Try wearing a yellow dress and feeling blue.Credit:Aje
Still, just because we’re slowly easing back into dressier outfits, doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice comfort, with a knit dress the perfect “recovery” option, says Veals, while more voluminous styles are “telling us that life is getting back to normal with weddings and events back on the agenda to bring joy and create memories”.
According to Net-a-Porter’s senior market editor, Libby Page, this season’s dresses, particularly midi in length and bold in colour, “offer a feeling of escapism, they help us embrace our femininity and make us feel empowered”.
“They are an instant mood-lifter, which is what we are all looking for right now. Expect to see an array of delicate, beautiful floral prints, light chiffons, ruffles and heavenly maxi dresses.”
Last year’s “it” dress for the e-tailer was the TOVE Ceres dress in marigold, which has sold out but is being repeated in hot pink (for yellow devotees, Australian label Aje has new styles in sunshine). Page says the gathered bodice, cap sleeve and midi length makes it universally flattering, offering “comfort and impact whilst still being feminine”.
Speaking of comfort, Page says the dominant dresses will incorporate the 2020 consumer’s demand for comfort, just in a new package. “It’s dressing for the modern woman and that can involve both a sense of fashion and comfort, we don’t have to choose,” she says.
Take it from committed lockdown dress-upper, cabaret performer Rebecca Moore, who loves a dress “because it’s a complete outfit. A dress can make me feel classy and polished or playful and carefree.”
Fashion commentator Tam Wrigley agrees that every woman needs an “optimising dress”, her term for a single dress that can be worn in a number of ways.
“It’s a dress I can style up for a night out on the town, dress down for brunch with the girls or even wear casually to a friend’s barbecue. A dress is just a dress, it’s how you optimise it that gives it its style. Accessorise it, pair it with shoes or heels, add belts even down to your jewellery.”
