A Dress to Impress

A Dress to Impress


I’m a great believer in dresses. Not because I think women should wear dresses because they are women and real women wear dresses, but because I find them very efficient. You put a dress on, you are dressed. I also like the clean, unfussy line a dress can give you – a skirt (or trousers) and a top is by default more complex.

A big part of my wardrobe – and work wardrobe in particular – consists of shift dresses. I prefer them to cover the knees and possibly even hit mid-calf, but cut very close to the body. I think this suits my shape and believe the result is quite elegant. The downside of this silhouette is that it’s difficult to pull off without heels. I divide my shift dresses into different subcategories: I’ve got the simple black and grey and burgundy ones for everyday; the more expensive, really well cut ones for the days when I need extra support; and then there are the statement ones.

Not everybody is comfortable with wearing something attention-grabbing to work and I completely understand that. There are many days when I feel the same. But I love bold, interesting, colourful dresses and if I didn’t wear them to work, my opportunities to wear them would be very limited. So in addition to the occasional cocktail event, I do take them to the office as well.

The one I’m wearing on the pictures is by one of my favourite dress designers, Roksanda Ilincic. She is known for her architectural shapes and inspired use of colour. Her creations also just work for me, as she designs well for my body type – tall, no noticeable curves, relatively slim. When I was in her London boutique recently, I tried on about 20 items and almost all of them fitted me very well.

Roksanda’s clothes are unfortunately not something I can afford regularly – she is not the most expensive of designers, but certainly not cheap either. But if you happen to have the money and the desire for a Dress to Impress, she would be my first recommendation.

Roksanda 2

6 Comments

Add yours
  1. 5
    Avonne

    I am impressed! That dress is fortunate it found the perfect person to wear it with such verve. (I love that word…..don’t get to use it often). I especially enjoy the relaxed, confident grace shining out of the second picture.

+ Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.