Maxi Dress Season: Florals, Slips and Long Knits That Move

Maxi Dress Season: Florals, Slips and Long Knits That Move

A guide to the maxi dress in three moods: printed and floral, slip and satin, and knit with long sleeves. It covers where the length came from and how to pick a hem that moves the way you want.

Oscar de la Renta's cotton lace dress, highlighted by The New York Times in 1968, is described on the Fashion Historian blog as one of the earliest appearances of the maxi dress. Chico's style guide says that around the same year he popularized the length, which hits just above the ankle, though I would not call him the inventor. The same fashion-history blog says the long dress did not settle firmly into the American mind until the 1970s, alongside caftans and boho styles. I like that it took a few years of wearing before it felt normal.

That is the honest point of view of this edit: a long dress is about movement and length, and the rest is mood. A midi falls somewhere between the knee and the lower calf, while a maxi is much longer and may reach the ankles or the floor. So the test is simple. Put it on with the shoes you will really wear, walk across the room, and check that the hem clears the floor without you hiking it up.

We start with prints, because that is where long dresses are most fun. The AQUA Floral Eyelet, the AQUA Placed Floral Pleated and the plain AQUA Floral Maxi Dress are three takes on one idea, and the pleated one is the pick for a wedding guest with sandals. FARM Rio brings the Lara Printed and the Hilo Stripes Sand, which is a calmer, striped option when florals feel like too much. Vince Camuto's Floral 3/4-Sleeve is the one I would wear to a late lunch with a denim jacket.

Bardot's Estie Printed is a good example of a dress that does the work for you, and Buxom Couture's Floral Voluminous is all about the skirt, so keep the top half simple. Betsy & Adam's Printed Blouson-Sleeve suits a dinner where you want sleeves. The three LASCANA styles, the Viscose Printed A-Line, the Printed Off Shoulder and the Viscose Printed Everyday Comfort, all have elastic waists, which makes them the easy ones for travel days.

Collage of printed and floral long dresses, black and pink slip styles in satin and silk, and fitted knit styles with long sleeves, and a mood photo of a woman in a red floral maxi dress crossing the street.
Florals, slips and long knits, all floor-skimming.

Printed and floral maxi dresses

Slips and satin for after dark

Next, the slips. Vogue calls the slip dress the look most emblematic of the 1990s, citing Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell in see-through versions. British Vogue reports that in 1993 a 19-year-old Kate Moss wore a barely-there bias-cut maxi slip to the Elite Model Agency Look of the Year party in London, and that the sheer slip helped propel her into the limelight. The Met notes that Madeleine Vionnet is often wrongly credited with discovering the bias cut, though she pioneered many innovations it made possible. That cut is why a good slip falls the way it does.

This grid is mostly black, and I think that is right. The Toteme Black Fluid Slip is the cleanest shape here, and I would wear it with a white tee under it in the day and a leather jacket at night. The Toteme Black Long Satin is the more polished sibling. MM6 Maison Margiela has a Black Slip, and Maison Margiela's Black Taped Slip adds a bit of edge with its taped detail. Rick Owens' Black Temple Combo Slip is the most dramatic of the group and wants flat boots, nothing fussy.

For color, ALAÏA's Pink Slip Silk is a soft pink that looks best with bare shoulders and a single gold earring. The two Loulou de Saison Paloma Silk dresses, one in black and one in blue, are the ones I would reach for when I want a long line without much effort. GANNI's Khaki Satin is a good pick if black feels heavy, and I would pair it with a plain flat sandal.

French Connection's Marina Silky, JLUXLABEL's Victoria Satin and Bardot's Elisan Lace Satin are the softer, more romantic end of the grid. Try these with a cropped cardigan or a trench thrown over the shoulders, and check the strap drop in the mirror before anything else.

Slip and satin maxi dresses

Long knits and sleeves

Not everything long has to be silky. A long knit is the one I wear most in cooler months, because it moves with you and works with a coat, boots and a scarf. Diane von Furstenberg introduced her knitted jersey wrap dress in 1974, according to the Los Angeles Times, and had sold a million of them by 1976. Knit and jersey have been friends of the long line ever since. The Met also points to Claire McCardell, a pioneer of American fashion, and her wool-jersey day ensemble with a halter-style bodice.

JLUXLABEL has three here: the Olivea Knit, the Sanibel Ruched Knit and the Destiny Knit, and the Sanibel is the one with ruching, which helps it hug without any fuss. The a.ren Remy Knit is a good, quiet pick for work with a blazer on top. Toteme's Black Knit Tee is the most relaxed of the lot, basically a long tee you can wear with sneakers. Edikted's Knit Back Slitted has a slit to help with stride, and a back detail that makes it worth wearing with a short jacket.

Then there are the two with sleeves and a bit of sheerness. Petal and Pup's Julip Sheer Long Sleeve is the soft evening option, and Anne Klein's Twist-Front Long-Sleeve Mesh is the neat office-to-dinner option because the twist at the front gives the waist some shape.

What I would skip: a coat that is longer than a sheer hem, and a pair of chunky tights under a clingy knit. Shoes matter more than you think here. A long knit looks sharp with a pointed boot or a clean sneaker, and sloppy with anything that makes the hem drag.

Knit and long sleeve maxi dresses

How I choose the right length

Here is how I choose. I decide the occasion first, then the movement: a floral for a long weekend, a slip for dinner, a knit for a day of walking. Then I check the hem in a full-length mirror, in the shoes I will wear, and I sit down to make sure nothing rides up or pulls.

A quick fitting-room test: lift your arms, take a big step and sit. If you can do all three without thinking about the dress, it is the right one. Check the strap drop on the slips, the waist on the prints and the sleeve length on the knits.

Keep the styling simple. Let the dress be the loud thing and add a jacket, a belt or a bag, not all three. A long dress rewards patience, and the best one is the one you reach for again on a Tuesday. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Long and Flowing and The Maxi Dress Under A Coat.