Introducing this summer’s do-all dress
I’ve always hated wrap dresses. Unless you have perfectly positioned, pert curves, they never look as good as they’re meant to (ie, on Diane von Furstenberg). I thought they’d finally been laid to rest in 2005. But these past weeks they’ve been cropping up on the unlikeliest of champions –Voguettes and the Telegraph’s fashion team included.
We can trace their rebirth back to Jonathan Saunders who, now that he’s at the helm at Diane von Furstenberg, has breathed new life into them, and also to Reformation, the modish LA label that upcycles dead-stock fabrics and has been selling thousands of floaty wrap dresses with plunging décolletés to all the cool girls.
While a few of those customers wore the dresses with their assets allowed to go free range, most have found the best way to deal with the deep neckline was to wear the dresses over T-shirts and polo-necks, which had the added bonus of making them year round staples.
That versatile layering approach has permeated the entire dress category, which is poised to slay all others this summer. Dresses are everywhere, but rather than fitted and constricting, many of the newest styles are fluid, malleable and behave much more like separates, even working with chunky knitwear, boots and tights.
Creative director Dorothee Schumacher has designed filmy chiffon dresses (that come with opaque slips) that can be worn open or closed over trousers. Other iterations, such as Gerard Darel’s viscose/silk shirt dress or Whistles’ stripy stretch knit, seem to have been expressly conceived to slide easily under long boyfriend cardigans, boxy jumpers and the new oversized jackets. They’re shape accentuating without being remotely tartly.
The Whistles is about as body-con as the 2017 dresses get. Most can be worn with flats, trainers or heels, many are awash with florals. But minimalists needn’t despair. There are plains – or, for those who like the idea of patterns more than the reality, stripes and checks. The key is to find a shape that flatters flatters, and a leng length that’s either on the knee or way below. Sleeves are another big marker of how often you’ll wear a dress. I know many women bewail the lack of dresses with sleeves, but stiff, wide or statement sleeves that won’t slide in and out of jackets can hugely hamper a dress’s usefulness. Against all logic, a no sleeves or neat, short-sleeve policy can end up being wise.
Policy? You need one. Otherwise the skimpy, strappy sundress that seduces you in the changing room will join all the other dream tickets that hang unworn in your wardrobe.