It’s hot, it’s steamy, and mosquitoes will soon be ruling over any pleasant outdoor space you can find. 

Lucky for you, maxi dresses are all over the place this summer, too, and you can use them to shield your legs from those horrible close-to-the-bone bites on your shins that are just the worst to scratch. 

Brooklyn Industries (Seventh Avenue and Ninth Street, Fifth Avenue and Union) is doing one of their regular Mega Mega sales right now, and they’ve got this sweet gauzy candy-striped number in blue or green ($59, marked down from $108). It’s strapless with smocking in the back, a ruffle under the empire bodice, and a straight column skirt. It's all but guaranteed that the moment you pull this dress on, a Key West pool party will magically materialize inside your sweltering fifth-floor walk-up. Someone will probably hand you a daiquiri.

Something Else on Fifth (at Union Street) has a few maxi options from Collective Concepts ($75). A navy medallion print offers a crisp, vaguely professional option while a filmy chiffon dress with a creepy yellow watercolor flower print would be right at home at a Stepford garden party. If you need a little extra height so that the hems don’t drag on the ground beneath you, Something Else has a fine collection of wedges and platform pumps. Life as a shorty shouldn’t be so rough.

A few blocks up Fifth Avenue at Bird, a buff-colored gauze maxi dress by Alice Ritter is on sale for $199, marked down from $410. With grosgrain-trimmed crochet inlay at the yoke plus delicate flutter sleeves, this dress gives off a distinctive Carly-Simon-in-the Hamptons vibe that will win you all the best boyfriends.

4 Play Brooklyn on Seventh Avenue near 10th Street has a great supply of casual long dresses in a variety of colors and patterns. Try the red and white chevron-striped dress with spaghetti straps by Ya Los Angeles ($49), or a hot peach drop-waisted racerback version by Veronicam ($78, marked down from $109). Made from super-soft jersey, these maxis will be like your summertime "slanket," and you will never ever take them off.