Real stories · A dress that feels like me

The floaty midi dress that makes getting dressed a joy again

I'm 67, and warm-weather dressing had become a bit of a trial. I wanted something pretty and floaty for a summer's day — but the sensible things felt frumpy, and anything fitted clung in all the wrong places and left me too warm. I'd stand at the wardrobe most mornings feeling faintly cross.

That's the trouble, isn't it. The comfortable dresses look like you've given up, and the prettier ones are cut for a woman half my age. I'd more or less resigned myself to the same tired old frocks.

Then I found the Elspeth dress from a British label called York Boutique — an airy midi in the loveliest warm animal print, with a beaded V-neck. I chose the sandy-beige print, half expecting to be disappointed.

I wasn't. The fabric is light and floaty and skims right over everything rather than clinging, the soft V-neck has a pretty beaded trim, and the little flutter sleeves cover the top of the arm. There are even pockets. And the busy print, bless it, hides absolutely everything.

Floaty, forgiving and so pretty. I feel like myself in it.

A dress this pretty, I assumed, would be the best part of sixty pounds. But York Boutique sells direct, so it was £29.95 in the summer sale. I could hardly believe it.

A friend admired it the moment she saw me. It comes in five colours — I'm tempted by the blush pink next — and in sizes right up to a 3XL, which so rarely happens with a dress this floaty.

If getting dressed has become a chore for you too, do treat yourself to a look. The Elspeth is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 300 women, it's £29.95 in the summer sale instead of £60 — half price — and the middle sizes always seem to go first.