Fashion forward Dress for the summer you want
Ready for a little retail therapy again? Caroline Leaper reveals the best new day dresses to buy
Remember the Zara dress? You know, the endlessly versatile black and white polka-dot one, which became so popular last summer that it spawned its own Instagram account? It transcended occasions and looked good on women of all ages and body shapes. It was everywhere – the true definition of an “It” dress, in that you couldn’t get away from “It”.
One summer on and the world is a very different place, yet retailers are still seeing that same timely surge in sales of day dresses. Even with seemingly nowhere to go, we’ve still been getting all dressed up for our socially-distanced picnics and back garden barbecues.
Elizabeth von der Goltz, global buying director at Net-a-porter, says that new labels Doen, Horror Vacui and Faithfull The Brand have seen sales spikes in the past few weeks. “Despite lockdown we are seeing floral printed day dresses pick up with the early summer weather,” she explains. “There is definitely a trend for easy-to-wear, dress-up dress-down styles, which will transition well out of lockdown. The midi length seems to remain a popular style.” Yellow, she adds, is a bestselling shade. “It’s the colour of optimism which everyone needs at this time.”
Isabel Spearman, the retail consultant who launched a fortnight-long pop-up shop, The Daily Dress Edit, from lockdown, also saw a sell-out success. Her website crashed briefly under the weight of virtual orders from women who wanted beautifully made cotton day dresses “that they could chuck in the wash, wear in the garden and at some point you will be able to wear for lunch with friends and on holiday”.
“The best sellers were the dresses that would work the hardest in your wardrobe,” she says. Her roster of brands included British independents such as Justine Tabak and Dilli Grey. “When women buy dresses there’s emotion attached. We’ve all been stuck at home with nothing to look forward to, so when you buy something you love as a treat to yourself it’s a feel-good purchase. The weather definitely has helped with sales – people are more likely to buy a neon checked gingham dress if the sun’s shining outside.”
Something people are looking for this summer, Spearman thinks, is an anti Zara dress: 2019’s top frock went viral online to the point where it became a running joke if you spotted six other people wearing the same one.
The popularity of dress styles by lesser-known designers and independent brands shows that there’s cachet to be gleaned from having discovered something no one else has heard of. Look at this great little label I discovered and supported in lockdown. Even if the chances are that we won’t be in big crowds for a while.
“When we do all emerge from lockdown, you don’t want to turn up at the barbecue all wearing the same thing,” considers Spearman. “Our shopping habits have changed and now we want to buy things that not everybody has, that feel more special and personal to us.”
So what will be this year’s It dress? There are several contenders – and that’s the whole point. You want to find something that gets the right “ooh and ahh” reaction, but that you can wear again and again for summers to come, without everyone knowing that it was the dress of 2020.
There are trending features to note, of course. Your very own personal It dress may or may not include some combination of a square neckline, smocked bodice, wide straps or puff sleeves. An easy, loose silhouette is also a given, and can be found in all shops, at all price points. No one needs to know that you can no longer fit into your jeans, post-lockdown, with frocks like these on your side…