Real stories · The dress with pockets that does every day

I stopped wearing dresses because they were never practical — then I found one with proper pockets

The dress with pockets that does every day — that's what won me back to dresses. I'm 67, and somewhere along the way I quietly stopped wearing them: they clung where I didn't want them to, they needed the right shoes, and they gave you nowhere to put anything. Trousers were simply more practical, so trousers won, year after year.

What I wanted was a dress as easy as my most-worn trousers — pockets included.

Then I found the Selvienne from a British label called York Boutique — an everyday A-line dress, and I chose the white, which looks crisp with absolutely everything.

It's built for actual days. The cut is a gentle A-line, which is why it skims over the middle and the hips instead of reporting on them — and then there are the pockets: proper, deep, hands-all-the-way-in pockets, which every woman who has ever worn this dress in company will tell you is the first thing anyone mentions. The fabric is soft and breathable, the sleeves cover the upper arms to the elbow, and the length lands modestly below the knee. It works with white trainers and a denim jacket for the market, and with ankle boots and a long necklace when you want to look like you've made plans.

Proper deep pockets, an A-line that skims instead of clings, and a shape that works with trainers on Tuesday and boots on Sunday — the dress finally caught up with the trousers.

It has since done both of those exact outfits in one week: the market on Tuesday, lunch with my daughter on Sunday. She said 'that's a good dress' — and then, inevitably, 'has it got POCKETS?', and I got to do the smug hands-in-pockets stance on the high street. Simple pleasures.

It was £29.95 in the sale — the usual price is £70, so that's nearly 60% off — and I'd checked I could send it back if it clung, which you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free. It comes in six colours and in sizes UK 8-10 all the way to 24, which is a properly generous range.

If you've also quietly given up on dresses, do treat yourself to a look. The Selvienne is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 310 women, it's £29.95 in the sale instead of £70, and the middle sizes always seem to go first.