The Dress That Keeps On Giving

It's this one!

A print dress in autumnal hues.  From East, now defunct - sadly, as it was a source of many of my classic pieces which I pull out year after year.

The Sleeping Beauty in my Wardrobe

This dress was bought in 2002 as an autumn wedding option.  Yes, BITD when I could afford to buy several options for one event!  This dress didn't make it to the wedding (aahhh ...) and perhaps because in my head it was tagged as a wedding outfit I didn't wear it for many years.   For there were no more autumn weddings to take it to (yeah, my outfit choices were rigidly compartmentalised, pre-blog!).

  

And so it slept in my wardrobe for many, many years.  

Then about 6-7 years ago its Handsome Prince appeared on the scene - I chanced to try it with a knee length brown cardi (also "vintage" East).  I added some brown knee boots and eureka!, this dress was awoken from its long slumber and reinvented itself as a new go-to !

Don't you just love fairy tales with happy endings?!

Today's Outfit

Styled for a May dinner date.

And taken here, to Les Cotils, once a nunnery and now a spiritual retreat and hotel/restaurant.

Selecting Prints

As I've said in the past about scarves, so the same applies to dress prints.

Choosing a print with many colours opens up soooo many options for styling.  A print like this dress's offers up almost infinite pairing possibilities.



The Dress Archives

Here are some of the ways I've styled this little dress during my bloglife.

I picked out the plum hues with a berry cardi and boots in winter.

what-ive-been-wearing-lately HERE, back in December


I've picked out the print's soft pinks with wedge sandals, cardi and bag in summer.

the-autumn-dress-that-never-was, back in the summer of 2017, HERE

Before the blog got me stretching my styling boundaries, it was always brown I grabbed for accessorising this dress.

A long line cardi and boots here, again in winter.

christmas-lights-and-other-stuff, in 2016, HERE

And with a daring-for-me addition of an under-cardi belt!

in 2016 HERE in brown-florals-in-winter-so-right



The Epilogue

This archive search has been an interesting exercise for me.  I've seen how often I've grabbed this go-to in my bloglife, and how I've styled it slightly differently each time.  And I guess what I've seen is that I've picked out lighter colours from the print to accessorise in summer, and darker in the winter months.  Obvs!


Do YOU ever go through old photos of a dress or other piece, to check out your stylings?  If not, try it!

And Circling Wagons ...

Back to my current styling.  I chose brown for the cardi (East), perhaps as the evening was misty and overcast, but as it is early summer I lightened the mood somewhat with soft taupe heeled sandals and bag.  Sort of colour-transitional.

My Pout Message for Today

So my dears, my message today is hopefully clear.  Choose a print with many colours and with colours you love, and your choice of styling will be infinite.

A la perchoine, 

Mary x.

I do hope you leave me a comment, it's great to hear from you.

And please pop back in a day or two to read my reply eh!!

P.s. I'm getting the house and garden catsitter-ready, so posts will continue to be erratic.  It is what it is ...