Real stories · Occasion-ready, no dress required

Every invitation used to mean a dress — this set ended that

Dressed for a do, without a dress — that's what this set finally made possible. I'm 67, and I'll say what a certain kind of woman has always known: I don't much like myself in dresses. Yet every invitation — garden party, christening, retirement lunch — seemed to come with an unwritten dress requirement, so I'd spend each one adjusting a hemline and counting the minutes.

What I wanted was to look occasion-worthy in trousers, without apology.

Then I found the Viresta from a British label called York Boutique — a two-piece set of a relaxed top and wide-leg trousers with an easy drawstring waist, in a soft champagne with a gentle sheen. Mine is the champagne; there's apricot, khaki, black, dark grey and brown as well.

The sheen does the dressing up. Because both pieces match and catch the light softly, the whole outfit reads 'occasion' from across a marquee — which is why nobody at a party has ever suspected the waist is a drawstring — while the wide legs move like a skirt without ever being one. It's light, breathable, and utterly without hemline politics.

A matched top and wide-leg trousers with a soft champagne sheen — which is why it reads 'occasion' across any room, while feeling as easy as the clothes I garden in.

It was £39.95, which is where I usually hesitate — but I counted the invitations on the mantelpiece and divided. Three occasions this autumn alone; the sums approve. Half the usual £80, a fortnight to send it back, free delivery.

It has since done one garden party, one christening lunch and one anniversary dinner, comfortable through all three, and at the garden party the hostess — a dress woman if ever there was one — asked where 'the marvellous outfit' was from. Not a dress, Brenda. Never a dress again.

If you also dread the unwritten dress requirement, do have a look. The Viresta is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 230 women, it comes in six colours, in UK sizes 6/8 to 18/20 — and at half price the champagne goes first.