Tastes like strawberries on a summer evening…
Good afternoon, darlings! Hope we’re all happy and healthy at the moment, and enjoyed the summer sunshine over the last week! The UK has been a literal scorcher for a week, which has been different! Although it’s raining this weekend, I think we’re all welcoming it with open arms. British heat is really aggressive and genuinely horrible to deal with, hahah. But that doesn’t stop us from getting some summer plus size style vibes going today with a gorgeous Dolly and Dotty strawberry dress!
Dolly and Dotty
It’s actually been a while since I last featured Dolly and Dotty on my blog — almost four years, actually! I think I was last sponsored by them very early in their conception, actually. It’s been interesting seeing their development over those years, but keeping a very clear style and core values at the same time. Dolly and Dotty is all about affordability and high quality garments, which I think they do well. I’d say their quality is actually higher than (the now-defunct) Lindy Bop, if that gives you a good idea on where D&D are in the market. They have really lovely prints, including florals and fruit prints, ginghams and leopard prints and a classic polkadot.
For one of my courtesy products (oh yeah, I’m trying out more than one style and fabric from them!) I chose this lovely strawberry print Amanda dress. As a former emo kid and purveyor of all-black-everything, I love that they had a black-based print that was so pretty! Don’t get me wrong, I love an edgy print. But something about having a black dress that is also very typicaly pretty is refreshing. The print itself is beautiful, and I think it may be an in-house design since they have it in a couple of colours and fabric types. I was actually really interested in the fact it was a sateen, since I honestly think you can tell a company’s quality by their shiny materials. It’s buttery-soft to touch, has a sheen to it instead of a shine, and is kind of cooling in the heat.
Amanda Dress — Plus Size Fit
So Dolly and Dotty go up to size UK26, fairly inclusive for a core size run, I’d say! I’m wearing the 24 in the Amanda dress, which I would say is spot-on size-wise. There’s a little bit of stretch in that sateen, which means you can push the upper limits of the size range a bit. But mostly I’d say go for your size as depicted on the size guide. For me, it fit my waist and my bust perfectly without any stretching. You may notice that the armholes gape a little bit on me. But I honestly get this problem with any ready-made items, so don’t take that into consideration!
The Amanda dress has box pleats in the skirt, that allows for larger hips and a petticoat easily. I prefer pleats over gathers since I find it skims over tummies and sits flatter. I hate this word, but my personal opinion is that pleating ‘flatters’ larger sizes better, instead of accentuating the stomach and often getting that ‘definitely looks pregnant’ look.
Dolly and Dotty Strawberry Dress
What do we all think of the strawberry print Amanda dress? Are you a fan of the black-based print? I’d love to hear your thoughts below! And you can now get your very own Amanda dress from Dolly and Dotty’s summer sale for just £30!
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