Yellow. Blimey. For a woman whose wardrobe has historically only contained navy, black and grey this is *quite* the change. For one thing, I have never felt quite as conspicuous as I did in this dress. But then I decided to own it and rather enjoyed looking like a sunflower at Briony and Mark’s post-wedding picnic in the Fellows’ Garden of King’s College, Cambridge.

If you have a darker skin tone then this dress will look wonderful on you any day; if, like me, your natural skin tone is skimmed milk (chalk white with a hint of blue) then I advise a layer of fake tan. I got a spray tan for the wedding, due to lack of time, but for pretty much foolproof and streak-free self-tan then I recommend either using St Tropez or Madame LaLa mousse with a tanning mitt (M&S do one for a fiver here, or building up in two days with Tan Luxe The Gradual Tan from SpaceNK (slightly more colour than your usual gradual tanners, and a lovely raspberry smell).

Accessories-wise, this summer is all about straw bags and tie-ribbon espadrilles, which suits me just fine as I have a wardrobe packed with same items. If you want to make like a fashion editor this summer, then you probably need this rigid Topshop straw bucket bag – a nice nod at a trend for £24 but, for those of you looking for a more practical daytime bag, I’ve put together an edit of straw bags below, along with one for yellow dresses, one for espadrilles, and one for straw hats.

(If you are reading this either on the Daily Email or on mobile, you may need to click through to the actual blog to see the carousels.)

MY STYLE NOTES

M&S Collection Tiered Cuff Detail Long Sleeve Midi Dress http://bit.ly/2sTR5Ga

Christopher Kane catseye sunglasses http://bit.ly/2oMg0qO

Straw Hat  – mine was from Florence, but this one from ASOS is a pretty good dupe – and it’s just £16. http://bit.ly/2s4kKcS

Tie Ribbon Espadrilles. These super pretty on and very comfortable ones were by Para Gabia from La Redoute last year, available this season in red and in cream colourways, but sadly sold out in navy.  (This year’s navy version is here.)

With big thanks to Danielle from FashionistaBarbie for taking my pics