Real stories · No buttons, no zips, no decisions

The dress I throw on and look like I've got it all figured out — and I went back for a second

A dress with nothing to fasten — no buttons, no zip, nothing to reach round the back for — that I could pull on and look properly put-together in: that's what I'd quietly been wishing for. I'm 67, and it's a small thing nobody warns you about — the zips. Reaching round for a back zip has become a two-person job in our house, and the fiddly little buttons aren't much kinder to my fingers. So on ordinary days I'd end up in the same easy things, and feel a bit drab in them.

What I wanted was one dress I could throw straight over my head, that stayed cool and loose, that looked as though I'd made an effort, and that I could wear all day without thinking about it.

Then I found the Josette from a British label called York Boutique — a ruffle V-neck maxi dress, and I chose the soft grey.

It's become the easiest thing in my wardrobe. It goes straight over my head — no buttons, no zip, nothing at all to do up — and the little cascade of ruffles down the V neckline does all the dressing-up for me. The fabric is a cotton-linen blend, which is why it stays cool and doesn't cling, even through a warm afternoon, and it's cut loose in a gentle A-line to mid-calf so nothing pinches anywhere. Little flutter sleeves cover the tops of my shoulders. And it has proper deep pockets. My reading glasses live in one of them now.

Over my head, and I'm done. Nothing to fasten, nothing clinging, cool all day — and it has pockets. I bought a second one within the week.

A dress this easy, I assumed, would be eighty pounds. But York Boutique sells direct, so it was £39.95 in the summer sale. I'll be honest, I paused at that for a moment. Then I thought about how many mornings it would sort out, and that rather settled it. (One thing to know: it comes up small — I went a size up and it's perfect.)

A friend at book club asked where it was from, and here's the thing — when I went back for a second colour, I found they do a whole set of dresses like this: the same easy, pull-on sort, all made for ordinary days. And the second one came cheaper than the first. So I have the grey and the sage green now, and I wear one or the other most days. I'd checked before ordering that I could send them back if the size wasn't right — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free — which made trying them no risk at all.

If zips and buttons have quietly become the worst part of getting dressed for you too, do treat yourself to a look at the whole set — the Josette is the one I started with, but there are nineteen of them, all at £39.95 in the summer sale instead of £80, and if you find two you like, the second one's cheaper. The Josette is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 300 women, and the middle sizes always seem to go first.