Hero dress: Whistles silk dress

Three weeks ago I was frantically searching for a smart day dress. Well,  I was, if searching means waving my arms around a lot and looking worried. It’s almost impossible for me to buy off the peg given my list of requirements, so I hadn’t even started looking.

After all: I require a dress to be above the knee, belt & tie-less, have a V neck or at  least a deep scoop (people with a bosom look upholstered in anything with a high neck), and not too tight — I do like to breathe — and eat.  Preferably it will also have sleeves or at least some kind of bingo wing camouflage. And not be pink or red.

Given that most designers cannot resist the temptation to cut smart summer dresses in the many of the styles which only work on lithe, breastless women (shifts, spaghetti strap floaty things, bias cuts, strapless, racer back etc), I had resigned myself to throwing vast sums of money at a solution.

And then I thought of Whistles, much spoken of since its relaunch under Jane Shepherdson who turned Topshop from a shop where trends went to die to High Street agenda-setting superstar.

Into Selfridges I went, to hunt for their Whistles concession. I glided upstairs on the escalator, walked into the Whistles area, saw a great silk dress, tried it on -  and, dear reader, I bought it.

JUST LIKE THAT.

For £135.

I don’t know by which part I was more astonished: the ease of the process, the fact that  they had something that suited  me, with no compromise as to colour, quality, chic, fit or style, or that it was so (relatively) cheap.

The dress has lots of clever drapey bits, so it hides my hated not-flat-yet stomach and has plenty of room for my breasts, (which look alarmingly disproportionate in most frocks), whilst the clever pleating which drops to the waist camouflages their size. Although it is sleeveless, it has small shoulder pads that pull the pleating out over the arm, so hiding incipient bingo-wing-age. There is a tie in the front — but it’s a faux one, so no sack of potatoes style drawing in of my apple waist area. I’m clearly curvier than the model, and so the dress falls beautifully over my hips. And it’s short, so it shows off my legs.

I bought the dress above in navy that time — I love blue dresses, as anything pink or red isn’t great with my rosacea, but you wouldn’t believe how few stores — at any price level — ever make anything in blue, let alone in navy, one of the most universally flattering shades.

And that’s another reason why I love Whistles. Jane Shepherdson has really thought about what women in their 30s+ want to wear. Not what she wants them to wear. A subtle difference that many other labels in this arena would do well to take on board. But for all that, there’s no compromise in style or taste. The collection feels as current as anything four or five times as expensive.

And then my cup really did spillith over: I discovered that this is a Whistles hero dress, which they make in lots of different prints & colourways. Including this bright blue, my favourite dress colour. I almost have no words that could do justice to this dress.

This morning I am blissfully happy, as I thought it had sold out, and I kept forgetting to do anything about tracking one down. And there it was on-line all the time, just waiting for me to beckon a finger and bring it on home…

EDIT: One of my lovely Antipodean Twitter followers has just pointed out that Whistles ships to Australia for a tenner. She’s very happy.