Dress Up

True confession: I showed up to a spring break trip in Puerto Rico with a suitcase full of pretty sundresses...none of which were suitable for a spring break club scene. I actually don't own anything that qualifies as a party dress, save an American Apparel number-turned-Jigglypuff costume. If you weren't aware, a Pokemon-themed outfit is less welcome at a club than a full-length muumuu.

My birthday is in a week and, in my frenzy to find something besides a drop-waist dress that I've worn for three previous birthdays (...I'm a girl of habit), I've come across the perfect style for Girls Who Only Rage on Rare Occasions—a party dress, not too short and not at all tight, that can nevertheless hold its own on a dance floor. Do you know what's sexier than an up-to-there hemline? An exposed back. Proof:

Is this not the most clever way to get a cheeky look without having to wriggle your dress down every five steps? (Seeing as we're on the topic of cheeky, anyway). An open-back dress is unexpected, and the sexy factor doesn't hit you over the head so much as whisper in your ear. It's gamine, not garish; think Audrey, not Marilyn (modern day translation: Marion Cotillard, not Kim Kardashian). I could go all day with this. The electric-blue hue of the Free People dress ($118; freepeople.com), bottom right, keeps the lace from looking too saccharine.

In this case, less is not more, but just enough.

Photo credits: Blair Edie/Atlantic-Pacific and La Lune