Dress me!

What if you only had enough money to buy one item of clothing and you really needed it to work hard for you? My view on this is always buy a dress. Lots of you will shout but I'm not a dress person. This is most unfortunate. Go out and embrace the dress. With a dress you can layer, under or over. You can pretend it is a skirt by putting a top over it. It works well with tights, a jacket and dare I say a cardigan (note not the use of the phrase 'power cardigan')

Quite frankly a dress is not to be sniffed at. On Sunday night I saw my dream dress on Claudia Winkleman. It was black, hurrah, and it was by Isabel Marant, not so hurrah 'cos of price. Oh well. But if I were to recommend a dress in the reasonable priced mid range which is high end High Street - sorry but low and middle end won't do if you want to LOVE it and buy it to last a few seasons - then I would say Whistles would be just the ticket. Jane Shepherson the CEO of Whistles has finally got it right methinks. I have struggled with Whistles, wanting to love it but always hesitating over the offering. However it is really coming along quite nicely and offers women options for their wardrobe that exude grown upness. I'm still failing on that point but am going to try harder, let's call it work in progress.

My selection is based on all of the above and if I had a few spare pennies I would buy it. The colour is flattering to all, the lace is seductive not slutty and you can wear it day or night.

Whistles Avril Lace dress in burgundy £175