Real stories · Cool and comfortable all day

The long summer dress that keeps me cool and never clings or digs in

I'm 67, and summer used to catch me out. On a hot day trousers are stifling, and short dresses leave the legs I'd rather cover on show — but the long dresses I'd tried were either a shapeless, sweltering sack, or so clingy and hot through the middle that I was uncomfortable and fidgeting by lunchtime.

What I wanted was a long dress that was genuinely cool and comfortable to wear all day — light and airy, covering the legs, with nothing clinging or digging in.

Then I found the Cordelia dress from a British label called York Boutique — a flowing V-neck maxi, and I chose the emerald green.

It's a joy to wear. The fabric is light and airy so I stay cool even on a hot day, the long skirt covers the legs and floats as I walk, and a soft twist at the waist means nothing clings or digs in — I honestly forget I've got it on. I've practically lived in it this summer.

Cool and floaty in the heat, covers the legs, and not a thing that clings or digs in all day.

A dress this comfortable, I assumed, would be sixty pounds. But York Boutique sells direct, so it was from £29.95 in the summer sale. Wonderful value for something you can wear all day and forget.

My daughter borrowed it the very next weekend. It comes in six colours — green, blue, pink, grey, orange and black — and in a lovely wide range of sizes, all the way up to a 5XL.

If the heat and clingy dresses catch you out too, do treat yourself to a look. The Cordelia is rated 4.8 out of 5 by more than 300 women, it's from £29.95 in the summer sale instead of £60 — half price — and the popular sizes always seem to go first.