A dress for all seasons and reasons

Suddenly, out of nowhere, it’s three degrees – and only now am I blogging this summer dress.

The thing about this dress is, when Phase Eight sent it to me as a gift back in August, it was too big. There was something about the neckline that didn’t suit me, and the sleeves were a touch too long. As with many of my clothes, I had it altered to fit my body. However, my usual seamstress was across town, the other side of Dundee, and I needed this dress back fast to shoot it for the blog in August before heading on holiday. At the last minute, I took it to a local woman who advertised her business a mile from where I live. Big mistake. Huge.

In the end, she ruined the dress and, after a lengthy and rather dramatic turn of events, I ended up trekking across town anyway, weeks later, clutching my butchered dress, begging my original seamstress to save it. She’s a superstar, so of course did save it and, as I knew she would, she revived it, gave it a new lease of life, and here it is being worn and loved just two weeks ago. Another life lesson on how not to rush things, to stick with people you trust, to have patience, to see the value in not taking shortcuts which inevitably result in an even longer way round.

I could easily have let this dress slide into next year, to not blog it until spring or summer 2020 – I’m not one to wear a dress for just one season so it’s not as if the dress would be relegated to the back of my wardrobe or the charity shop, especially now that I’m trying to build a wardrobe of staples, accented by dresses I adore. I like my dresses to last years, to be worn different places and be part of lots of memories. Ah, remember that time we went there, I wore that red dress. Remember the time the kids made us laugh until our bellies hurt? I was wearing that red dress. Oh, and remember the best burger we had all year, the one that squirted ketchup down my favourite red dress, but I didn’t care because we had the best time?

So I thought I would share it with you anyway. And, actually, it’s a dress that can be layered up for autumn – it would look great with suede ankle boots, a teddy coat, a woolly scarf. I wore it at the start of October with my trainers and a cashmere roll neck, but here we are, mid-November and waking up to almost freezing temperatures, so boots and cosy coats it will have to be, with Bailey’s hot chocolates and Christmassy nights by a warm fire, until next year, when it will undoubtedly resurface as a summer dress once again to create more memories. It will be one of those dresses that will be hard to part with in ten years’ time, because of all the things we’ve seen together, the places we’ve been together. That’s the joy of some clothes, they become like family, easy, comfortable, and – sometimes with a little adjustment – the perfect fit.

Dress, Phase Eight (GIFT, only a size 6 left, was £99 now £59 with 15% off sale with code 15OFF, similar dress here – it’s maternity but a wrap style, so isn’t limited to those with a bump); roll neck cashmere jumper, Winser London; trainers, Superga; bag, Zara.

Images: Kris Miller.

Location: Exchange Street, Dundee.