One of my favourite photos from this past weekend, when we took the two oldest granddaughters to a Theatre Under the Stars production of Beauty and the Beast. The cousins recognised immediately that this was the perfect opportunity for them to wear their Disney Princess dresses out of the house. These 100% polyester confections otherwise stay indoors except perhaps at Halloween, but oh, the joy these two had in their frills and shine and length and puffed sleeves. Â If you check out my Instagram account, you’ll see that the younger one has accessorised hers with feathered tiara, giant pearls and sneakers.
Her older cousin, though, is more fashion forward in her combination of pants and dress (plus she’s very practical, and she thought that an outdoor theatre might get cool by 10:30 p.m. — she was right!)
I tried the trend out myself not so long ago  as did Sue,much more systematically and with considerable verve. Sometimes we women of a certain age, however, just have to sit back and watch how the younger set do. Mad props to you, Princess, mad props! Thank you for the inspiration, although my Princess dress days are over.
Huge fan of the dress over trousers/leggings combo. Ah, the princess dress. Only actually suited to those under 10. My daughter had a variation: ballet tutu, wellies, jumper. Plus wings. Well, of course.
Wings and wellies — the perfect combo, ready for anything!
Elegant princesses. I hope you and Pater were suitably attired theatre companions!
We did our best, but we could have been wearing swimsuits, I suspect, and no one would have noticed. The girls stole all the limelight 😉
Love the joyfulness of little girls in their princess dresses. I've been a huge fan of the dress over pants look for quite a few years now. It suits me well, and has become a part of my style regardless of wherever it lives in the fashion cycle.
You have the height for this look, don't you, Mardel? I have to be a bit more careful, but I like the look as well, for a change.
Moi aussi, Frances. We've aged out of princess dresses. Although not out of trying trends. "Verve" huh? Thanks for the compliment:)
Definitely verve. Joie de verve, even, although we won't tell my French tutor, okay 😉
Floor length fluorescent pink polyester ? Of course .Wings definitely . And false eyelashes . That should do it .
Though I am a tiny bit tempted to add Kim Kardashian's fur ( fake , I hope ) slippers . So important to have comfortable feet.
Yes, those fur-lined Gucci mules might do with the fluorescent pink poly. . . just the thing, indeed! 😉
Last summer we happened to visit the Maine botanical garden on "Fairy Friday" and it was full of little kids in wings, flower crowns, etc. Never has my practical travel outfit seemed more dull and tiresome – I was very tempted to go by the gift shop and suit myself up in wings and flowers.
Hopefully your grands' demographic will be free-er to add wings and princess dresses when ever the spirit moves them!
ceci
Ha! I can just imagine your wistful adult self lingering at the gift shop window. . . 😉
I love that photo of the little princesses.
Me? I have recently embraced the trend and felt very comfortable with it. I walked into the office to hear the 20-somethings say 'that looks really good' and I chose to believe them!
I bet you look great — I'd believe them too! I think the combo would suit your working life very well, actually, H.
They are so cute!
Great way and idea to take princess dresses out!
And more than one idea- dress with pants are one (like the combo with short dresses myself),and the idea not to save best clothes only for special momemts-wear it,or with very special outfits -make your princess moments more often 🙂
Dottoressa
This is lovely, Dottoressa — yes! We can learn that from our little ones: Don't save our best clothes only for the "special" occasions. Be a princess when the mood strikes!
Such a sweet picture Mater …They look such happy princesses 🙂 …obviously chatting away to each other.
I'm starting to look at options of dresses and trousers together and really enjoying wearing them.
I remember having a gorgeous green dress and trouser set in a silky light fabric when I was 20 …wishing I'd kept it! I also remember tunic and trouser suits in my teens …and often just wearing the tunic with white knee high boots! Definitely not something I'd dare to wear now!!
Rosie
You've reminded me of a wonderful outfit my mom made me in the early 70s. All made of a lovely jersey, undoubtedly in some 70s synthetic, the pants were dark purple, the hot-pants mauve, and the midi-length shirt/coatdress was a houndstooth of those two colours. Yes, really. Utterly and Absolutely Fabulous! The mauve hot pants, of course, required leaving the dress unbuttoned from the waist down. . . I visited London in that outfit; we'd have been a good pair if we'd met up — you in your tunic and white knee-high boots (Did you call those go-go boots there as well?)
I did! How wonderful that your mum could make that for you …I can picture it so clearly.I bet you looked amazing in it. Purple was very popular over here too ..I remember having a purple all in one with red stripes in set at the bottom of the flares! and a check pair of flares with a matching long, sleeveless jacket/waistcoat! I remember the latter well as my mum bought the fabric for herself but as I loved it so much she let me have it! We were lucky to have such great mums.
Thank you for sharing that Fashion image, but also for your last sentence — mine had her limitations and struggled regularly with depression, but you're right, she was great, and I'm glad to have had the memory of that outfit she made me refreshed.
Me again! Back to the dress and trousers discussion. We re in Stockholm at the moment and I've seen lots of dress/skirt with trousers/leggings outfits. It reminded me that I've seen these combinations worn in Sweden for the ten years we've been visiting. In particular white or navy leggings with shortish denim skirts.I love the way the woman wear their clothes over here (not meaning to generalise) quite quirky but very stylish in a relaxed easy way.
Rosie
I really do want to get to the Baltic countries someday — a bit intimidated by everything I've heard about cost of travel/living there, but I've heard so much about the Scandi style that appeals to me (and I love the Scandinavian TV we've been able to see, for the interiors, the style, etc.)