Plus Summer dresses that cover all sins
Baring (nothing at) all for summer
It would be an understatement to say that my hot weather wardrobe is covered up. My go-tos, both on holiday and in the city, are long-sleeved, ankle-length dresses, eschewing (or even sewing up) the thighhigh slits that so often feature on long dresses. My preferred silhouette wouldn’t be out of place in an Amish homestead – though I doubt they’d approve of the door knocker earrings or logobuckled belts I pair my dresses with. I love the elegant simplicity of a flowing dress, but while most summers I’m the lone schoolmarm in a sea of cut-off Levis, this year I’m in good company – suddenly, puritanical dressing has become fashionable.
Firstly, there’s the swing towards modesty, with new e-tailer Themodist.com championing the loose, flowing silhouettes made popular by Erdem, Emilia Wickstead and Valentino on the catwalk – a trend that looks set to continue, thanks to the announcement that Erdem will collaborate with H&M this autumn.
Sofia Coppola’s stylish new thriller The Beguiled’s buttoned and starched dresses are dripping with repressed sexuality, and then there’s the most gripping and stylish TV show of the summer
– and I certainly don’t mean Love Island. Hulu’s glossy series The Handmaid’s Tale might paint a dystopian future that’s startlingly bleak, but the costumes are anything but, from the vivid, blood-red cloaks and crisp white bonnets of the handmaidens that manage to be subversively sexy in their fanatically covered-up frumpiness, to the tailored teal-green power dressing of the commanders’ wives that treads so closely to Melania Trump’s FLOTUS wardrobe.
Paired with flat tan sandals, the modest summer dress looks effortless – very Margaret Howell campaign shot on the Norfolk
Broads. With platform sandals, the flash of the ankle becomes practically scandalous – a cloak and dagger type of sexy that you’ll find particularly Blue, £370, Ace & Jig (matchesfashion.com)
refreshing if you have been watching the aforementioned Love Island.
Sadly, puritanical summer dresses don’t often come cheap. The high street still leans towards the short, thanks both to a younger shopper and the expense of using more fabric. That being said, Zara has a long-sleeved, below the knee green dress, and Toast a few good options, from earth-toned shirt dresses to this sexed-up version of a handmaiden’s smock. If you’ve got slightly deeper pockets, then you can afford the extra fabric – try Masscob, Orla Kiely and Joseph.