Outfit || Styling The Ankara Shift Dress From Casual To Glam Look.

Let’s Talk Shift Dresses!

Shift dresses are one of my favorite things to wear, I just love how comfortable yet versatile they can be. Now, make that an “Ankara shift dress” and you’ve got me sold! Nothing like all that vibrant African prints being turned into an easy Ankara dress style, especially when you have just a little leftover Ankara fabric to work with.

My mom is the queen of using leftover fabrics to sew any and just about everything possible and lately my sister and I have jumped on the train too. So much that we now fight over who gets the leftovers from the never ending “asoebis” from burials/weddings.

Related: Mod Chic : Styling The 60’s Shift Dress.

I’m wearing a simple sleeveless Ankara shift dress made from leftover fabrics that I found at home stole from my sister.  This one was made with a detachable off shoulder sleeve but my theft ways I couldn’t find the detachable hands so to spice it up a bit, I decided to layer with a white shirt inside.

I’m always going on about how layering with a shirt inside is one fail proof style hack and it automatically makes anyone look stylish, here’s a proof now. lol

Style Tip: Simply jazz up a sleeveless dress by wearing a white shirt beneath it

Related: 4 Hacks To Instantly Look More Stylish

Honestly, in as much as I love Ankara fashion and I’m constantly saving Ankara dress styles to sew, for some reason laziness, I never get around to actually getting any made. I’ve only ever styled two Ankara outfits on the blog – this Mini Ankara dress styled with some denim and this Maxine Arthurs Ankara off shoulder midi dress. Quite the shame.

I know half of the year is already gone but I’ve been contemplating starting a style post series here where I make at least one outfit/month to Ginger me to be more proactive with my sewing goals. What do you guys think?

The Shift Dress Is A Key Wardrobe Staple. Check Out How To Style It From A Casual To Glam Look Click To Tweet

Anyways, you’re probably wondering what I mean by “From casual to glam” in the post title, I’ll just get to that bit now and save you the extra story. 

I wore this Ankara shift dress for my first day out in Ghana and seeing as I was going to be doing a lot of walking around and possibly sweating, my Lucy.daves flats and a non-wigged head was only ideal.

For this post though, I decided to glam things up a bit by throwing on heels and putting on a big ass wig courtesy Nappy Haired wigs (Did a review of one of her wigs on the blog here). Big hair adds definitely adds some extra spice to my styleand I’m loving it so much that I’m now considering going natural. lol

Also considering styling this dress in other ways and sharing here on the blog, what do you think?

How would you have styled this dress differently? Are you a fan of Ankara outfits and what’s your favorite thing to sew with leftover Ankara fabrics? Let me know your thoughts please, share, and let’s comment!

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 Pictures : Alex