I hadn't planned on purchasing anything from the ESxAlabama Chanin collection, but when I just happened to be online when the collection was released I couldn't resist! I thought why not try it since I have the opportunity and I'm glad I did! I decided to get the Marlena midi in the plum color in a small. What do you think?
I actually really like the look of the dress though I'm not usually a fan of sleeveless dresses nor of midi lengths (though I've increased my number of midi dresses and skirts with my ES purchases). Since I'm only 5'4", I definitely need to wear heels to pull this look off (the last picture of this post is without heels and you can see how without them, my legs start looking cankle-y). I'm pretty much decided that I'm going to take this to a tailor and shorten this dress though (and I'll update it with more pics after). I think it'll look a tad better on me if it was just below the knees. But for this post I wanted to show you the dress as I bought it.
The cotton material from Alabama Chanin is really thick and substantial which is great for a a more body hugging dress like this. The cotton is thick enough that you can't see any VPL. The cotton reminds me of the kind of thick cotton used on some french striped long sleeve shirts (like this one) but this version is softer and stretchier.
{Wearing: Elizabeth Suzann x Alabama Chanin Marlena Midi, Everlane Day Heel Mules (review here), Hermes Lindy 30 (similar here, review here).
I like that this dress is reversible though I prefer the crew neck side since I'm not a huge fan of the seam running down the middle in the front when wearing the v-neck side. But it's a cool option to have and I could see it being a fun way to mix it up when traveling and you have limited wardrobe options.
Anyway the last I heard from ES about this collection, it should be re-releasing in July (though not a concrete timeline). They had some delays since it took longer than expected to get their material order from Florence (yep that's where they're getting this organic cotton material from).
As for me, I wore this out on several occasions and loved it. It's definitely something you can dress up or dress down. And like I said I'll be taking it to a tailor to shorten because I think it would like a tad better on me with it shorter.
What do you guys think? Anyone else order something from the ESxAC collection?