Summertime is the season for sun, sand, and ice cream. When the temperature climbs to near 90-degree levels with the humidity at record high suffocating, big city dwellers like me often face the conundrum of wanting to take advantage of the nicer weather but absolutely detest walking the streets in the heat. Your best bet to at least tolerate the hot air when you’re out having fun in the concrete jungle is to wear looser and cooler clothing. Among the popular ongoing style trends of the summer is the romper.
The best way to describe the romper is it’s a hybrid outfit of a dress and shorts put together to create this unique look. The romper comes in many different styles, colors, and patterns. It’s also a look that can be worn as casual day wear or glammed up for a night of cocktails on a rooftop bar. Rompers are quite the versatile outfit when you have the right shoes and accessories to pair them with.
I’ve seen plenty of women in the city wear a romper and look really cute in them. I personally find the patterned and printed rompers to be the most striking kind of outfit a lady can wear. It gives off a fun and playful vibe whenever I see a woman wear one in the crowd. As cute and pretty rompers are, it’s a style trend I’ve passed on since they started hitting the clothing racks about a year ago.
Most of my go-to summer outfits have always consisted of dresses, skirts, tank tops, sleeveless, light short-sleeve tops, and jeans. You may think I’m crazy to wear jeans when the heat can be unbearable and sticky, but this is why I switch to dresses and skirts for those days I know I’ll be outside more than indoors. I’ve never been much of a shorts wearing kind of gal, unless I go to the beach or an amusement park, and rompers certainly don’t appeal to me as a must-have in my personal wardrobe. Another slight issue I have with rompers is how it makes me feel more like a little girl wearing them than the grown woman I am now.
Back in junior high, I had this outfit that would be considered a romper of sorts but a little longer than the ones I’ve seen on women today. It was pink and had butterfly patterns all over it. I remember it being one of my favorite things to wear. Seeing old photos of me wearing the one and only romper I had at the time (oh ’90s style, how strange of a fashion time you sometimes can be), I reacted like any grown adult my age would react now––I winced.
I associated rompers as being too childish and maybe not so flattering on me. I guess I’m a little mortified by my fashion choices back then and tend to steer clear of outfits that make me question why I thought they looked good on me at the time. I also look young for my age despite being older than I seem. The last thing I need is to play up the young, kid persona even more in the way I dress. I prefer to be taken seriously in my day-to-day interactions with people than dismissed as an immature girl with no experience of the world yet, which unfortunately has happened to me before in the past. This is exactly why a romper isn’t a trend I’ll ever embrace for as long as the style sticks around.
Is the romper a style you love or is it a trend you’d rather see die out?
Special thanks goes to Marina of Anime B&B for sending me a tweet on Twitter about a month or two ago that inspired a long overdue Fashionista Musings post for my blog. Much appreciated!
simpleek 
Yes!!!!!!!! Love that you actually did write about this 🙂 I giggle thinking about your childhood romper and what about it made you wince. I bet it was cute!
I think what I like about rompers is that despite that childish look, they are a welcome alternative to the sleek and sexy types of outfits many women wear in the summer. Rompers remind me a lot of the shorter, girly dresses with bright patterns, only with lovely shorts to prevent skirt flipping. I don’t have to worry as much about the shorts riding up, though you do have to be careful if you’re curvy about bending over.
My only gripe about them is how insanely difficult they are to deal with when going to the bathroom. They’re incredibly versatile when you start layering other pieces, but then all of that has to come off the moment you need to pee. D:
That’s very true if you’re the type of person who isn’t into sleek and sexy for the summer. As I mentioned in the post before, I already look kinda young for my age so I rather steer clear of styles and outfits that’s going to mislead more than I already do by my face alone. 😛
That’s the other thing I dislike about rompers…how cumbersome they become when it’s bathroom time! I feel it takes much longer to do your business when you have to half undress just to use the toilet. When you don’t need to use the bathroom, then wearing a romper is fine. It’s when nature calls that it’s not so great.
I have to agree with you one this one — this is definitely a look for the younger crowd. I could never deal with rompers myself. The whole bathroom this is a really big drawback, plus, if you get one where the fit is just a little bit off, it’s either falling off you or riding up your backside! No good at all. I prefer my separate items of clothing to stay put at all times. 😀
However, if someone of our age is brave enough to go from a romper, I do agree with what Marina says about them being great for layering. I have seen folks at work pair rompers with a light sweater or blazer. When done right, it looks as good as any work attire. And even though we’re not technically allowed to wear shorts at work, most modern rompers are flowy enough that they’re mistaken for skirts. I guess it’s a win-win for some!
The romper definitely does solve the up skirt problem during those summer days, doesn’t it? I definitely can see why some women will be able to pull off the romper as a work appropriate outfit based on how they layer it.
The bathroom issue, which I forgot about until Marina pointed it out, is definitely a top reason for me to leave the romper in the past with my junior high self. I do not want to go back to the struggle of giving yourself more time to pee when wearing a romper. It was annoying then when I was a kid and I know that feeling won’t change now. Like you said, better to keep your separate items separate and staying put at all times! 😀