How to dress like a grown-up: Make your summery floral dresses look chic this autumn

  • This summer floral patterns and midi lengths were all the rage 
  • Gone are the associations to Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks 
  • Pair your floral dress with a double breasted blazer and boots  

September is my fashion black spot, the month where I have to rein myself back from galloping out to buy something - anything - new, just because it’s supposedly the start of a ‘new’ season.

It’s a deeply entrenched back-to-school feeling - borne of the absolute necessity, aged 13, of buying a new pencil case to display at the beginning of each term - and has led me to all kinds of bonkers early season mistakes.

In my experience, sane choices about autumn/winter purchases can only be made when sandals and sun are definitively out of the picture and you actually remember what being cold feels like.

This year has seen the confluence of two trends that have played into the heart of British women’s traditional taste - flower patterns and midi lengths - in dresses like the one Cate Blanchett is rocking (pictured) 

This year has seen the confluence of two trends that have played into the heart of British women’s traditional taste - flower patterns and midi lengths - in dresses like the one Cate Blanchett is rocking (pictured) 

Among the ranks of my September follies: the red trouser suit (once home, pure Hi-de-Hi!); the ‘ironic’ pussybow blouse (utterly Mrs T in the cold light of day). Both remain unworn and for ever reproaching me.

So, this year, I am restraining myself. Rather than jumping ahead to meet a notional oncoming winter, that windowpane-check tweed I’ve got my eye on can wait for its time and place, which might well be never and nowhere.

Now is the time for a sane woman to slow down and work out how to restyle what she’s loved wearing this summer, so it lasts a few more weeks. And the first item on your list should be the summer floral dress.

This year has seen the confluence of two trends that have played into the heart of British women’s traditional taste - flower patterns and midi lengths.

Both are fashion throwbacks I never thought I’d get into again, but somehow, the tea dress has emerged triumphant from its long years in exile as the epitome of frumpery.

This season's floral dresses have no formerly dodgy teenage associations with Kate Bush (pictured) or Stevie Nicks

This season's floral dresses have no formerly dodgy teenage associations with Kate Bush (pictured) or Stevie Nicks

All the formerly dodgy teenage associations that dress had with Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks have been expunged at last. (I haven’t even heard my husband murmur the annoying words ‘Hinge and Bracket’ at me, after the comedy duo.)

Floral frocks are cool again, and, glory be, there’s plenty of life in them yet, even as the days grow shorter.

If you’re late to this trend, don’t fret - the High Street is still awash with choice. Zara has the best. Its floral print dress (£49.99, zara.com) is feminine and floaty, and falls at a flattering midi length.

TEA DRESSES: THE AUTUMN RULES

Layer floral dresses over neutral-coloured knits and tights.

Beware of pairing flat shoes with midi dresses, as they can shorten legs.

Completely avoid empire-line floral dresses.

Avoid pairing ill-fitted, boxy jackets over your dress. You’ll look frumpy.

Pile on the trinkets. Floral dresses love gold accessories.

If you don’t mind spending a lot more, Essentiel Antwerp has a really beautiful dress with sheer sleeves (£210, essentiel-antwerp.com).

So, how to reinvent the dress? Once the time comes to abandon flat summer sandals, high-heeled boots will do the trick. Anything with a small platform - the sort you might have lurking around from a few years ago - will elevate a long dress or skirt to the newly approved proportions.

Nothing in your wardrobe? Try Office’s block heel boots (£84, office.co.uk).

I’ve taken inspiration from the catwalks of Preen by Thornton Bregazzi on that one. 

Their winter collection referenced poet Edith Sitwell and Seventies hippy girls in a way that showed how to layer floaty dresses in a modern way: boots underneath and a jacket on top.

What jacket, though? From my experiments, a hip-length blazer is a good answer, creating a narrowed torso from which the skirt can whoosh out elegantly in motion.

Whistles do a good double-breasted one, which was £175, and is now £95 (whistles.com).

Variations on biker jackets - again, the sort of fashion staples that have been around for ages - also work.

Mango have a simple leather biker jacket that would work (£119.99, mango.com).

Fill in the neckline with a swathed scarf when the mornings turn chilly and there you go, done and dusted for a versatile look that will last for at least the next couple of months.

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