A letter from a reader

At 62, I had given up on finding anything floaty and pretty that was actually made for a fuller figure.

I almost did not write this down, because it is only a dress and I am not the sort of woman who gets excited about clothes any more. But three different people stopped to ask me about it at a summer wedding on Saturday, and when that happens at 62 you start to think there might be something in it.

The truth is, I am a fuller figure, and I had made my peace with the fact that the lovely things were simply not made for me. The floaty, colourful dresses in the shop windows only came in small sizes, and anything in my size was either a shapeless tent or clung to every part I would rather it did not. And somewhere along the way I had gone shy about the tops of my arms, so I kept them covered no matter how warm it got. Summer occasions had become something to get through, not to look forward to.

I had decided that floaty, colourful, and elegant were simply not made in my size.

So I stopped looking, and told myself the back of the photograph was where I belonged.

Then I saw it on a friend

A friend of mine, who is built much like me, wore one to a lunch and looked so light and lovely that I could not stop looking. It is from Nottingham Boutique, a little boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years, and they had their summer sale on. Mine is the Vanessa, a floaty chiffon dress in the brightest colours, made especially for a fuller figure. I ordered it that same evening before I could talk myself out of it.

What happened at the wedding

I wore it to the wedding not quite believing I could carry off something so bright. Instead, three separate women came over to ask me where it was from. Three. My friend Sue said I looked wonderful, and happy, and she was right, because for once I was not tugging at anything or edging my way to the back of the photographs.

That was the moment it clicked for me. I had spent years believing the lovely things were not for a woman my size, and here was one that quietly proved me wrong.

Three things I have learned since

One. Chiffon floats, it does not cling. The airy chiffon drifts right over the middle and the hips instead of gripping them, so I am not holding anything in. That is the whole secret of it, and it is a lovely feeling.

Two. The little cape is a gift. There is a soft chiffon cape over the shoulders that covers the tops of my arms, so I feel elegant and at ease, and I never once reached for a cardigan to hide behind.

Three. Light, cool, and full of colour. It is so airy I forgot I had it on in the heat, and the bright print did more for my mood than I would ever have admitted. People looked at the colour, not at my size.

About the price

I will be honest, when I saw how little it was I was a bit suspicious. A chiffon dress that drapes and flatters like this usually costs a great deal more.

The Vanessa is £27.95. It was £56.00.

There was no catch. It arrived quickly, it is light and easy to wear, and it looked exactly like the picture, which we all know is not always the way.

I did go and read the reviews before I ordered a second one to keep for best. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some sites, which if I am honest made me trust it more. One woman had written, "First time in years I have felt pretty at a wedding instead of the largest one there." That was the one that decided it for me.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you and I were sat in the garden and you asked me, this is what I would say.

If you have spent the last few summers reaching for the same dark trousers and the same loose top, not because you like them but because nothing in the shops ever felt like it was made for a body like yours, then it is worth ten minutes of your evening to go and have a look.

Not because a dress will change your life. It will not. But there is something in getting dressed on a warm morning and recognising yourself, and feeling pretty instead of hidden, that I had quietly given up on, and I would rather you did not give up on it too.

Two practical things. The sale is on at the moment, and the sizes go quicker than you would think, which I found out because the one I wanted had sold out by the time I went back to order a second to keep for best. And once the summer stock has sold through, that is it until next year.

I have not stood at the back of a photograph since.

Caroline