Real stories · The dress that swishes instead of clings

Every dress found my middle and clung to it — this one swishes instead

A dress that skims past my middle and swishes at the hem — after years of quietly not wearing dresses, that's what won me back. I'm 67, and somewhere along the way every dress I tried developed the same habit: finding my middle and clinging to it like a lost relative. So the dresses stayed in the wardrobe and the tunic-and-trousers uniform took over.

What I wanted was a dress that would keep its opinions about my middle to itself.

Then I found the Palerine from a British label called York Boutique — navy with cheerful pink polka dots, little flutter sleeves, and a deep pleated flounce at the hem. Mine has the pink dots; there's a white-dotted one as well.

The cut is the diplomacy. It falls straight from the shoulders and simply doesn't stop to report on what's underneath — which is why it flatters without a single moment of cling — and then the pleated hem does the showing off instead, with a proper swish at every step. The flutter sleeves are kind to the arms, and the soft, breathable feel keeps it comfortable from coffee to dinner.

Polka dots, flutter sleeves and a pleated hem that swishes when you walk — cut to fall straight past the middle instead of reporting on it — which is why I'm wearing dresses again.

It was £29.95, half the usual £60 — less than the two 'slimming' dresses I bought and never wore, and unlike those, this one leaves the house. I did check the sending-back business — a fortnight, free delivery — but by then I'd already walked past the hallway mirror twice on purpose.

It has since done a coffee morning, a garden potter and one lunch out, swishing throughout, and at the coffee morning Margaret from the flower rota watched me walk in and said 'now THAT'S a dress'. It is. It's the first one in years.

If your dresses also cling where they shouldn't, do have a look. The Palerine is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 210 women, it comes with pink or white dots, in UK sizes 8/10 to 22/24 — and at half price the pink goes first.