The turqoise dress that kept her cool while the rest of us wilted
At 62, I found a summer dress that is cool, comfortable and does not cling
Six things the Vaya gets right that summer dresses get wrong, from a woman who is not a fashion writer.
Caroline Richards · Customer · Nottinghamshire · 5 min read
Let me be plain about who is talking. I am Caroline, I am 62, I live in Nottinghamshire, and every summer I have the same fight with my wardrobe the moment the weather turns properly warm. So this is not a review. It is a woman who used to dread hot days in a dress, telling you what changed her mind.
The one I am writing about is called the Vaya, from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. I first saw it on a friend at a garden lunch on the hottest day of the year, cool as anything while the rest of us wilted, and when the boutique later asked if they could put my letter up for others to read, I said yes, on the condition I could be completely honest in it.
A dress with that much colour on it, at my age, on a day I could have fried an egg on the patio. I know. I thought I would either boil or look like a deckchair. Then I saw how easy she was in it, cool and cheerful at once. Read on.
Here is what a lifetime of hot summers taught me. Summer dresses come in two piles. The clingy pile, the fitted ones that stick to you the moment you warm up and show every last thing you would rather they did not. And the tent pile, the big shapeless kaftans that are cool enough but make you look like you have thrown in the towel. I had decided you could be cool or you could look nice, but not both.
Cling and boil, or hide in a tent. Those were my two options every July, and neither of them was any fun.
The Vaya is the first summer dress I have owned that is neither, and having practically lived in it through the heat, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning it arrived. All that colour, and I nearly lost my nerve, then I tried it on.
IT SWINGS FROM THE WAIST, SO IT SKIMS EVERYTHING
It is gathered at the waist and then falls away in a soft swing, so it grazes over the middle and the hips rather than clinging to them. There is a proper shape to it, a waist, but nothing grips. You can eat your lunch, sit in the sun and walk to the car, and it simply moves with you.
It swings from the waist and skims everything below.
It skims straight over the middle and swishes when I walk. I feel dressed, not squeezed into it.
Christine B., West BridgfordIT IS GENUINELY COOL ON A HOT DAY
The fabric is light and airy, the sort that lets a bit of a breeze through, so on a hot afternoon your skin can breathe rather than sticking to everything. I wore it through the July heat and did not once have to peel it off the backs of my legs, which for me is a small miracle.
So light and cool. I wore it on the hottest day of the year and stayed comfortable all afternoon.
Margaret E., SouthwellA PROPER BIT OF COLOUR THAT STILL FLATTERS
It is a soft watercolour floral, turquoise and blue with coral, pink and yellow blurred through it like a painting rather than hard printed blocks. So it is a proper hit of happy colour, but because the print is soft and blurred it is kind and forgiving rather than shouting. The V-neck collar opens it up and lengthens the neck. It does all the decorating, so I add nothing but a pair of earrings.
A watercolour floral. Colour, but soft and flattering with it.
So much colour and yet so flattering. The soft print hides a multitude and lifts my whole mood.
Dorothy S., BeestonIT COVERS WHAT YOU WANT COVERED
The little sleeves cover the very tops of the arms, the midi length keeps my knees to myself, and the V is soft rather than plunging. I can lift my arms, bend to the garden and sit down at a table without once finding myself tugging at it. Covered where I want to be, cool where I need to be.
Covers the arms and the knees without being hot or dowdy. Exactly right for our age.
Pauline H., ArnoldIT WASHES AND WEARS LIKE A T-SHIRT
It goes straight in the machine and comes out fine, no hand-washing and no dry cleaner, and it needs barely an iron if you hang it out. On a run of hot days when you want to reach for the same easy thing again and again, that has mattered more than I expected.
Straight in the wash and dry by morning, barely a crease. I have practically lived in it this summer.
Eileen T., NewarkBEACH, TOWN OR A DINNER, IT DOES THE LOT
Flat sandals and it is a dress for the shops or the beach. A pair of nicer shoes and a bit of jewellery and it is perfectly good for a dinner out. It comes in a couple of other colours too, and the sizing runs from a small to a 3XL, so there is a good chance of your size while the stock lasts.
On the wardrobe door, ready for whatever the day turns out to be.
Wore it to the beach and then to dinner with just a change of shoes. One dress, two outings.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Vaya, against the summer dresses you have been sweating through
You can find a summer dress for thirty-odd pounds almost anywhere. I know, because I have melted in most of them. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Clings the moment you warm up
Or a shapeless tent to stay cool
Too hot, or far too bare
Fussy to wash and needs ironing
Flattering, or bearable in the heat, never both
Swings from the waist, never clings
Light and airy, genuinely cool
Covers the arms and the knees
Straight in the machine, barely an iron
Cool and flattering at the same time
About the price
The Vaya is £34.95 at the moment. It was £70.00.
I will pass on what the boutique told me, which is that they are clearing the summer stock as the season turns, and once it has gone it is gone until next year. Their words, not mine. What I can tell you from my side is that half price is usually where I start asking what is wrong with a thing, and I have found nothing wrong with this one.
And I do not trust perfect scores, so I read the reviews before I ordered. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars, which sounded like real women rather than robots, so I read on. The same six things I have just walked you through come up in them, over and over, in other women's words.
Straight off the line, no ironing, ready for tomorrow.
If you have a summer of hot days and lunches and garden do's ahead, and you have made the same grim peace with sweating through July that I had, this is the dress I would put in your hands myself, while your size is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Caroline
VAYA | ELEGANT SUMMER MIDI DRESS
- Soft swing shape that skims, never clings
- Light, airy fabric that stays cool in the heat
- A soft watercolour floral in turquoise and coral
- Flattering V-neck, short sleeves, midi length
- Machine washable, barely needs an iron
- Three colours, UK sizes S to 3XL
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
Summer stock clearing now. The middle sizes go first.