Day dress … what gives?

The ubiquitous day dress might very well be the perfect piece for this time of year. We are approaching the next May Bank Holiday and Memorial Day, yet the sun can’t quite decide whether to peek out and formally announce the onset of summer, leaving us still wondering whether to get our warm weather garb out of the back of the closet.

Step forward the day dress as an example of how to work a summer vibe, whilst still maintaining enough ‘sensible’ coverage to lend a ladylike boost to your look. The great thing about a day dress is that you can pull it kicking and screaming out of it’s ‘ordinary’ box by hurling a few on-trend items on with it.

A summer day dress has me envisioning Audrey Hepburn zipping around Rome on the back of Gregory Peck’s scooter in Roman Holiday, oozing perky girl-next-door glam. Which of course we will all be oozing as soon as we don said day dress…

Day dress … how to wear it.

So how do you turn a simple day dress into a hot ticket look for the season?

A sharp leather biker jacket adds a touch of street cred to your look, as do ankle cuff sandals and a cross-body bag. I fell for this People Tree floral print day dress, because it not only comes in this cute yellow hue, but it also boasts pockets – which for me is a must on the dress front. There’s something infinitely practical about skirts and dresses with pockets.

The cool cropped leather jacket is from Warehouse. The white cardi from J.Crew and the heels from Karen Millen. I added a tad more colour with this Rose & Rose cotton voile scarf and then went back to basic white accessories with the Mango cross-body bag, Kenneth Jay Lane cuff and Sheriff & Cherry sunnies.