The Anita Dress by Whispering Ivy

I spotted this dress when I was at London Edge back in February on the Whispering Ivy stall as part of their upcoming summer season.  I was lucky enough to see the first sample before it was released to the public and this dress particularly stood out to me because of the neckline.  I love a sweetheart neckline and this has a slightly altered version of that style that is higher and more square.  It’s a style that is often seen on genuine vintage but rarely found these days even in reproduction vintage clothing, so I was really excited when I saw this.

Now normally I am not a fan of overly floral dresses, a few years ago I wouldn’t have been seen in one, but in the summer they are practically an essential.  I really like the floral design on this dress because of the colours and I think the flowers actually look really exotic. I don’t know anything about flowers, but I want to say they look Hawaiian?  I could be totally wrong.

The material is medium weight and really soft, comfortable and zipless. It fastens by simply adjusting with the bow so you can have your waist as defined as you like.  One thing I will say is that in these photos I tied the bow too tight and it ended up being slightly unflattering on me as the waist has a longer line that is more fitted down to the hips.  I have since worn it a bit looser and it has been much more flattering to my figure.

One thing to be cautious of with this dress is the sizing.  I initially ordered a medium which should be a 12, as currently with my weight gain I am around a 12-14.  However at this size the dress drowned me; it wasn’t just a bit big – it was massive (and no bow tightening could fix that)!  Luckily I reordered in a small and it’s a pretty good fit.  It was still a bit large when I tried it on, but the bow fixed that no problem.  I would definitely check the size chart before ordering as it seems that a lot of their dresses have different sizings.

I have attempted to accessorise this dress, but I am not sure that I am totally happy with it (I could do with a stylist)!  I think I ended up looking a bit too much like I an old lady going to a horse race or something!  I got the vintage hat from eBay a while ago and I have been struggling to find an outfit to wear it with.  All these accessories I have had for a while and am trying to find a new way of displaying them in my room so they don’t get forgotten about in the bottom of a jewellery box!

How would you wear this dress?