Six Things My Old Summer Dresses Got Wrong

A note from a reader about the small New Zealand boutique dress she wore to a sixtieth in Hamilton, and the six things it does that twenty summers of black did not.

My cousin Lynette turned sixty in October and her girls put on a high tea for her in Hamilton, the proper kind, tiered stands and a room full of women who have known each other since school.

I am 64. I stood in front of my wardrobe the night before and counted. Eleven summer dresses. Nine of them black, one navy, one a grey that had been black once. I had been dressing for twenty summers as if I were about to disappear, and I had got quite good at it.

Maureen from my walking group had turned up a week earlier in an orange dress from a small New Zealand boutique called The Mount Coastal Boutique, and two of us stopped mid sentence. It is called the Kwani. I ordered the orange that night and wore it to Hamilton, and sitting at that table I started writing a list on the back of the menu. Six things my old dresses got wrong. Here it is.

1. They were all the same colour

The colour is the whole point. The orange is a warm burnt orange, the colour of the sky over the harbour at about half past eight in January, and it goes with grey hair better than any black I have ever owned. At Lynette's table I was the only one not in navy or black, and I was the one people kept talking to. There is a green, a beige and a black as well, and I will get to the black, but buy the orange first.

"I love colour and even at 80 y.o. I am not afraid to wear bright colours." — Heather

2. They had no pockets, or pretend ones

Two deep side pockets, real ones. My phone stands upright in one and the keys and a lip balm sit in the other, and they have soft gathers at the seam so nothing shows from the outside. I walked round the Saturday market at the Historic Village with both hands free and no bag on my shoulder for the first time in years. That alone would have sold me.

"Absolutely delighted with my order so a huge thank you" — Sue

3. They stuck to me by eleven

It is real 100% cotton, not a cotton look. Tauranga goes muggy in a way that nobody warns you about, and a dress that breathes is the difference between enjoying an afternoon and counting the minutes until the car. The Kwani stays cool, and it washes in the machine and is dry on the line by morning, which matters when you only brought one dress to Hamilton.

"Your dresses look so comfortable" — Alison

4. They held on to my middle

The cut falls from the chest and skims. It is a soft cocoon shape, a little fuller through the body and curving back in above the knee, so there is air where I have always wanted air and the eye never settles on any one part of me. I turned side on to the mirror the way I always brace myself to do, and there was nothing to brace for.

"I am happy with the dress" — Margaret

5. They were sleeveless, so I carried a cardigan

The short sleeve stops where the top of the arm is widest and covers it. That is all I have ever asked of a sleeve. A round neck that sits a little higher than most, no slip needed, nothing to adjust in a photo. I did not take a cardigan to Hamilton. I did not even think about it until I was home.

"The top fits very well." — Sue

6. They cost more and did less

It is $96.95 from $193.95 while the sale is on, sizes S to 5XL, every size the same price. Free NZ Post delivery, usually seven to ten working days, thirty days to change your mind, and when I emailed a question about the length a real person called Susan answered the same day. The length, since you will ask, sits just below my knee and I am five foot four.

"received lovely dress in time, thanks for all your personal help" — Jani

The orange one, the morning after Hamilton. A flat white, both hands free, and nothing stuck to my back.

The old dress against the Kwani

The old dress	The Kwani
Black, navy, or a grey that used to be black	Burnt orange, green, beige, and a proper black
Pockets stitched shut, or none	Two deep side pockets, phone and keys
Stuck to my back by eleven	100% cotton, breathes, dries on the line by morning
Held on to the middle	Falls from the chest and skims
Sleeveless, cardigan in the bag	Short sleeve covers the top of the arm
$169 and only one of me fitted it	$96.95, S to 5XL, every size the same price

→ Read about the Kwani

Now, about the price

I want to talk about the price, because it was the thing that almost stopped me. A real cotton dress with real pockets for $96.95 is, frankly, suspicious. So I sat at the kitchen bench and wrote down what I had paid, or seen, for a summer dress like this in the last couple of years.

• Trelise Cooper cotton dress, $169
• Ricochet, $119
• The Mount Coastal Boutique Kwani, $96.95

And underneath, in slightly larger letters, the only thing I could think to write. …how??

What I'd tell you if we were friends

If we were on my back deck with a cuppa and you asked me whether you should order one, this is what I would say.

I would tell you to buy the orange first, even if every instinct says black. Especially if every instinct says black. The black is lovely and I own it now too, but the orange is the one that changed how a room talked to me, and it is the one Anna photographed me in without me stepping out of the frame.

I would tell you it runs true to size and that the pockets are deep enough that you will stop carrying a bag to the market. I would tell you it washes and dries by morning. And I would tell you that if you have, for longer than you would like to admit, been dressing to disappear, this is the easiest way back that I have found.

I wrote to the boutique to say so, and they asked if they could put the letter up for other women to read. I said yes.

— Wendy