‘We have missed the fun and spontaneity of throwing on a dress’
As women switch from pulling on athleisure bottoms to slipping into drop-hem maxis, fashion writer Laura Craik explores the new season’s love affair with the dress – and whether the perfect one really does exist
I don’t remember much from my childhood, but I do remember this: being seven and running home in tears because I’d caught my favourite dress on a gatepost. The skirt was ripped from waist to hem, and I was inconsolable. ‘We can mend it,’ soothed my mother, not that the words ‘invisible stitching’ sounded very soothing in her Scottish accent (‘invus-ibul stu-tchin’). I wasn’t a cry baby, nor did I care whether my jeans got muddy or my shoes got scuffed. But dresses? They were different. They were special. They were loved.
It’s unclear by what strange alchemy a dress inserts itself into the female psyche and becomes a mini love-affair, rather than merely ‘a dress’. Maybe it’s weddings. Maybe it’s the Oscars. Maybe it’s a million other social events that conspire to place the dress at their centre. Either way, a woman’s love affair with dresses tends to blossom young and bloom for a lifetime. Of course, it should go without saying that this doesn’t hold true for every woman. God forbid you should feel compelled to shuck on a dress if you strongly prefer trousers.
This isn’t the Fifties: we can and should wear trousers anywhere, even down the aisle.
And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. Thanks to their prevalence on the catwalk, trouser lovers have had a pleasing few seasons. After a long period favouring easy separates, there followed a slew of luxed-up sportswear. Finally, this is set to change. Dresses are centre stage once more, thanks to an abundance of enticing creations that may well have even the most ardent trouser-wearer yearning to bare a leg. At Chloé SS17, they were either frothy and babydoll-short or long and languid. At Prada, they were spaghetti-strapped and trimmed with marabou feathers. At Erdem, they were floor-length, lightweight and steeped in historical references. And at Roksanda, they were drop-waisted and loose, in an array of bright colours. The designer Roksanda Ilinčić called them ‘a song to summer’, and they were: nothing whispers ‘summer’ like a dress (apart from an ice-cold jug of Pimm’s drunk alfresco in a beer garden).
So why has the dress returned with such a vengeance? ‘There’s nothing that’s easier [to wear],’ says the New York-based Londoner Tilly Macalister-Smith, editorial director of Diane von Furstenberg. ‘It’s such a pleasure to slip on one item of clothing and be done. You can get a lot of mileage out of a great dress, too. I have a silk navy long-sleeved dress from Tibi that I wore over jeans in the winter and will wear with slides in the summer. I think we’re re-embracing our feminine sides and enjoying dressing up a little: athleisure hung around for one season too long, and we’ve missed the fun and spontaneity of throwing on a dress.’
After so much time spent in trousers, it’s surprising how jaunty a dress can make you feel. ‘I do feel sexier in a dress,’ says TV presenter Laura Jackson, a woman whose dress-game is always strong. ‘There’s something about
the shape that makes you stand tall and corrected. One of my favourites is a bright orange Alessandra Rich dress, and I feel so special in it.’
Already, a number of ‘super-dresses’ have broken rank to dominate the season. J.W.Anderson, a designer once known for his shirting, has aced it with his fluid midi-length dresses. Céline’s loose shirt-dresses have proved natural successors to last season’s easy trousers. And Balenciaga’s floral tea-dresses have been a hit with street-style stars, even if no one wears them quite like the show’s stylist, Lotta Volkova, who teams hers with thick, ribbed sport socks.
While there’s certainly a preponderance of handkerchief hems, drop waists, bright florals and luxurious fabrics (chiffon, silk, intricately woven lace), with so many wildly different types of dress on offer, it would be reductive to pinpoint one particular style as key to the new look – and that is precisely why what you wear with your dress matters so much. More than its hem length or neckline, it’s the accessories that will anchor your dress in the moment. Lotta Volkova’s sports socks won’t work on everyone, but they add that requisite off-kilter look that feels so right for now. Matches Fashion buying director Natalie Kingham agrees that casual is the way to go: ‘Team a dress with a pair of contemporary sandals from Álvaro, or a loafer or lace-up from Le Monde Beryl or Robert Clergerie,’ she advises. ‘A flatform is also a good option if you’re petite – try Stella McCartney or Marni.’
That flat, utilitarian footwear is proving such a popular accompaniment is understandable. We love our Stan Smiths and backless Gucci loafers: why give them up just because dresses are back? These aren’t the sort of dresses you have to wear with heels, or complete with a ‘ladylike’ handbag. And thank God, because, delicious as they are, it’s fair to say the dress trend is a step change. After all, we’re a Pantsuit Nation now, accustomed to striding around in flats and trousers. Hillary Clinton might not have become the US president, but her legacy endures. Trousers aren’t just things you pull on when it’s cold or you haven’t shaved your ankles; they’re seen by some as a political statement, aligning the wearer with a set of feminist values.
Yet it would be a strange world if trousers being synonymous with women’s liberation meant that dresses were diminished by comparison. Just as no woman should be forced to apologise for loving Barbie, princesses or pink
(or glittery pink Barbie princesses with bells on, if that’s her thing), nor should women feel any qualms about wearing a dress. Melania Trump’s sexy shift dresses might look as though they’ve been hand-picked by Donald to exude trophy-wife status, but maybe that’s just the style she favours. And OK, Melania’s style is a million miles away from the mid-length, diaphanous dresses that best characterise summer 2017, but they’re her choice.
Be it form-fitting Roksanda or wafty Gucci, woe betide someone who comes between a woman and her favourite dress. I still mourn the passing of my Whistles dress, irretrievably ripped down the back after I tripped over a suitcase at JFK. The fact that I didn’t realise the entire airport had a full view of my knickers was a blight far easier to bear than the prospect of life without this oh-so-useful dress to call upon.
‘My mum’s usually really chilled – there’s a wardrobe of clothes that she doesn’t wear, and sometimes I go to the dry-cleaner’s and get things altered,’ says Anaïs Gallagher, the 17-year-old daughter of interior designer Meg Matthews and musician Noel Gallagher. ‘I was taking this leather dress, and she saw me. She said, “Anaïs! That’s a one-of-a-kind Alexander McQueen dress that he made for me – you can’t get it chopped into a mini dress!”’ That’s the thing about treasured dresses: age cannot wither them. Unless they’re made of cashmere, in which case the moths will have a bloody good go.
Stray suitcases and experimental daughters aside, a judiciously chosen dress will last you a lifetime. ‘One of my favourite ever dresses is sherbet-lilac in a fil-coupé fabric from Diane von Furstenberg’s pre-fall collection,’ says Tilly Macalister-Smith. ‘It’s so pretty and unusual. And I have an Adam Lippes black, sleeveless dress that will never go out of style. I wear it all year round, and just switch out my accessories.’
That there is no all-pervasive style setting the tone this season is all the more reason to dig out your old and best-loved dresses. I’ve found it’s my high-street buys that stand the test of time better than my designer ones. Despite being a hoarder, I’m on the hunt for a new one this season – the dress that will assuage my every sartorial woe. Will I find it? Will it be as loved as the favourite one I tore aged seven? Like the perfect man, the perfect jeans and, in my case, the perfect cheese, maybe the perfect dress is just an illusion. Oh, but looking is such fun.
‘IT WOULD BE A STRANGE WORLD IF TROUSERS BEING SYNONYMOUS WITH WOMEN’S LIBERATION MEANT DRESSES WERE DIMINISHED’