Summer and fashion! Nothing epitomizes summer more than a vintage-style floral tea dress. Easy to wear, versatile and flattering, this feminine dress is a hot summer look. Earl Grey, anyone?
With the onset of summer, everywhere you look there are tea dresses flooding the rails of the high-street shops. This most feminine of garments is elegant enough to take you from work to wedding, with just a change of shoes.
A tea dress is safe! Flowery and feminine, demure and chic! There is hardly any other dress which, “can honestly be said to suit (nearly) all women, (nearly) all the time,” says Hilary Alexander in the Telegraph’s article “Anyone for Tea Dress?”
Whether you are a waif-like teen or a generously-proportioned 40-something, the chances are you’ll find a tea dress that is both practical and flattering for your figure. Unleash the little girl in you, or high-society lady, taking afternoon tea on the lawn. Enter cucumber sandwiches and a pot of Earl Grey!
What is a Tea Dress?
It’s a feminine, girly and floaty dress that would look at home for high tea at the Ritz Hotel, or at a garden party. The dress is so called due to its aptness for being worn to afternoon tea or ladies’ lunches. Often brightly colored, it is a cute and feminine dress that can be worn to brunch, picnic, high-tea, a summer fete or bridal shower. Its elegance lies in the vintage styling and delicate prints.
The tea dress has weathered almost every runway trend. Immune to fashion, it has filtered down through the years as one of those oddities which has no specific meaning. The traditional floral tea dress is chiffonny and cinched at the waist. It can be worn with a slip and, in more traditional circles, a corsage. Collars can vary, from scoop necks to V-neck, Peter Pan to sweetheart. This year we see length variations, in addition to the classic cut, ending at the calf-muscle. Tea dresses 2008-style mean shorter-lengths and accentuated waists! Continue reading
