A Letter From a Reader: The Mandy (Elaine, 11 nov)
I am 62, and for forty years I have owned two kinds of clothes: the ones for the garden and the ones for best. This is the first dress I have ever written a letter about.
Six things one white button dress gets right that forty years of shorts, slacks and “good” dresses got wrong, written down by a customer, not a shop.
Elaine · Customer · Hervey Bay, Queensland · 5 min read
My wardrobe has always had two halves. On the left, the things I wear to walk Teddy, water the tomatoes and pop to the shops: shorts, a t-shirt, the old navy slacks. On the right, the things I wear when somebody has booked a table: the dress with the zip I cannot reach, the good sandals that pinch. Most days of my life sit somewhere in between, and for most of them I have stood at that wardrobe and got it wrong in one direction or the other. Then, one Tuesday morning on Urangan Pier, a woman walked past me who had got it exactly right.
She was in a white dress with a proper collar and a row of little buttons down the front, a woven basket on her arm, and she looked as if she could have walked straight off the pier and into a lunch at the yacht club without changing a thing. Her name is Robyn, she is from Maryborough, and she told me the dress is called the Mandy, from Portsea Boutique, a small Australian boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. I ordered one that week, fully expecting to send it back. I did not, and I wrote to the boutique to tell them why, and they asked if they could put my letter up for other women to read. So here it is, the six things it gets right.
Everyday dresses for a woman our age, if you have looked lately, come in two piles. The first pile is the casual one, a t-shirt dress or a beach cover-up that looks lovely at nine in the morning and like you forgot to get changed by lunchtime. The second pile is the occasion one, something you wear to a wedding, and then hang back in the wardrobe for another year because it feels silly at the shops.
Too casual, or too dressed up. I stopped accepting that a woman has to choose between being comfortable and looking like she made an effort, and Robyn on the pier was the proof.
Mine by the bedroom window, basket and sandals ready for the next morning on the pier.
It is the dress for the days in between
This is the thing I would tell you if I only had a minute. The Mandy is a shirt dress: a pointed collar, a button front, short sleeves and a skirt to the middle of the calf. That collar is what does it. Without it, a white dress can look like a nightie. With it, the same dress looks like you meant it. I have now worn mine to the Saturday markets, to a long lunch at the sailing club and to the doctor’s, and at none of those did I feel either too casual or overdressed. That has not happened to me with a single piece of clothing in forty years.
I don’t like dresses that cling around my tummy. This style gives me room to move and still looks pretty.
Denise W., BallaratBreathable cotton you can actually feel
The listing says breathable cotton fabric, soft and airy, and I will tell you what that means at the end of a Hervey Bay morning: you do not stick to it. The cotton has a soft, slightly crinkled texture, the kind that is meant to look relaxed, so it does not need an iron before you leave the house and it does not show every crease from the car seat. I stood at the end of the pier in the sun with Peter for half an hour, and I was the only one of us who was not looking for shade.
The cotton up close, next to the buttons. Soft, light, and it does not need an iron.
I usually stick to navy, but the crisp white and the collar on the Mandy are lovely. A little brightness without feeling too dressed up.
Margaret L., GeelongA gathered waist and a midi length, so it has a shape
Loose white dresses on a woman my age can turn into a tent, which is the other reason I avoided them. The Mandy has one soft gathered seam at the waist, and the skirt falls loose and roomy from there to the middle of the calf. So there is a shape to you instead of a lot of fabric, but nothing pulls and nothing clings. The listing calls it balanced coverage with a polished yet relaxed look, and that is right: it covers the knees, it does not drag on the boardwalk, and it moves when the wind comes off the water.
Back on the pier the week it came, in my own Mandy this time. Peter took this one.
Long dresses can hang rather straight on me. The gathered waist gives this one a much nicer shape.
Heather C., WarrnamboolThe collar, the buttons and the little tucks
It is the small things that make it look finished. The collar sits flat and neat. The buttons run the whole way down the front, so it goes on like a shirt instead of over your head and through your hair. And across the bodice there are fine stitched tucks, a row of little pleats you only notice up close, which make the front look tailored rather than plain. The first time I folded it on the kitchen table I caught myself just looking at it, which Peter says he has never seen me do with a piece of clothing.
The Mandy, folded on the kitchen table the morning it came, next to my coffee. The collar, the buttons and those tucks.
I love having buttons down the front instead of pulling it over my head. It’s such a small thing, but it makes wearing a dress so much easier.
Susan M., BendigoShort sleeves with a turned-back cuff
The sleeves are short with a neat turned-back cuff, which is the detail that makes it look like a shirt rather than a nightdress. They sit over the top of the arm rather than stopping right on the shoulder, which I prefer, and they keep the whole dress cool. Robyn wore hers with nothing but flat sandals and her basket. The listing says it pairs with sandals, flats or minimal accessories, and that is exactly how I wear mine, with a straw hat and the gold chain Peter gave me for our thirtieth.
The sleeves are just right for me. I like keeping my upper arms covered without needing to throw on a cardigan.
Pamela R., AdelaideTen colours, and sizes from 8 to 18
I went with white, the same as Robyn, because white by the water is the whole point. But the Mandy comes in ten colours: white, light blue, blue, pink, orange, red, yellow, black, sage green and dusty rose, and it comes in sizes S to 2XL, which is an Australian 8 to 18. I spent an evening on the sofa choosing a second one while Peter watched the cricket, and I have narrowed it down to the sage or the dusty rose. Lyn, Peter’s sister, is getting the light blue for Christmas, and I have not told her yet.
It’s nice finding pretty summer dresses in a good range of sizes. The different prints make choosing just one quite difficult!
Valerie H., HobartThe Mandy, against the clothes I had been wearing
You can buy a summer dress almost anywhere. I know, because I have owned most of them, and given the rest to the op shop. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Too casual for lunch, or too dressed up for the shops
Sticky and warm by the middle of the morning
Shapeless, or tight in all the wrong places
A zip at the back you cannot reach
Nobody has ever asked where you got it
Right for the pier, the markets and a long lunch
Breathable cotton, cool all morning
One gathered waist, relaxed to the mid-calf
Buttons down the front, on like a shirt
Asked about on Urangan Pier
About the price
I will be straightforward about the price, because it was the thing that made me suspicious. The Mandy is A$94.95, and it was A$474.95.
The boutique says the sale price is about selling directly, with no middleman taking a cut, and that at this price they are barely making anything on them. That is their arithmetic, not mine. What I can tell you is that I have paid more than that for a “good” dress I wore twice, and I am about to buy a second Mandy.
If you have spent forty years choosing between the garden clothes and the good clothes, this is the dress I would hand you instead.
— Elaine
The Mandy Elegant Collared Button Dress
- Breathable cotton, soft and airy
- Collar and button front
- Gathered waist, relaxed midi length
- Short sleeves with a turned-back cuff
- Ten colours, sizes S to 2XL (AU 8 to 18)
- Free shipping with Australia Post, 30-day money back guarantee
Sale on now. The middle sizes are already going.