Because I love to wear dresses (so easy, so flattering) and boots at this time of year and because (ahem) I’ve just dropped two dress sizes I’ve been on the hunt for chic shapely numbers that won’t break the bank.
I have to say I have never thought of Kew as anywhere other than a place for great knitwear and casual separates in a wide range of colours, and definitely never considered them as somewhere I would find a seriously well cut dress, which just goes to show I can be very wrong.
Having browsed their website for a while this week I decided to go and do the thing I really don’t normally advocate, being an online addict, that of going-into-the-shop-and-trying-on-everything-in-sight. Dresses are always going to be more of a problem with fit, and being short at 5’2”, worrying about length and also not having a clue which size I now was I hit St Christopher’s Place this morning. Just for research purposes I’m sure you understand.
Some of the dresses, none of these, were in that very fine jersey which in my opinion looks rather ‘mumsy’ on just about everyone, but these were all fabulous, with stretch for fit and in some lovely colours. I did have to restrain myself which I succeeded in doing with great difficulty but from now on when I am planning to shop for my next dress (round the corner, surely) I will take a look here first. For value and style I don’t think they can be beaten.
So many of this season’s dresses are sleeveless so you’ll need a perfect cardigan to wear with most of these - I don’t go for the pinafore look they advocate (wearing something underneath), the exposed zips make these far too chic for anything so prosaic. Also with the exception of the purple dress all of them come in black as well, and the red shift in black was my all time favourite to go from day to evening.
On a final note the sweater dress at the top is quite long, but would look great with a belt, where as the raspberry merino knit skims the body and is shorter. Overall I would say that the sizing is generous.
