The Alice & Olivia find earlier this year has had me on a blazer dress kick ever since. This look combines the polish that I love in a traditional blazer with with a chic mini silhouette perfect for girls night, date night, and events where I want to look on trend without being too trendy. As seen below, you can style a piece like this with all sorts of shoes including boots, booties, heels and sandals!
Per requests I was searching for lower priced alternatives to the A&O blazer, and Abercrombie has delivered with several options in petite, regular and tall sizing! Some of these have pretty mixed reviews though so I wanted to share a detailed review and comparison. You can also see each of these dresses in motion in my IG Reel.
A&F is having a 25% off sale with code AFLTK (ends 12/12), and for casual wear I also wanted to mention this half-zip pullover sweatshirt on sale as well that you guys were big fans of on IG (see on me at the bottom of this post)!
1. Wrap Front Blazer Dress
Pros: This one has such a flattering hourglass silhouette with the wrap front detail. It’s made in a nice quality non stretch fabric (the type you’d expect on a suiting blazer) with a full lining. Both black and white are classic, and the latter makes a chic option for bridal events as well. I’m 5′ tall and the fit of the xxs petite is perfect on me with the shorter mini length I’m looking for.
Cons: Even with the side zipper entry, I had to wiggle to get this on and off over my shoulders and be very careful about not smudging makeup on it when taking it off. I would’ve loved a back center zipper on each one of these dresses!
2. Houndstooth Tweed Blazer Dress
Pros: A clean, trim silhouette in two textured option for tweed lovers. xxs petite was a good fit and mini length on me, and I liked this one styled best with a belt to add a little waist definition and break up the tweed. I wore this for a recent holiday gathering with my pearl CC brooch, black tights and green velvet flats and it felt mature but still chic.
Cons: A few reviewers are disappointed that the front doesn’t actually unbutton, but front buttons on a fitted dress can easily gap (see “cons” for dress # 3). Similar to the wrap dress above, this one has a side zipper entry. I didn’t need to wiggle out of this like with the wrap dress, but I still would’ve preferred a back zipper!
3. Button Front Blazer Dress
I bought this one about 2 months ago and was so surprised by the terrible reviews!
Pros: This one has the most similar look to my Alice & Olivia one for less, though it’s not as tailored and is a little straighter cut in the torso and the fabric is understandably not as luxe as the A & O. Petite xxs is a good fit on me and the functional button front makes it easy to put on and off. It’s definitely a sexier piece with a lower cut front and short length, but you can tone it down by pairing with black tights.
Cons: I do not have the button gapping issue that nearly every single reviewer mentioned, but I don’t have much of a rear end or hips. I stretched out the skirt a bit with my hands and can see how for those with any curves, button gapping may be a problem. The fabric on this one is fine but doesn’t feel as nice as #1, the wrap dress.
Other sale picks
- Half-zip pullover (see on me) – a cropped half-zip version of their Sunday Crew sweatshirt.
- Mockneck sweater dress (my review)
- Blanket wrap coat (my review)
Madewell jeans 24P (hems cut; my review) and sneakers 5H
