For Summer, a New Dress Code

The New York Times:   Under Cover: Fashion’s New Dress Code

Finally, summer is in sight. Savvy shoppers will want to stock up on sunscreen, rosé and, perhaps most important, a new warm-weather frock of two. A good dress invites the kind of free-spirited ease that one craves as temperatures rise. And this season the news is not about showing off skin or playing into preconceived notions of femininity. In fact, as the Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman wrote this month, a covered-up look may just be the defining style of this decade, with more and more women eschewing miniskirts and strapless dresses for longer, looser layers. Far from being stuffy or stifling, a roomy maxidress in breathable cotton or linen is effortlessly cool — in both senses of the phrase. Here are four ways to wear the season’s top styles without baring much of anything at all.