Wedding outfits you can wear anywhere
HOW TO DRESS LIKE A GROWN UP
We’Re into wedding season. Hooray! So much fun, once you’re there, hat at a tilt, champagne flute in hand. But before you get to that happy place you need to have solved the trickiest fashion dilemma of the lot: What To Wear?
It’s not easy. You’ve got to pitch the smartness just right: you don’t want that ‘ Sunday best’ look (matching coat and sleeveless shift), but you don’t want ‘everyday’ (your droopy wrap dress), either — or work smart (khaki shirt dress), or vampy (lurex halter-neck).
The unspoken rule of dressing for weddings is: make an effort, and don’t look ‘weddingy’ — as in trussed up in a starchy number that’s clearly only good for one thing.
What you want in 2019 is an ‘occasion’ dress with a small O; one that looks like you bought it this year and will be wearing it for all sorts of occasions, from the intimidating neighbour’s drinks to your daughter’s graduation.
It so happens that this is shaping up to be the summer of the Little O dress, also known as the ‘ Not Just For Weddings’ dress.
We’re used to pretty dresses landing in the shops at this time of year, but this lot feel different. These are dresses that would work in a church
and on a dancefloor — dresses you don’t have to cover up with a jacket because they’re too bare, or wear with one of those 12-strap Houdini bras.
LET us count the ways this Little O dress fits the bill. It’s midi length. It’s fitted in the bodice and flowy in the skirt. It comes in a pretty print ( or several all mixed up together). Or it’s one bedazzling colour, such as tangerine.
It has long or elbow-length sleeves. It could be a wrap, or it could have a couple of front splits, or it could be roundnecked and buttoned up. But it is always feminine, flattering and elegant. So where should you start? With prints, of course. We’ve said it before: floral prints are practically compulsory this summer, and the print- clash midi dress is this trend wrapped up in its most occasion-friendly form.
At the pricier end of the scale are dresses by Rixo, the brand that helped kickstart the vogue for mixed- up- in- one- piece prints. Among the best are its dress that’s a mish-mash of tulip prints (£325, rixo.co.uk), and the plainer english floral spot (£315, rixo.co.uk).
Also mixing up the prints to
pretty effect is Next, with its orange, yellow and black daisy dress (£119, next.co.uk), and Reserved’s short- sleeved V-neck midi in a patchwork of different paisley prints (£34.99, reserved.com).
For summer weddings, part of the challenge is to keep it light, and white backgrounds are always fresh: Topshop does a white floral midi with a plunge front and soft bell three- quarter sleeves (£49, topshop.com).
That said, with floral prints you can get away with dark backgrounds and add pops of colour with your shoes and bag or hat.
Finery’s floral mixed-print dress (£99, finerylondon.com) has a black background, and Rouje’s Gabin dress — legendarily flattering with its three- quarter sleeves and definition at the waist — comes in red or black with a tiny white flower print (£154, rouje.com).
The design doesn’t have to be floral, of course. There are scarf prints, and spots — Zara has a pale cream dress with a chocolate spot (£39.99, zara.com).
Or, if you want to go the navy-and-white polka dot route (after all the excitement about that Alessandra Rich dress, as worn by Kate Middleton and all the celebrities), then try Kitri’s polka dot wrap dress (£145, harveynichols.com).
A more original bet might be M&S’s embroidered navy midi (£ 49.50, marksandspencer.
com) or Zara’s navy-on-white printed dress with ruffle sleeves (£39.99, zara.com). If you want to narrow your sights and keep the price down, Zara is nailing the floral dress this season.
The other Little O option is a dress in one block colour: a plain slinky V-neck, with or without leg splits, and ideally with a bit of a sheen to give it some extra pizzazz.
(Note: don’t automatically reject leg splits — so long as they are discreet they help to break up the line of a longer dress and give it movement.)
& Other Stories does one in burnt orange (£89, stories.
com), while Zara does a lemon yellow sateen wrap ( now £19.99, zara.com) — it’s not for everyone, but could be pretty on a hot day.
Don’t you just love having this much choice?