Hello, it’s great to see you today! This week I am sharing the summer style hack for petites that I often use for styling and wearing maxi dresses. More often than not, petite dress styles are merely shorter hemlines and torso lengths. If the dress has darts on the sides of the bust, sometimes they end up being a little lower.

For less complicated dress styles, it’s really easy to create a petite maxi dress out of a regular size midi dress: it’s a maxi from a midi. Do note, though, that lengths will be slightly different for all of us!

The two dress examples I have today are perfect for this maxi dress hack. Empire waist styles and tank-style dresses work the best because they don’t have a traditional waistline to contend with.

The Summary

Today Kelly shows us THE summer style hack for petites

Kelly models two Midi-as-Maxi dresses

The dresses are shoppable via a text or image widget

Kelly rounds up her 8 favorite Midi-as-Maxi dresses for Summer

The Summer Style Hack For Petites

1. Empire Waist Dress

(J.Crew)

An Empire style dress has a fitted bodice that ends just below the bust. We don’t have to worry about the waistline hitting in the correct spot. One thing to look for in a dress like this are adjustable straps. A dress’s straps can make this hack challenging, if the straps are too long. But with adjustable straps, we can adjust them to fit.

This tie-back dress is from J.Crew. It comes in a couple colors and this sunny yellow block print.

With such a summery, sunny dress I have lace up espadrille wedges from J.Crew Factory. These neutral wedges go with pretty much everything and I like that they have metallic threads in the canvas.

J.Crew Tie-Back Dress | Ankle Wrap Espadrille Wedges | J.McLaughlin Rosie Wicker Clutch (Similar)

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2. Cotton Tank Dress

(J.Crew)

I really love a tank or tee shirt style dress. They are so comfortable on hot summer days. I have many shorter styles, but this is my first midi-as-maxi version.

This cotton tank dress is also from J.Crew. I went with black for a chic, casual look, but this style comes in a few other great summer colors.

Another thing I love about this style is that you can add a belt to give it structure and shape. Then maybe wear strappy heels to dress this dress up a bit. Or you can keep it casual, style it with some leather slides. These are old, but this crisscross style is popular again this year, check out some alternative versions.