Things we still don’t get: dresses over pants

During the last decade, a really icky trend emerged: wearing dresses over pants. Perhaps it was part of the whole "let's wear lots of layers like Mary-Kate" movement, but the concept never made sense to me. I'm all for breaking fashion rules (white after Labor Day, navy and black combos, dismissing age appropriate boundaries), but am I wrong in thinking that wearing a dress or skirt over bulky pants looks sloppy? The silhouette seems off. Tights, or leggings, sure. And I'm totally OK with tunics over pants. But when I see someone wearing a pair of jeans under a dress--especially a light weight dress--it looks as though the woman couldn't wait for warmer temperatures to bust out her favorite dress, so she threw on any old thing underneath. Or she couldn't decide which to wear, pants or a dress, so she went with both.

Thankfully, I thought this trend had started to fade away. But when I saw this dreaded style walk down the runway at several fall 2010 fashion shows last week I cringed. Nooo! It's back! Fashion blog Refinery29 have already counted at least four shows that featured several dress-over-pant ensembles, including the typically credible and trendy Rag & Bone and Richard Chai. Ugh.

Have you ever worn a dress or skirt over pants? What do you think of the look? And is there any other style that bothers you as much as this one bothers me? [Refinery29]