I don’t know about you, but I know that I’ll be making  like the A-listers and treating myself to this season’s most flattering dress. Unlike the typical LBD, the maxi dress is perfect for hiding all of those lumps and bumps. Perfect, just what I like!

I’ll be in good company too, with my maxi dress. Serial offenders of the maxi-dress wearing brigade include Rachel Bilson, Mischa Barton and Nicole Ritchie.

A style similar to Mischa’s dress is available from Firetrap at Oli.

Traditionally, the maxi dress tends to be floral. However, with tribal and ethnic being a key trend this season, you can get away with this too. Oli comes through for us again with this gorgeous tribal bandeau maxi, courtesy of Miss Sixty.

The maxi dress breaks the usual dress rules of distinction; it falls into the categories of beach as well as dressy. You can make a maxi dress look daytime or evening based on the accessories/shoes that you team it with.

If you want to go for the daytime look, then maxi dresses look gorgeous with gladiators. For an evening look, try teaming yours with a simple pair of wedges for understated glam. I love this pair of gladiators, found at Heels.com. The harsh studding would work great against the delicate patterns of a maxi. And the Valentine Bronze wedges would not only look great with your maxi, but the neautral shade makes them versatile enough to look gorgeous with jeans too!

A common misconception of the maxi is that if you’re short, you can’t wear a maxi dress. Let me tell you, this is wrong! True, if you’re short, you have to be a little craftier, but you can still get away with a maxi. I’ll let you in on a little secret: the trick is to go for small prints as big prints tend to drown the figure.  Alternatively, an all over colour looks great on tall and short girls alike. Blake Lively and Eva Longoria sit on either end of the height spectrum but look equally stunning in their red and orange hues.

The Murielle wedge sandal from Pour la Victoire is a sexy gladiator wedge that spices things up.

These Prada Sport gold metallic leather wedge sandals are both comfortable and look great. The padded insole and adjustable buckle make it a great looking wear for those long shopping excursions.

Or these black patent peep toe wedges from Miu Miu, which also have a haute attitude!