Most women own a little black dress. But many stick to wearing it only one way.
The LBD is arguably the most versatile piece of clothing in a closet. In theory, this sounds awesome, but can also result in what I like to call "Forever21 Syndrome" AKA being so overwhelmed with endless options that you wind up choosing none of them.
To get some inspiration on how to style a dress that's in millions of closets around the world, we asked a ton of ~fashion influencers~ to style the same dress from ModCloth.
1. Alysse made (!) her gold chain belt and T-rex earrings, then wore them with neon pink socks, glitter peep-toe pumps, and an acid washed denim jacket.
2. Sana showed up with faux leather leggings, an anorak jacket, and fringe booties that made me yell "YESSSSSSSSS, girl!"
3. Lyn Slater, who is all kinds of goals, wore white fishnets, a white mesh cut-off sweatshirt, and black combat boots. Her stunner shades and earrings were just the icing on top.
4. Pro style tip from Shainna: Keep your arms out of your leather sleeves to look grown and fancy.
5. Magda is the queen of vintage, so most of her killer pieces are rare. Her giraffe boots, though, the rest of us plebes can actually find.
6. Aileen mixed a combo of New-York-girl-boss green leather jacket with playful-as-hell clear clutch.
7. Rain's snapback hat and floral blazer are the perfect way to play outside of the social gender constructs.
8. Arshia played with a high-low hemline and made her printed scarf the focal point of an otherwise all black outfit.
9. Hi, Dana is so glamorous that I am pained by her beauty, please enjoy her waist belt on top of a camo jacket that almost no one else could pull off.
10. Going to work? Then a bar? Then out with your girlfriends to go deep on some loaded nachos? Good, because Essence's outfit is so freakin' cute that you could literally wear this ANYWHERE and be the best dressed person in the room.
11. Maitland matched her pink hair with a pink flamingo sweatshirt, floral heels, and a vintage Coach bag. Cute!
12. Erica may be the first person to put a snapback hat and trench coat together, and I'm about to copy this look for the weekend. The cross-body bag and heeled booties really tie it all together.
13. Apneet's out here making denim jackets look good.
14. Erin threw a swingy mesh top over the dress, then some boots over her knees. Take a play out of her book and match your statement earrings to a statement clutch.
15. Alicia's mock turtleneck/dress/blazer layering is giving us all kinds of fall look vibes. Belt it up to hold it together!
16. First of all, Kelly tying a white button down shirt around her waist makes me wonder why we ever wear them as shirts at all. And then her headwrap! And her backpack! I'm done.
17. OK, Alysse made this body chain, and then instead of getting matching shoes, she just put gold chain anklets on with pumps. Genius and stylish and oh my god I'm buying all of the chains.
18. Magda's a textured dream: Velvet hat, gemstone necklace, fur jacket, leather sleeves, fishnet tights, and metallic boots. (All vintage, of course.)
19. If you were looking at leather crop tops and saying, "Yeah, but how would I wear this?" Kelly just answered all of your questions!
20. Aileen wore a swingy blazer vest and over-the-knee boots for the perfect "I look this good without even trying" outfit.
22. Sana wore two different striped shirts and floral shoes, so why have we all been waiting to combine prints like this?!
23. Hi, Arshia found a chic AF way to wear a camo jacket and floppy hat together.
24. Lyn threw on some sheer, wide-leg lace pants with fuzzy slippers and statement earrings like it was just a casual Tuesday afternoon!
25. Alicia's sheer dress and silver boots are giving me Morticia Addams meets Zenon: Girl Of The 21st Century vibes.
26. Can we talk about Shainna's baseball cap purse for a minute?!
27. Sorry, I can't come to the phone right now. I'm DEAD. Dana's choker and stiletto coordination has killed me.
28. Erica's over-sized denim jacket picked up her shoes which picked up the accents on her bag which picked up her wide-brim hat and now I have to pick myself up off the floor.
29. Apneet's out here proving that you can wear sneakers, a sweatshirt, and baseball caps with a cocktail dress.
30. Let me just tell you that Essence's shoe situation is actually block heel sandals with red toe-cap socks!!!! I'll never be over this because 1. It looks like a sick pair of shoes and 2. Her feet are actually comfortable.
