Closet-worthy investment pieces stand apart from the sea of same-old styles thanks to one key factor: their versatility. As opposed to other women’s dresses, shirt dresses have this by the bucket load. Whether the style’s speaking to day and night dressing, work and weekend wear, or trans-seasonal outfitting, it acts as the sartorial answer to the days you stand in front of a closet full of clothes and feel you have nothing to wear. While it might have been an overlooked staple previously, we’re celebrating the style now, not least because it guarantees comfort but also grants any look a polished finish thanks to its origins in traditional tailoring.
Discover exactly why we’re championing them as the must-have investment piece both now and forever.
They Have AM-PM Status
A prerequisite for any piece garnering closet-hero status is whether it ticks both the AM and PM boxes; after all, one that solely has a place in event ensembles or athleisure looks only satisfies a portion of a closet's sartorial needs.
Cementing itself in both your day and eveningwear collections, a simple shirt dress - whether you opt for a printed or pattern-free style - is easily elevated by heels and a red lip when evening falls. During the day, it can be dressed down with sneakers when it’s not complementing boots to achieve a day-to-night look that needs little to no changes.
Keeping pace with busy schedules while shoring up your capsule wardrobe, our Cotton Sateen Maxi Shirt Dress is woven with a lustrous finish that speaks to evening settings. Furthermore, the buttoned neckline and adjustable design lend the luxury shirt dress to more casual styling penchants during the day in elegantly nonchalant fashion.
They Are Work & Weekend Appropriate
There’s nothing worse - sartorially speaking - than arriving at a post-work dinner or catch-up with friends looking like a version of yourself you usually reserve for the office. Blouses tucked into pencil skirts have their place in workdrobes, but we’re celebrating the office-appropriate shirt dress outfits that embrace and embolden every side of your personality to guarantee you never feel as though you’re making compromises for the sake of a business dress code.
Elevate a longline shirt dress in a neutral tone or classic white shade with a neat color-pop blazer and heels when a day at your desk beckons. Thanks to a shirt dress’s tailored details and unstuffy silhouette, it helps you to perfect a put-together look that makes a statement when you arrive at the office in the morning and those aforementioned reservations when 6pm rolls around - and not because it looks as though you’re ready to run through the company numbers this quarter, unlike other work-appropriate outfits.
When those precious Saturdays and Sundays arrive, this comfortable style ensures that even if you’ve just thrown on a shirt dress with sneakers to quickly run errands, it perfects a considered and carefully put-together look without making you lay the groundwork ahead of time - consider it your cheat sheet to effortlessly elevated dressing.
Crafted from super-soft cotton shirting, our Casual Cotton Maxi Shirt Dress + Belt speaks to weekends defined by a back-to-back schedule when temperatures start to rise thanks to its breathable fabric and classic print. Introduce the removable belt into the mix for a pulled-together finish.
They Have Forever Appeal
While they existed before, shirt dresses didn’t enter the zeitgeist of the masses until the 1930s and their popularity has rarely waned since. While the style has taken on many guises through the centuries - for an example, look to the 80s’ iterations topped with statement shoulders - two key details have remained the same: a neat collar and a button-up front.
Always following the beat of its own (metaphorical) drum, these shirt dresses don’t pander to flyby trends. A classically cut one crafted from a soft yarn in a versatile colorway has a timeless quality that acts as the backbone to a plethora of penchants. Embellish them with decorative brooches to add drama akin to that spied on SS22 fashion-week runways or team them with collegiate-inspired pieces and low-top sneakers as a nod to the sports-luxe trend.
In a denim-look cotton shirting and stitched with feminine gathered details at the shoulders, our Cotton Chambray Midi Shirt Dress + Belt marries a short-sleeved silhouette with an already-timeless shade resulting in a piece that is unlikely to stray far from your weekly rotation, whether it’s complemented by trainers or heeled boots. In other words, this is a piece that has trans-seasonal staying power and never dates.
They Have Year-Round Versatility
Even though they’re only truly championed a few months of the year, we’re never going to dispute the place a pair of shorts has in your summer closet or the importance of an insulating duvet coat in your winter one. What we will do, however, is rave about the versatility of the shirt dress. Unlike those aforementioned pieces, shirt dresses have cemented their spot in your year-round closet - possibly in more than one iteration.
When temperatures start to rise, a summer shirt dress in a breathable, crease-free yarn that is easy to pack and style without the use of an iron is your sartorial answer to tackling rising temperatures. And it perfectly bridges the closet gap between days at the beach and ones exploring cobbled streets. A shorter silhouette lends itself to cover-up status styled with swimwear poolside and can be translated to city-ready looks with sandals, a belt and a lightweight jacket.
Crafted from breathable, pure-cotton cheesecloth that has a natural texture, our belted midi and maxi shirt dresses keep you cool in the heat and are doused in your pick of bold and pared-back shades to satisfy every color craving.
When the sun starts to make fewer appearances and the nights draw in, turn to tights and cozy round-neck knits to layer over your pick of shirt dresses, leaving the collar to peek out over the top. Pull your look together with a longline coat or oversized blazer to accommodate cold-weather knits. Round off your ensemble with tall leather ankle boots to combat the chill and keep your footing steady on slippery pavements.
They Complement Every Penchant
Given the style’s shapeshifting habit and affinity with any fabric - much like its menswear beginnings - its position in any and every closet is almost indisputable, whether it’s one that has a penchant for effortlessly put-together ensembles or leans towards more casual aesthetics. In short, a shirt dress appeals to bold color and print magpies as well as those sartorial purists among us.
From a version of a shirt dress that takes cues from minimalism to ones that celebrate bold patterning and prints, they’re as all-encompassing as traditional shirting with the same versatility through the seasons. Finding that maximalist-minimalist balance, our Silk Color Block Feminine Dress + Belt brings together a timeless long-sleeved silhouette detailed with pressed pleats running down the front and a statement, vibrant green shade.
While the buttoned front works to switch the aesthetic between a sophisticated and more slouchy one, it also accommodates different bust sizes and figures. Whatever your frame, add a belt to the simple, button-up design to create an hourglass silhouette by emphasizing the smallest part of your body for a universally flattering finish.
In a classic print and sunshine hue, our Frill Sleeve Striped Midi Shirt Dress + Belt can be styled with tailoring for a polished look as well as faded denim or leather jackets for a grungier approach signed off with anything from pointed-toe heels and polished brogues to chunky ankle boots and trainers to chime with your tastes.