Fashion

The best summer dresses to buy right now

Fashion is at its best when it works for you – so here are the best summer frocks everyone can wear

Dominique McMullan
Sat Jun 24 2017 - 06:00

How many articles have you read telling you what clothes you should wear, based on your body type?

We all know the “rules”; if you’re short, wear something that elongates you; if you’re round, wear something that nips in your waist; if you’re petite, try ruffles; if you’re busty, try a wrap dress. Never, ever wear horizontal stripes, highlight your “good area” and always hide the “bad”. Well do you know what? That’s quite enough of that.

As much as magazines might try to impart their wisdom, I’ll let you in on a secret: it’s a load of crap.

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to getting dressed. That’s why something that looks perfect on the hanger often looks like an unflattering bag once on your body, and vice versa.

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Every garment, and more importantly everybody, is totally different. One petite girl’s perfect dress is another’s nightmare.

So what should we wear? Well, while some women squeeze into four pairs of Spanx to try to create a flat stomach when donning a tight dress, others have been rebelling.

Pride

A social media trend has emerged of women sharing images wearing clothes that show off their tummy lines with pride. The instagrammer and body positive activist @_selfloveclub_ shared a post of herself in a fitted skirt that read: “Cheers to a summer of rocking clothing that give you a visible tummy outline. . . Cheers to embracing what we’ve been told not to wear because it doesn’t ‘flatter our body type.’”

The tummy line in question is far from large, but the message rings clear: bodies with a bit of #squish are normal, and shouldn’t be hidden. Wear what makes you feel fabulous. No outfit looks better than an outfit worn with confidence.

Here are a few great dresses, all available right now, for fairly reasonable prices (depending on your budget, obviously) and for all body types.

If we simply had to follow a set of rules to look wonderful then it would get a bit boring. And what about tall people who want to wear stripes? Or curvy girls who like culottes? Forget it.

Whether you’re tall, short, squishy or hard, these dresses can be worn on holidays, for weddings, for baby showers, at barbecues and everything else in between. There’s only one question you really need to ask yourself: will it make you feel incredible? If the answer is yes, then girl, you buy that dress.