also see this worn into Autumn, fully-buttoned with a cropped jacket and scarf. With flats it’s casual enough for everyday activities, yet the drama of the skirt makes it appropriate for dressier occasions too. 
This dress in size 00p measures about 50″ long, 17″ across the bust, and 12.5″ across the waist. The length is in-between a midi and maxi, and required no hemming on me in my usual size with flat sandals. Two details that I love are the side skirt pockets, and the snap buttons hidden underneath the shoulders to keep your bra straps out of sight! These are features that I want in pretty much every dress, yet the latter one is so rare to find. I wanted to accentuate the waistline here, so borrowed Nick’s belt and tucked the excess end into a pretzel loop.
I just saw Banana Republic is currently having a promo with extra 50% off sale items, no code needed at checkout. The dress I have on in this post doesn’t qualify, but below are a few suggested items still available in small sizes. Their dresses in petite sizing usually fit me well without any alterations.
– both the classic striped blue shirt and V-neck fit & flare dress that I wore in this post
– chambray ruffled-neck dress that I thought looked darling on a friend
– costume jewelry including this adorable gold pineapple brooch or these tassel earrings
That chambray ruffle neck dress LOOKS cute, but I tried it on at BR and it looked horrible! The torso just hit at a funny place and way too much volume in the bottom for that material, in my opinion.
Could you curate for your readers your best posts on DIY and alterations for petites? For example, right proportions for skirts, jackets, etc.?
The flow of this dress is amazing!! Wow!
http://www.maggiealamode.com
That dress looks amazing on you! I love these photos.
Julia // Little Miss Haute Couture
I love the way that dress moves! It's gorgeous on you!
Lifestyle by Joules
Cute sandals and belt Jean.
XO,
Maria
MariaOnPoint http://mariaonpoint.com/ | Find me on IG https://www.instagram.com/mariajabad/
Beautiful dress! 🙂
LifeOfArdor.com
This maxi dress is all. So beautiful!
xx
http://www.mybeautrip.com
I've ignored these rental services for just this reason – they do not seem petite friendly. Perhaps I'm wrong?
Once again Jean, you wear and photograph this dress better than BR itself. This bridge reminds me of Anne of Green Gables! Your blog is such a delight. Yay, yay, yay! for fashion elevated to an art.
I love the dress! It looks silky as well – perfect for keeping cool i'm sure! I also am so impressed on how you made it work with your personal style!
http://fashionably.us
I love covered bridges – they have a charm. Also love the movement of the dress!
Jen | affecionada
Saw that dress at BR the other day, it looks absolutely stunning on you!
Diana | http://www.thechicdiary.com
These photos are stunning!
|| D I A N A ||
http://www.TheNeonFactor.com
You look beautiful in that dress, really nice work. Love the outfit and photography work. Beautiful work, thanks for sharing!
Osiarah xx
http://www.osiarah.com
Amazing dress!!!
http://www.lacaleya.com
Such a stunning dress! Love it. X
http://www.thoughtsinstyle.com/
I had to look up what you meant by snap buttons to hide bra straps and omg, why isn't this a standard feature for all sleeveless tops/dresses!!
What a beautiful dress <3
xx Isabelle
http://www.isabellesurmont.com
Good point about unbuttoning the dress – I wouldn't normally think of that but I realised the dress could look a bit 'old' or at least, 'older' with the skirt fully buttoned up.
I'm saying hi for the first time too, but have been following your blog addictively from about a few months after you started, and adore what you've created. Thanks and best wishes 😀
You look lovely in this dress. Especially like the first and second pix! This is a great example how a plain looking dress can look wonderful when worn in a right way. 🙂
Annie | Petite&Minimal;
I like how you styled it with some of the buttons undone! The movement of this dress is really well executed by Banana.
– Trina http://www.petitestylestudio.com
The dress looks great on you! I purchased this dress a while back but I found the dress to be really tight across the waist. I tried on a 2P and it fit everywhere, but tight on the waist. I then ordered a 4P and hardly any change, so got the 6P! I had to go up 3 dress sizes, but the top was too frumpy. If only my waist was tiny!
Love the dress! Absolutely adore the colour.
Love, V.
http://www.vrogue.co
Gorgeous dress! You look beautiful♥
http://www.pamelayaquelin.com
Fab pictures! This dress is really pretty!
http://martasfashiondiary.com/
http://martasfashiondiary.com/lavender-fields/
I adore your beautiful picture and the swinging look!
xx Rena
http://www.dressedwithsoul.com
Hi, Jean! Excellent post, as always 🙂 I wanted to make a request for a future post…have you considered doing a round-up of petite friendly picks from Rent The Runway or similar rental sites? My sister and I are both petite (5'2") and we have had really hit or miss experiences renting a couple of dresses. There just aren't many customer reviews from others our height and size so it's very difficult to know if a dress is going to work. We need a petite's guide to RTR!! Thanks!!
Simply blues . . . Simply beautiful! 🙂
La Bijoux Bella | by mia
Love this dress 🙂 It's so flowy and perfect for so many different summer events!
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Fun dress!
You look fabulous! I immediately clicked at the BR link and the dress looks unflattering in my opinion on the website. You make it look so good!