You can’t beat a summer dress for universally flattering comfort
And now summer – the sartorial season to celebrate.
We can pause the itchiness and heaviness of wool or tweed and the rustlings of gilets by day. We are spared the restrictions of stiffened satin and thermal layerings by night. The freedom!
And what does the oldie woman wear once the thermometer climbs?
The uniform, of course. At the Chelsea Flower Show and a fundraising lunch in the Cavalry and Guards Club in May, almost every woman wore a floral-print mid-calf 100-per-cent cotton dress.
And why not? The classic Sloane/boho summer dress – which must be made of cotton or linen – is the nearest thing in comfort to a nightdress. Universally flattering, practical and cool, with the right accessories to dress it up or down, could it be your wardrobe’s most versatile item?
But before you agree heartily and rush out to buy another, we should pause to reflect.
1. Do we want to be wearing a uniform?
2. Do we have room for another dress in the first place?
A recent Times survey revealed that only 12 per cent of the British population have a walk-in wardrobe. Meanwhile, 30 per cent of the typical UK woman’s clothing collection goes unworn. Does the oldie woman, after decades of acquisition, really want to overpopulate her bedroom space further?
Marie Kondo, Japanese tidying expert, makes a lot of sense when she advocates the sorting of our clothes into categories – give to friends, give to charity shops, bin and keep. We keep the ones we know we like and wear, and give ourselves more living space by dispatching the rest.
It is tempting to hoard. But just remember how happy you are in a hotel room with only a few items hanging in the wardrobe.
But the more-is-more mindset is endemic in those with the finances to indulge it. It is a generation-wide issue.
A millennial friend owns a small converted barn, the sole occupant of which is her dress collection. She knows the space could be generating income via Airbnb but says she cannot risk being ‘triggered’ by the emotional difficulties in divesting herself of garments associated with her heyday.
A more sensible – and more financially restricted – millennial I know recognises that a superfluity of dresses entering a woman’s existence will be a fact of life.
She therefore ruthlessly makes regular trips to Retro Woman in Notting Hill Gate, exchanging a bin-bag of high-quality dresses for a meagre £20 voucher.
‘To me, it’s worth the loss in value of the dresses to have the space back in my wardrobe and just not to have to think about them again,’ she reasons.
‘Yes, I might make some money if I sold them through eBay or Vinted but I haven’t time to do the admin.’
Meanwhile – owing to the housing shortage – other millennials and Gen Z use their parents’ larger houses as spillover spaces for ‘limbo’ clothes rails. I recently saw one of these with a sticky label on it, in the daughter’s handwriting, saying ‘Only quite nice clothes’.
When her mother suggested that the daughter get rid of the trousers, skirts, jumpers and dresses, the daughter looked up from her screen and said, ‘Can that be your work, Mum?’
The ‘Only quite nice’ dress rail remains, for ever in purgatory.
The summer dress, by contrast, takes care of both upper and lower body, and therefore takes up less precious horizontal space in a wardrobe.
It’s also an adaptable item. Pair with flat shoes and cardigan by day, or introduce elegance with stilettos or wedge espadrilles and a jacket at night. Jewellery and the right hat can instantly lift a summer dress from casual to smart. Fabric is important – no synthetics.
The floral-print summer dress has become ubiquitous, though. Why not consider the shirt dress, a popular choice this season? With a simple tie belt on the waist, it adds shape to the garment and will help define your contour.
You have the practical option of releasing the belt at any moment should you feel constrained or out of breath.
A consolidation of your summer-dress collection to a maximum of ten high- quality pieces is advisable.
Our mothers’ 1950s dresses were more carefully made – and, moreover, made in the days when cotton was cotton and not sprayed with more pesticide than any other crop on the planet. Their linen dresses were somehow less subject to crumpling than today’s linen dresses.
We too should go for quality over quantity. Brora, Boden, Cabbages & Roses, Sophie Dundas and Ghost are all acceptable mid- to high-end range choices which do not involve floral prints.
If you do intend to buy afresh, remember to pass by Oxfam on the way.
Mary Killen hosts The Oldie Beauty Day – see details on opposite page
