Real stories · Bold to look at, soft to wear

The leopard-print dress that looks bold but feels like nothing — loose, cool, and my arms are covered

A dress with a bit of drama to it — a proper leopard print — that didn't cling to any part of me, kept me cool and covered the tops of my arms: that's what I'd been quietly looking for since the spring. I'm 67, and I'd rather given up on anything 'bold'. Every dress that looked lively on the hanger turned out to be cut close, or sleeveless, or made of something that stuck to me by the second course. So for anything that mattered I fell back on the same navy thing, and my daughter had started calling it 'the uniform'.

What I wanted was a dress that made people look twice, but that I could sit, eat and walk in all afternoon without once tugging at it.

Then I found the Carmen from a British label called York Boutique — a leopard-print V-neck maxi dress, and I'll admit I hovered over the button for a day before I dared.

I'm so glad I did. It's cut loose and flowing, which is why it skims rather than clings — it drapes over you instead of sitting on you, and there's nothing pulling anywhere when you sit down. The V neckline crosses over softly at the front, so it's flattering without being low. The long sleeves are light and airy and cover my arms completely, and there's a soft sash with a little fabric flower at the waist that gives you a shape without squeezing one out of you. It falls to the ankle and moves beautifully when you walk. The fabric is light and breathable, so even at a warm lunch I stayed cool. And the print — well. It's a proper leopard print, and it turns out that at 67 I can carry it off perfectly well.

It looks like I've made an enormous effort. I haven't. It floats over everything, the sleeves cover my arms, and I forget I'm wearing it.

A dress like this, I assumed, would be seventy pounds. But York Boutique sells direct, so it was £34.95 in the summer sale. I'll be honest, I paused at that for a moment. Then I thought about the christening, the anniversary lunch and the two dinners already in the diary, and that rather settled it.

I wore it to my sister's birthday lunch and she looked at me and said, 'Well. Where's this come from?' Two of her friends asked before pudding. And not one of them believed how comfortable it was. I'd checked before ordering that I could send it back if the print was too much — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free — so there was nothing lost by trying. It comes in sizes UK 6/8 right up to 26/28.

If you've quietly given up on anything bold because bold always seemed to mean uncomfortable, do treat yourself to a look. The Carmen is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 300 women, it's £34.95 in the summer sale instead of £70 — half price — and the middle sizes always seem to go first.