From DvF to Oasis - 20 New Season’s Wrap Dresses to Buy and Wear Now

 
Diane von Furstenberg designed her first wrap dress in 1972/3, and one of her first iconic dresses is in the collection of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, recognising its influence on women's fashion.

40 years on just about every collection from designer to high street has at least one of these sassy sophisticated and sexy wrap dresses in its collection, reflecting that this is the dress that flatters just about any one, and particularly the girl with curves, with it’s figure hugging flattering shape.
 

The new season’s wrap dresses are perfect for investing in now, to wear for work and play.  Wear yours with boots or vamp-height heels and modern jewellery.  The wrap dress has a certain insouciance of its own, as affected by how you wear it as much as what you wear it with.



This season there are a lot of monochrome dresses around, some with heavy digital black and white patterns. Look at yourself from a distance if you’re tempted by one of these to make sure that your dress doesn’t enter the room before you.  Wide stripes and zig-zags should be avoided particularly if you’re very curvy as they’ll make you look wider than you may want to.


One of the big questions with a wrap, particularly if in fine jersey, is what to wear underneath.  Of course it’s totally up to you  but note that most things will show unflattering (again) lines, exaggerating lumps and bumps and making a mockery of a smooth fabric dress.  Whatever you wear make sure that it’s barely there, with a flat waistband.

The other issue is length.  Don’t just accept the length the dress arrives in unless it’s the perfect length for you.  I never expect any dress to start off the right length for me, and so have a friendly tailor down the road to shorten things.

A dress the right length will show off your pins and make you look taller, the wrong length, particularly too long and you can turn a sexy dress into frumpy in a flash.  Get your wrap dress home, try on with your killer heels and get out the pins if necessary.



The wrap dress is here to stay and each season is re-invented in new colours and prints, making this a perfect dress collector's dream, like the LBD.  And it will never date.  This is a dress to buy now and wear all season, and to keep for the next, making it an investment buy perfect for every curvy girl.