A letter from a reader

The dress I wore to a wedding, and then to the garden centre

Julie Hayes on the one dress in her wardrobe that looks nice enough for an occasion, and is still comfortable enough for an ordinary morning.

For years I've had two kinds of dresses. The ones I wear when I want to look nice, and the ones I actually want to wear.

You'll know what I mean. The nice one looks lovely in the mirror, and by the speeches it's digging in at the waist and you're counting the minutes until you can get home and take it off. The comfy one is perfect for the garden and the shops, and looks exactly like what it is. I'd just accepted that. You can look nice, or you can be comfortable.

Then a woman from my book club turned up one Tuesday in a blue midi dress I couldn't stop looking at. She'd worn it to a christening that weekend, she said, and there she was in it again with a cup of tea, completely at ease. It's called the Sapphire, from Claire & Grace Sydney. If you've got two piles of dresses too, you might like to hear how I got on.

What it is

It's a midi in a soft blue print. Mostly blues and greens, with little flecks of warmer colour. From across the room it looks like one calm blue, and up close there's a lot going on. The neckline is a V that crosses over at the front. The sleeves are short and a bit floaty, and they cover the tops of my arms. The waist is gathered and the skirt falls loosely to below the knee.

But what really mattered to me was simpler than that.

It has a waist, and it doesn't squeeze.

Everything else I owned either had no shape at all, or had a waist I could feel every time I sat down. This one sits where my waist actually is, and then leaves me alone. The first time I put it on I sat on the edge of the bed, which is how I always test a dress, and waited for something to pull. Nothing did.

I can't tell you how long it had been since a dress did that.

A wedding, and the morning after

The first time I wore it out was to a friend's garden wedding. I laid it out the night before with my good sandals and some gold earrings. That was it. Nothing else to fuss with.

Halfway through the speeches I realised I hadn't pulled at it once. Not once. Two women asked me where it was from before the cake was even cut.

On the way home I caught myself in the car window and thought, that looks like me. I hadn't thought that in a while.

The next morning I put it back on with flat sandals and a straw bag and went to the garden centre. It was just a nice dress for a Sunday. Nobody looked at me like I'd overdressed for potting mix.

→ Take a closer look at Sapphire

What changed

I wasn't after anything special. You get to a point where you stop hoping a dress will make you feel nice. You settle for comfortable. Then you settle for covered. What surprised me about the Sapphire is that I didn't have to settle at all.

A few things I noticed in the first couple of weeks. I jotted them down, because that's what I'm like.

1. The waist. It's gathered where it should be and it doesn't dig in, even after a long lunch.

2. The sleeves. Short and soft, and they cover the tops of my arms. I didn't take a cardigan to the wedding and I didn't miss it.

3. The print. It goes with the sandals I already have, and people ask about it.

I can sit in it for hours, get in and out of the car without hitching it up, and bend down to clip Banjo's lead on without the skirt getting in the way.

Now, the part I always check

I always check the price. Then I check it again. The Sapphire is $94.95 AUD at the moment, down from $179.95 AUD in the spring sale.

Years at the bank and I still can't help doing the sums. A wedding and a garden centre in its first two days, and it's been on most weeks since. It's paid for itself already, which is more than I can say for the good dress that's been hanging in my wardrobe for years.

Shipping was free across Australia and New Zealand, there's a 30-day money-back guarantee, and there's a size chart on the page if you're not sure. The page says 4,261 customers have rated them 4.7 out of 5, which was good enough for me.

What I'd tell you over a cup of tea

If you were sitting out the back with me and a cup of tea after I'd walked Banjo, and you asked if the Sapphire was worth it, this is what I'd tell you.

Most of us have spent years with two piles of dresses. The nice ones, and the ones we actually wear. This is the first dress I've had that belongs in both.

It only comes in the one blue, from S to 2XL. I've ordered a second one already, because I couldn't stand the thought of it being in the wash when I wanted to wear it. They take an extra 10% off when you buy two, which made that easier to justify.

When I looked this morning, the page said stock was low, and the sale ends when it's gone.

So if you've been taking off the nice dress the minute you walk in the door, don't wait too long on this one.

— Julie