Time to play dress up!
My attempts at quiet weekends are proving tremendously futile but I suppose that’s how it goes in the summer as everyone gets their quota of events in before we prepare to socially hibernate for the winter months, albeit emerging from our cocoons for December’s onslaught of glitter laden gatherings.
On Saturday I headed down to Killarney for a last minute night away having been asked by Café Du Parc to come sample their new summer spritz and bar bites menu.
Well, needless to say I did not need to be asked twice considering the whole situation encompassed so many of my favourite things. Namely the venue, cocktails and bar bites in no particular order. With not much time to get myself packed and ready to go it really got me thinking how the trusty dress is such a useful staple to have in the wardrobe.
If you have a go to dress that you love, is easy to wear and that can be styled a few different ways, then you can always feel safe in the knowledge that you always have something to wear. Considering I knew plenty of food and drink would be consumed on the night, I needed a loose dress that could camouflage any potential food babies while still looking chic and glam as standard.
Enter a light green/gold flowy shirt dress to answer my fashion prayers.
I love a shirt dress because it can look quite dressy with the right accessories but also not over the top when you’re just going for a casual drink. The flow-y material makes it that little bit dressier and I styled mine with gold woven block heels and lots of gold stacking jewellery. The dress came with its own fabric belt which actually was hard to keep closed so I just wore my own leopard print belt instead.
A shirt dress in a crisp cotton fabric can also be a handy piece for workwear especially in the tricky summer months where you want to look smart but equally keep cool.
Another favourite dress style that I always have in my wardrobe is a floral midi dress. Never underestimate the power of a good floral dress in getting you out of a fashion conundrum. It’s perfect for those days when you want to look like you’ve made an effort when in fact you had about five minutes to pull the whole look together.
Next season it’s all about dark florals with lots of red flowers on black backgrounds with the odd bit of polka dot pattern clash thrown in for good measure. This style is universally flattering whatever your age as demonstrated by both Anna Wintour and Selena Gomez rocking the look. It’s also a style that you can easily dress it up for a perfectly lovely wedding guest look but then throw in a pair of trainers with it the next day and it looks equally as good.
Probably my most worn style of dress though is the wrap dress. This simple yet effective design made popular by queen of the wrap Diane Von Furstenberg in the '70s is still going strong and it’s easy to see why when it’s looks flattering on pretty much everyone especially, if you’re bigger busted.
It hides a multitude including those pesky post dinner food babies we all get after a particularly large meal.
The wrap dresses appeal lies in the way they tie defining the wearer's waist and cinching in at the slimmest part of the torso while the v-neckline enhances the bust and skims over the hips. The wrap also lends itself well to print and in my humble opinion is the perfect day dress.