New season dress styles to get excited about
A strange thing happened last autumn, the way strange things generally do: gradually and then all at once. It was simple: I lost interest in dresses.
You need only glance in the direction of my wardrobe to get a sense of the significance of this shift. I am (shall we say) overindexed in dresses – yet, from late November onward, I would stand in front of my clothes wondering what to wear, then reach for a variation on the same outfit I’d worn the previous day, and the day before that: Nineties-style straight-leg jeans and a vintage blazer; wide-leg jeans and a slim-cut jumper with a sliver of white shirt visible at the neck; horseshoe jeans, T-shirt, chunky cardigan… feeling all the while like I was cheating on my dresses.
Why? I blame the weather – a woman can only wrestle herself into so many pairs of thermal leggings, dresses and boots to wear out into gale-force wind and rain. Add in the recent elevation of separates into objects of desire (waistcoats? yes, waistcoats!), the advent of more interesting jean shapes, the wealth of styling inspiration for all of the above online – it was enough to throw any dress devotee off her game.
It’s not just me. Even the ultimate dress fan has been affected, as it happens. “I’ve definitely been through a rocky patch with dresses,” says Isabel Spearman, the style advisor, brand consultant and Daily Dress Edit founder. “It freaked me out a bit.” Spearman may be a dress booster par excellence, but she’s also emerging from a long winter in jeans. “It’s a testament to the rise of denim,” she says. “Denim has taken over every element of our wardrobes, whether it’s great jeans, a denim blazer or a brilliant denim midi skirt.
“There are so many other options that have become available in the last year that feel relevant as well as dresses, that dresses probably have to fight a little bit harder for your attention and love. But summer is still and always will be dress season.”
It’s true that sunshine helps. The day we speak, I’m midway through my seasonal wardrobe changeover, my smile growing wider with every crumpled linen dress I pull out of a vacuum bag. Spearman, meanwhile, is also thinking ahead to warmer days as she unpacks samples of the 12 dresses that will appear in the next Daily Dress Edit (or DDE) pop-up, launching online today (May 12). This time around, all the dresses in the pop-up come from small, independent brands that manufacture in Britain.
“Some of them work with UK manufacturers, some of them make at their kitchen tables, some hire seamstresses and have their own studio. They’re a shining example of what Britain does best and I really wanted to champion that.”
The line up includes a striped linen shirtdress from Kindred of Ireland; a black broderie anglaise design from The Well Worn, in Kent; a bold green floral with dramatic puff sleeves from Mary Benson, in York; and a pink gingham shift from Stalf, in Lincolnshire. “They’re generally dresses that you can throw on and live in all summer. Those are always the ones I look for.”
The selection is strong on solids and stripes – only two of the designs feature floral prints. That’s no coincidence. “We’ve come through a period of a lot of incredibly feminine florals,” Spearman says, noting that lately she’s drawn to “a cleaner dress. We’ve stripped back a lot of ruffling, tiered skirts and extra detailing than we normally would.
“Maybe with all the bad news last year, the cost-of-living crisis, the two wars going on, there was a bit of a vibe shift, and people wanted something a little plainer, a little sleeker.”
Her favourite (at least, her favourite today – it changes, and “you’re asking me to choose between my children”) is a khaki cotton poplin dress from Edinburgh-based designer Karolina Ozolinsiute. “I’m really craving earthy tones. I’m quite obsessed with khaki. It’s such a beautiful colour and I don’t think people realise how easy it is to wear. You can team it with classic tans and camels, it looks super-smart with black, you can add metallics or leopard print – it’s a really good base colour, and in a crisp poplin, it’s beautiful.”
Khaki, £289 by Karolina Ozolinsiute
Beyond the DDE pop-up, dresses that have given me that old gotta-wear-it urge lately share an unfussy approach and a focus on fabrication and silhouette over print. I’m thinking of Toast’s watercolour check dress, Brora’s linen utility shirt dress and designs from Second Stories’ first capsule collection. The made-to-order range is long on vintage-inflected dresses, all made in a small, woman-run studio in Ukraine. “To me, a dress is such a fundamental, easy piece,” founder Nicci de Vries says. “They’re flattering, but more than that, I wanted to make sure every design had elements that felt unique, with detail and craftsmanship that you don’t find in much modern production.”
Khaki dress, £330, Second Stories
Gingham dress, £195, Toast; Shirt dress, £225, Brora
On the high street, a white cotton square-neck midi dress from Marks & Spencer is a palate-cleanser of a dress (one that hits many of the same notes as the best-selling – and much pricier – Wells dress by Staud). The retailer sold 45 of the dresses per hour during the first Saturday of its launch, and is bringing out orange and green versions this month. Sezane is on a winning streak too, from its Neapolitan-hued Edwinda to the Majorelle-blue-embroidered Osiris dress.
White square-neck dress, £29.50, M&S
Puff sleeve dress, £190; and patchwork dress, £240, both Sezane
Most of these are midi or midaxi, a length that Spearman might have worn with Birkenstock Arizonas last summer. Her 2024 switch-up is to wear her dresses – new finds and old favourites, back again to restore her faith in dresses – with mary-janes. “Having had no mary-janes a few months ago, I’ve amassed four pairs in the last four months,” including a leopard-print pair from Boden that she’s wearing with everything. “Even last summer’s dress can look great with an updated shoe.”
Mary Jane Flats, £110, Boden
All dresses available at The Daily Dress Edit from May 12
