Review: Trashy Diva Wildflowers Streetcar

Trashy Diva has almost-singlehandedly turned me into a floral aficionado. Between their glorious tropical prints, their classic allover florals, and their big, bold flower prints, I've come to see the light at last! So when they released their Wildflowers collection, it was love at first sight! I had a little trouble deciding which style to order, but since I've been drooling over the Streetcar dress from afar for ages, the answer seemed pretty obvious.

Oh, what's that you say? I'm not wearing a dress? Well, it certainly looks that way, doesn't it? But this is actually a clever pregnant-lady ruse: I'm wearing my new Streetcar as a skirt! (For the moment, I'll bracket the question of whether it is in fact a dress if you're wearing it as a skirt.)

In this particular case, necessity was truly the mother of invention: I waited too long to photograph this dress and couldn't quite zip it over my rapidly-expanding bump anymore. But instead of putting this dress away until next spring, I decided to MacGuyver it into a working outfit anyway!

For those of you who haven't worn dresses as skirts before, here's how it works. First, unzip the dress and fold the bodice inside the skirt portion of the dress. I like to leave about an inch of bodice above the waistband and fold it there. Step into the vaguely skirt-shaped object you've made and position it at your waist/above your massive baby belly. Zip it up as far as it'll comfortably go, and then use a safety pin to keep the zipper in place by pinning just under the zipper pull. Straighten things out and throw on a belt to beaten the look. Optional: add a petticoat or slip between the bodice and the skirt, to hold it more securely in place and smooth things out.

I traipsed all over town to find pretty flowers and stand in front of them.

Honestly, I think this Frankenskirt is cute enough to wear even after I'm able to zip this dress over my belly again. But I am really looking forward to wearing my new Streetcar properly, because this style is seriously amazing. I love the way that the neckline highlights my shoulders and shows off all the time I've spent repeatedly lifting dumbbells over my head (#strongisbeautiful!), and the removable tie it comes with is the perfect amount of giant bow for me.

I went with the size 10, and after exchanging a mislabeled one that measured much smaller than the size chart, mine is right on the money. It measures 19.75" from armpit to armpit, plus a little bit of room from the darts in front, and 15.25" at the waist. The cotton voile also has a bit of give and loosens up with wear.

Speaking of which, I absolutely adore how the voile drapes in a gathered skirt like this one. It's nice and full even without the petticoat, but in a much more subtle vintage-inspired way. The Streetcar has pockets (!!!) and is fully lined, so there's no need to worry about accidentally showing too much. (The proof? I'm wearing it with my ruby-red petticoat!) I do wish the bodice was lined in the same plain white voile as the skirt, rather than with the print, but that's small beer given how much I love this dress. 

Wildflowers is one of my favorite Trashy Diva collections of the year, so much so that I had to restrain myself from picking up a third thing in this print. (Should I resist?!?) I'm really looking forward to wearing my new Streetcar dress post-baby, and I'm sure it'll make an appearance on the blog when I do!

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