29 Banger Long-Sleeve Dresses to Get You Through Work, Dinners, and Events

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(Image credit: Zara; Pictured: Zara Short Ribbed Dress ($40))

It's not so often you'll catch me wearing dresses or skirts. I just love low-key trousers—I really do. But I have this highly specific thing for long-sleeve dresses, which occupy an entirely different (and much more stylistically chill) space in my brain.

At the risk of being weirdly precise, my long-sleeve-dress crush started in September 2019 when I visited the showroom of designer Maggie Marilyn to do a little shoot around New Zealand Fashion Week, and I impulsively bought this dress. I fell in love with the satin-twill fabric that felt like it was poured on, the weight of the ultra-long sleeves, and how it hung when I raised my wrist as if to hold a drink.

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(Image credit: Natalie Cantell)

After this dress spent far too long hanging in my closet, I finally wore her to low-key get married (just on paper ahead of my proper wedding) over some famously not-so-low-key martinis at Bemelmans on the Upper West Side. As I admired how effortlessly the sleeves of my dress peeped out from below the cuffs of my blazer, I wondered why I didn't have this dress on heavier rotation.

Here I am, making sure you're not also missing out on a chic, easy outfit that's essentially a one-and-done brain holiday when it comes to getting dressed for work, dinners, events, or weddings (your own or someone else's). I suppose I should follow up with a story sharing blazer-and-dress combos. In the meantime, enjoy this curation of excellent long-sleeve dresses to shop this season—I guarantee you already own the blazer that will pair with them perfectly.

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Natalie Cantell
Contributing Fashion Editor

Natalie Cantell is an NYC-based style director, creative consultant, and contributing fashion editor. She was the executive director of Who What Wear and Marie Claire’s brand studio until 2023, and now freelances globally on shoots, stories, and special projects across fashion, luxury, beauty, home, and travel.