Lyris Design outfits aka brown underbust for the win

I really, really, really love this dress. It's flattering, the colour is great and though it may not look it it's one of the most versatile pieces in my wardrobe. You'd think the underbust cut and slightly military detailing below would make it a bit of a one-look wonder but it really isn't.

I've put together my usual three outfits to experiment with a few different looks, but could have easily come up with twice as many or even more... that's how awesome this dress is! Brown is the neutral that goes best with my wardrobe and nearly every blouse, sans black ones, I own would match with the dress. But enough talk, on with the outfits!

First up I tried a blouse-and-dress combo that's been kicking around in my head for a while and it works out amazingly well! You can't see so well here but both the blouse and the JSK feature similar styles of floral lace which means that they look like they're made for each other. I though the socks were a good match and to tie them in further I have a selection of flowers and bows for the hair. Some kind of up-do would be gorgeous for this, I think. I love this outfit, it's subdued at first glance but is really cohesive and has a lot of details that go together well.

Then for something completely different I wanted to try making a very casual look using one of my newest offbrand blouses. This is something I'd definitely wear to uni and is toned down in a very comfortable way but still cute.

Lastly, I wanted to see if I could make it work with my gorgeous Floral Notebook blouse and I can! I'm a bit unhappy that I wasn't able to tie in any more off-white to match the trims on the JSK but the socks were such a perfect match to the blouse I couldn't pass them up, and I thought it was more important to have the headwear match the tan base of the socks than the dress trimming. However, I'm still quite happy with this outfit; it's definitely the most eye-catching of the three but hey, I love bright colours ^__^