Advertisement / A note from Margaret
At 62, I was tired of choosing between summer dresses that cling and dresses that swallow me whole
I don't usually write things like this. But I've had the same conversation with so many friends lately that it seemed easier to put it down properly.
Last month I spent a whole Saturday arvo at the shops in Miranda, trying on dresses for my niece's wedding at a winery up in the Hunter in November. Under those changing room lights, the fitted ones clung to every part of me I'd rather they didn't. The loose ones hung off me like a tent. I came home with nothing, made a cup of tea and sulked.
It's the same every Sydney summer. The shops give us two kinds of dress. There are the fitted ones, which look lovely if you're built like a coat hanger. And there are the big, floaty ones that make you look like you've given up.
Cling or tent. At our age, most of us pick the tent and tell ourselves nobody's looking.
I didn't want to be squeezed into my clothes. And I didn't want to disappear inside them either.
Then I sat next to her at a garden party
A couple of weeks later I was at a friend's 60th in her backyard in Caringbah, on one of those stinking hot September days we've been having, and the woman beside me was wearing the most flattering dress. A soft V-neck midi, gently gathered at the waist, with a skirt that floated when she walked. She looked cool and comfortable and elegant all at once, which I'd almost stopped believing was possible in 31 degrees and that Sydney humidity.
By dessert I couldn't help myself and asked where it was from. She laughed and said everyone asks.
It was the Linnea from Mabel Sydney, an online shop. What makes it work is simple: the waist is softly gathered, so it gives you shape without squeezing, and the skirt falls loose from there, so nothing clings. I ordered mine in sky blue that evening, before I could talk myself out of it.
The Linnea: soft gathers at the waist, and a skirt that falls loose from there.
See the LinneaWhat my son said at lunch
The first proper outing was Sunday lunch at my son's place in the Shire. My daughter-in-law opened the door, looked me up and down and said, "Is that new? It's lovely on you." I didn't tell her I'd spent the last twenty years not knowing what was lovely on me. Before the prawns were on the table, her mother had asked for the name of the shop.
It's hardly been off since. A walk along the Esplanade at Cronulla first thing, coffee with the girls at Gunnamatta Bay on a Wednesday, and the ferry over to Bundeena for fish and chips on a Friday. It looks right in all three places, and I've stopped tugging at my dress every time I stand up.
Available in white, beige, sky blue and pink.
Three things worth knowing
About the price
I'll be honest, it's the first thing people ask. The Linnea is $69.95 in the current sale, half its usual $139.90, and it's cheaper again if you buy more than one: 10% off two, and up to 25% off five or more, taken off automatically at checkout.
After being burned once by one of those "closing down, 80% off" shops on Facebook, I read the fine print before I ordered, and I liked that it was upfront. Delivery is free and tracked, and takes 7 to 14 business days, which is longer than the shops in Miranda, but at least they tell you. You've got 30 days to send it back if it's unworn with the tags on. If it arrives faulty or wrong, they fix it at no cost; if it's just change of mind, you pay the postage back. That kind of honesty mattered to me more than the price.
What I'd tell you if we were friends
If we were sitting out on my back deck with a pot of tea and you asked me, this is what I'd say.
Think about the last time you came out of a changing room empty-handed. If it was because everything either clung or swamped you, it's worth ten minutes of your evening to have a look. Not because a dress will change your life. It won't. But feeling comfortable and looking put-together at the same time is something I'd quietly given up on, and I'd rather you didn't give up on it too.
The tent dresses have gone to the op shop. I haven't missed a single one.
Margaret
Linnea
- Soft gathered waist and V-neck
- Skims instead of clings, with room to move
- Lightweight fabric with a soft drape, machine washable
- White, beige, sky blue and pink, sizes S to 3XL
- Free tracked delivery across Australia, 7 to 14 business days
- 30-day returns on unworn items with tags