Dress, Warehouse; shoes, Moschino.
From pretty prom styles to everyday shirt dresses, here’s my guide to the key styles.
Dress, Balenciaga. Photograph © Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images.
I think dresses are more fashionable now than they have ever been; and for a girly girl like me, this is great news, as I absolutely love wearing dresses.
For anyone who thinks that dresses are not their thing, now, with so many looks to choose from, you can be sure to find one that will make you look and feel gorgeous.
I find dresses so easy to wear; a one-stop route to looking good – I just pull one on, add a pair of earrings or a belt, and I’m ready to go. However, some people see dresses as a bit of a frumpy choice, or a fashion ‘no-no’.
Dress, Boohoo.com.
Dresses are a one-stop route to looking good. I just pull one on and I’m ready to go.
The way to prevent a fuddy-duddy look, though, is to just go for a style that doesn’t look too much like something your nan might wear. (But having said that, my nan always looks great.) No, what I mean is, be careful not to go for something that might make you look old before your time. Again, the best trick of all is picking clothes to suit your body shape. Once you’ve got that sorted, there’ll be no stopping your girly side taking over.
The thing I love most about wearing dresses is the fact that they always look so pretty and feminine; and that is exactly how I feel when I wear one. All the big designers create loads of lovely new dresses for their summer and winter collections these days and there’s always something for everyone and every occasion – from draped, Grecian styles to crisp, cotton shifts and show-stopping diva numbers.
So this chapter is about revealing some of the best dress looks of the moment – from day dresses to party dresses, including those classic shapes to suit any style. Here I’m going to help you discover which dresses might be best for you; some looks you might want to try, and some great little styling tips that I’ve picked up along the way.
Five classic dress styles
Whether you like feeling girly as can be or prefer to keep things nice and simple, there’s a dress to suit your shape. Here are five of my favourite styles:
THE PROM
Perfect for real girly girls
All the glossies talk about how fashion has become ultra-feminine over the past few years, and looking at the prom styles by the likes of Chanel, Luella and Beyond Retro, I can see what they mean. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Sex and the City’s Carrie pulls off the look so well. I just love when Carrie steps out of the door of her New York apartment in a big-skirted vintage dress, with her coat or jacket hanging casually over her shoulders. There’s a real edginess to this look.
Getting the fit right
Prom dresses are all about the waist, so really, as long as the middle part of your dress is clasped in with a big belt or structured band, it’s a look that will suit most figures. The reason that prom dresses are so girly is that the shape focuses on all the feminine parts of our bodies: the waist, neck, shoulders and lower legs. It’s a particularly good look for curvy shapes. If you are not too confident about your upper arms, do what I do and use a scarf as a pretty wrap across your shoulders.
Fitting the prom dress into your style
The prom dress look can be a little over the top, so if you don’t want to go too far with it, I’d choose a fullish skirt that doesn’t have any bouncy layers of netting, and wear a little cardi on top. You can create a more nipped-in look at the waist with a big, wide belt, and definitely wear heels – well, I always do – as you need the extra lift to balance out the volume of the skirt. If you keep your legs bare (with a hint of colour), it looks more elegant, but matt tights will do for winter. If you want to accessorize, I’d pick something that’s not too fussy, as the dress is a statement in itself. Go for classic jewellery: drop earrings will make your neck look longer, especially if you don’t wear a necklace. And ask your nan if you can have a good rummage through her jewellery box.
Dress, Beyond Retro.
Prom dresses are so girly because they are such a feminine shape
THE SHIFT
Perfect for keeping it simple
I find the straight-up-and-down style of shift dresses really easy to wear, and there are so many variations around that you can create lots of different looks. Lindsay Lohan looks brilliant in those Sixties-style mini-shifts, and I bought a fantastic patterned one by Milly, which I got from Cricket (but it’s also stocked on Net-a-porter.com). I paired it with flat thong sandals and big sunglasses and wore it when we were filming Coleen’s Real Women in Ibiza. It was a great summer look for me. Longer, fresh cotton styles worn with a big, tan-coloured, leather belt are also a look that I like, while silky shifts are great for evening. One of the nicest ones I saw was at Warehouse: it was cream with a lovely blue and red Paisley pattern on it. It must have been popular with everyone else, too, as I had to go online to get it! I also think that French Connection are really good for shift dresses.
A white cotton shift looks lovely and fresh in summer. Dress it up at night with a pair of glamorous jewel-coloured sandals
Getting the fit right
Shifts are great for those people whose figures might be slightly thicker round the middle and for anyone who has slim hips and legs. Wearing a big belt around the hips will add style – and shape – to your body, and stop your shift dress looking like a coal sack (a look I’m quite sure you will not be trying to achieve!). Fuller figures might want to try whipping out that big belt to pull the shift in at the waist – again, this gives definition and shape – while those with petite figures might choose a style that is shorter in length and that skims the body.
Dress, Temperley London; shoes, Jimmy Choo.
Fitting the shift into your style
Mini-shifts look fantastic with bare, tanned legs, and while flat shoes are generally the best bet when wearing mini styles, wedges look great with them, too. Opaque black tights and platform shoes can look quite funky if you want to wear mini-shifts in winter. I’d also say that printed styles speak for themselves and probably don’t need any extras. My favourite way to wear mini-shifts is in plain cream or white, which I accessorize with loads of gold necklaces and nothing else. You can also wear this kind of dress at night and do the same thing. If it’s in more of a party style, though, with lots of detail at the neck or something, I wouldn’t overload it because, really, the detail’s in the dress. I had a beautiful cream and black shift with sequined flowers around the top half of the dress – it just looked so lovely as it was. My brother’s girlfriend got a similar one from ASOS.com. Both showed me exactly why dresses are a one-stop style fix.
Photograph © Dave M. Benett/Getty Images.
Wearing platforms with a shift gives it a more on-trend look.