July

Well what with the queen of the 70's wrap dress, Diane Von Furstenberg, making a comeback this summer and the shops being full of similar styles, now is the time, if you haven't already, to buy a dress in order to get the most out of your purchase while there is still July and August to go.

The shops are positively bursting with floaty, flappy, happy styles, offering ample opportunity to add yet more colour to your wardrobe. We are of course stalwart two-piece devotees (well they are much easier to fit on bodies that are not evenly proportioned) but we've found a variety of interesting designs to illustrate the general principles of balancing your body symmetry. This is what we talk about in our free e-books if you haven't already down loaded yours. So bear in mind that it is the style of dress we are talking about and look for those details when you go shopping.

Found this dress in the River Island home-shopping catalogue. It's a great easy to wear style which can be worn not just over jeans long or short but also teamed with a contrasting colour vest too, allowing for bra straps to be hidden. This is also a great style for shorter bodies because the detail at the top of the garment draws the eye upwards and creates an illusion of height. Look for styles like this to give great versatility to your wardrobe because they can make light work of packing for holiday when you wear with flat sandals, T-shirts and jeans, on its own with flop flops and with heels and cropped trousers for an evening look.
Cost £29.99 sizes 6-18 www.riverisland.com

Love this style of dress (very Diane VF) for curvy bodies. The wrap-around neckline and waist is one of the most flattering styles for fuller bosoms and the angel sleeves give great definition to shoulders, making arms look more shapely. The asymmetric wrap hem at the front of the dress breaks up the horizontal line across the legs and is just perfect for making full legs appear less heavy. In fact we can't say enough about this marvellous dress from Great Universal catalogue,it's a style you will want to wear again and again.
Cost £30 sizes 10-26 www.greatessentials.co.uk

Tall bodies can take large prints, which create a foreshortening effect and this style of dress from Boden catalogue will work especially well for those of you who have long waists since the placement of the seam and fair outwards in the skirt will suggest longer legs and shorter waist. For example foreshortening if you want to draw attention away from your height, use a range of complimentary colours in accessories e.g. red cardi over shoulders, yellow bag and pink shoes – this will break up the vertical line. If you are a standard height and wanting to add an illusion of extra inches, then pick one colour from the dress like pink or cream and match the whole lot from shoes, bag and jacket/cardi in this one colour.
Cost £55 sizes 8-20 (available in regular or long length) www.boden.co.uk

Just look at how this style of dress disguises a round tummy. It’s the diagonal lines that streamline the body and make legs look longer. You’ll know by now how much we like a chevron and this style of dress by M&S does all the work for you if you have a full waist or apple shape body. A dress like this has quite an elegant shape so trainers and jeans just won’t do it – best to wear with a small heel and cardi over the shoulders.
Cost £35 sizes 10-20 www.marksandspencer.com

Back to a more casual look with this dropped-waist style from Freemans catalogue. Soft and floaty this look would work well for a slender body, adding extra volume and width. Tall slender shapes would also benefit as the noticeable horizontal line breaks up a tall shape and adds interest and width to the middle of the body.
This style of dress has been influenced by the twenties looks that came off the catwalk last September. Wear dresses like these over jeans and with flats for a more directional look or dress up with heels for a perfect summer evening style.
Cost £30 sizes 10-20 www.freemans.com