The maxi dress is the older sister of the bubble dress. Both dresses were flavors of the month last summer in what felt like an endless season of cheap and easy to wear fashion that didn't ask much of the wearer or her pocket book. And yet the maxi-dress always felt like she had a little more staying power than her kid sister.

The allure of the maxi-dress isn't as simple as the bubble dress. The cute and obscuring bubble dress was the sartorial equivalent of the one hit wonder. But the maxi dress hints at so many possibilities and we don't just mean what is under the folds of fabric. It suggests a certain kind of life with leisure time, extraneous bank accounts, and a lack of concern for dirtying the fringes with concrete sidewalks (or the boardwalk). The maxi dress is casual and yet with its length it goes formal in a wink, something the bubble dress never did manage.

And we clearly aren't the only ones wondering if the maxi dress deserves another summer in our closet. Community member Margarite Elaine has tips for wearing the dress (for short girls like two of our editors she recommends having them stop just above your ankle) in any situation or on any body. But the real proof? Six of the bloggers at our DVF X Bloggers fashion shoot chose to highlight a DVF Maxi Dress including The Daily Obession, SheFinds, See Pretty Things, Shopalicious, The ShoeBlog and Clothes Pin.

The streetwear symbol for collaboration involves combining two names with an "x" as a signifier that two brands joined forces for a creative project. Often it is the collaborations that bring out the best from each side, highlighting the strengths of the players while creating something that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is the "x" factor of unique teams coming together to do something great. It is this spirit of collaboration that inspired us to host a photo shoot with iconic womenswear line Diane Von Furstenberg and the Coutorture community.

Thus it seems fitting that we call the Coutorture community's collaborative photoshoot with Diane Von Furstenberg DVF x Bloggers. After an agonizing process of slimming the potential list of collaborating blogs to ten (though we shot eleven as our intern Maleeha The Shoptometrist got in on the fun) we brought Shopalicious, Fops and Dandies, The Shoptometrist, See Pretty Things, Clothes-Pin, Eyeshadow Government, The Daily Obsession, SheFinds, The Fashion Bomb, The ShoeBlog, and Fashion Indie.

Ten bloggers arrived at Diane Von Furstenberg's 14th Street Meatpacking District store to discover a full crew of professional photographers, models, makeup artists, hair stylists, sales women, publicists, creative directors, and a few interactive agency types from Morpheus Media (the collaboration may have been our idea but Morpheus helped bring it to fruition) ready to help the bloggers play.

And play we did as bloggers dressed, styled, and modeled (and ate and drank) to their hearts content. Every blogger looked fabulous in the diverse number of outfits their educated fashion minds gravitated towards. It was a true testament to the project's aim, to bring the personality of the bloggers to DVF and the integrity (and, we must say, wearability) of the brand to the bloggers.

We hope you will enjoy the results and take the time to peruse the many galleries, write ups, links and Shopstyle Spreads we will be posting through out the next few days to help celebrate this phenomenal creative collaboration.

When our network partner, The Fashion Bomb, walked out of the dressing room to be shot in her first of two outfits, jaws dropped. The print and silhouette of her chosen dress and her confidence transformed her into a vision of fabulous unrivaled at the shoot. She so clearly knows a thing or two about fashion as she went straight for a frock that suited her perfectly (an eye for what works is a very important thing). Her blog is also a reflection of her fashion qualifications. On it she examines fashion from an urban context (her slogan, "All Urban Fashion...All The Time") while paying attention to style icons in the media, print ads and magazine covers she finds noteworthy, and also current season clothing at contemporary price points. Her blog is an encapsulation of what it means to be young and intelligent and somewhat obsessed with clothing and it's truly a pleasure to read.

Check out The Fashion Bomb's two great outfits, both with sophisticated a-symmetrical cuts and body skimming silhouettes. She said, of the event, "I'm a huge fan of Diane von Furstenberg so this shoot was a special treat! Though I'm typically devoted to her wrap dresses, I decided to get a bit adventurous and try out her one shoulder styles. Surprisingly the cut was supremely flattering, and the fit? Perfect. I was in love!" For more of The Fashion Bomb's DVF style check out our spread of similar (and also downright amazing) DVF offerings including the Societies One Shoulder Silk Dress with vibrant print and Per Se Black Patent Shoes, otherwise known as the perfect black heels.

Shoptometrist isn't simply blogger to us, Maleeha is also Coutorture's intern! Over the past 6 months she has pulled and returned about as much many dresses, shoes, and accessories as our crowd of 11 bloggers pulled off the racks at Diane Von Furstenberg for our shoot! OK she has probably pulled a lot more even though eleven women trying on a million outfits is a lot of fashion. That experience has paid off as Maleeha has a keen eye for styling. Some of our best styling ideas, like the Ace-Bandage top from our Brace Yourself shoot has come from input from Maleeha.

She was a little nervous at first about getting dressed and in front of the camera. But once she got into the Tuvallu Dress in Zig-Zag Jungle Lime we think she started to feel better! But you don't have to take our word for it as she has blogged about the entire shoot herself already.

A girl can never have too many shoes and trust us we tested that premise with The Shoe Blog at our DVF X Bloggers shoot. In fact you could say we went downright overboard. While Shoeblog's JitterbugBaby was content to pose Diane von Furstenberg Shoes Milano Suede Ballet Flats in Teal Coutorture and the DVF staff had other ideas. Pair after pair of sandal, pump, wedge, and flat were pulled off the shelves and placed at the feet of our dear blogger. The Provence shoes in gold and pink were our personal favorites but with a pile that large one would be hard pressed not to find a pair to take home.

She had this to say about the event:

The DvF staff were lovely and helpful and so welcoming, and the Coutorture gals were prepped and ready and made the whole thing run as smooth as Italian leather. A great time was had by all, as you can tell from all the smiling faces and beautiful, happy bloggers. I'm glad to have had the chance to connect some faces with the blogs I read regularly, and to hang out with my fellow fashionistas in some seriously delicious duds.

For More of Our DVF X Bloggers Shoot Click Here