The long black dress is a big trend for Fall and my long sleeve matte jersey dress, Anna Kuan, truly, fits the bill. What I love most about this dress is it’s style and shape. The long sleeves, the crew neck, and the fitted body that flairs at the bottom is brilliant for an all black matte-jersey dress. Why? you ask, because there is nothing to break the line that goes from top to bottom. Since the dress is full coverage and has no waist seam, it makes my 5’3” body look long and lean.

The flair at the bottom, balances and creates proportion with my shoulders, chest, and hips. I’ve accessorized with a long matte gold pendent necklace, vintage, that sort of mimics the shape of my dress and doesn’t distract or break that straight line. I’m using a large black leather handbag with handles, Carla Manchini, rather than a cross-body bag to give my, all black look, some much needed dimension. If I had chosen a long cross-body bag, it would have disappeared into the dress and offer nothing to my look.

My black leather sandals, Sam Edelman, show enough skin to balance what little skin is exposed from my hands, neck and head. I’ve kept my jewelry light, simple and to a minimum with very thin large gold hoops, a watch and bracelet, Cartier, a mariners chain ankle bracelet, Gucci, and sunglasses, Ray-Ban, to not distract from the impact of my all black look.

style-tip: the goal, with a look like this is not to break the sight-line and to create balance. One would think a short person could not pull this off because of the fullness at the bottom which you’d think would be, bottom-heavy, but it’s quite the opposite, as you can see. Knowing what to put where is, key to good styling

*please treat your wardrobe, well. many people worked very hard to get it to you.

For more style inspiration, follow me on Instagram @cur8edme