Ann Taylor Lace Shift Dress

It is currently my second full day in Taipei and I am still a bit too sleepy from jetlag to do anything too fun and exciting. Hopefully, that will change in the next few days! For now, I have a quick post regarding a bit of shopping I did before leaving NYC.

I took some time to check out a few things at Ann Taylor during a recent 40% off in-store promotion. It's been a while since I've been particularly excited by anything at AT, but I love the idea of most of their recent batch of new arrivals. Although they describe it as a "late summer" collection, the items and color scheme look very "autumn" to me. In person, the skirt and dress pictured above are made of thin, light summer-weight fabrics. I didn't take a very close look at the skirt because I own something similar, but I did try on the dress in both colors.

I'm not posting the photos directly because my mirror selfie game was much worse than usual thanks to anemic lighting and a not perfectly-clean mirror. If you're curious, I'm wearing the regular size 4 in navy blue here and the dark red in a regular size 2 here. The Fitflop sandals (a gift from mom) that I'm wearing are not the trendiest shoe, and not the ones I'd actually wear with a dress like this, but they've become my favorite summer shoe because they're just so comfortable. 

Shift dresses are not the most flattering style for me, but I kind of like the relaxed fit. Because it's a shift dress, the cut is a little boxy, particularly in the bust, and I found that it runs bigger than most other AT dresses as a result. While I'm typically a size 4 or 6 in AT dresses depending on the design, the size 2 is the one for me here. I suspect that less curvy figures might feel differently about whether it runs large. I think curves make the larger sizes look awkwardly baggy. The dress is a bit short, such that the regular actually hits a bit above the knee on my 5'3'' self, and it's mainly the high neckline that keeps it office-appropriate for my business casual workplace. The fabric is thin and intended for summer, but the lining is 100% polyester and a bit clingy, which keeps it from being the most comfortable summertime choice. 

I ended up buying the navy blue dress in a size 2, and it'll appear in next month's budget post.