Dolly and Dotty - With Love, Kristina

Every so often, I come across a dress that puts me in a certain kind of mood. That mood is “can conquer the world, will conquer the world.” And this? This is a dress that puts me in just such a mood! I first came across Dolly and Dotty via Miss Amy May’s blog, and I was immediately drawn in by how pretty and feminine all of their frocks are. If you’ve been following my blog for long, you’ll know I love a good floral and a full skirt, so it was a no-brainer that this gorgeous floral frock with its super full skirt would be an instant heart-eyes moment for me!

Dolly and Dotty sent me a dress of my choice for review. All opinions are my own!

Dolly and Dotty’s site is full of the kinds of dresses you know you’re going to feel fantastic in. Whether they’re full-skirted or wiggle style, patterned or solid, each dress has that retro almost rockabilly flare that begs to be worn with some sass. They’re dresses that can easily be made to look vintage, rockabilly, retro-inspired, or modern depending on where you go with hair and accessories, and I feel like that’s a really great way to establish yourself as a very wearable brand.

Of course, I like to go full on retro or vintage, so styling this pretty frock was a no-brainer. When it arrived, I was immediately impressed by the quality of the fabric. It has more of a satin feel, but it’s not super shiny like many satiny fabrics can be. It has a weight to it that makes the skirt swish when you walk, and the fit is spot on to what the size chart said! These days I find I am a solid UK14, and Dolly and Dotty’s dress was no exception. Now, being pregnant I did struggle a little with the waistline wanting to ride up and make the neckline gap, but I know that post baby when I wear this that won’t be an issue as, when I sucked in as hard as I could and got the waist to where it SHOULD sit, the neckline lay perfectly flat.

I was also quite happy with the fact that the arms of this dress are both fitted nicely AND flexible, which means I’m not stuck only reaching to shoulder height. One of the most frustrating things when you’re a woman with muscular arms or wider shoulders is that often, brands skimp in the sleeve area and you end up with something that’s a bit too tight across the shoulders, or a bit too snug in the upper arm, or restricts your movement entirely. This dress had none of that, thankfully!

My only qualms with the dress itself was that the zipper is on right side, instead of the left side like I’m used to. It’s a sturdy zipper, thankfully, but a bit more awkward to zip being on the odd side.

Dolly and Dotty themselves, I can only find a little disappointment in the fact that international shipping is never cheaper than £19.99, which translates to $28USD. Their UK shipping is quite reasonable at around £3.50 per order, and free with orders over £50, but I couldn’t find anywhere on the site whether they offer free shipping with any sort of minimum international order. I have gathered from what I can find that they may still be quite a small company, and still geared very much toward local orders rather than worldwide ones. I hope in the future this can change!

For now, I’ll be eyeing a few dresses in their sale section, and debating biting the shipping charge for a few pretties I have my heart set on! If I think of it in terms of price per dress, it’s a bit more reasonable to buy sale items and think “I’m buying these three dresses for $30 a piece” which is an entirely fantastic price, versus “I’m buying three $20 dresses and then paying $28 shipping.” I know that it always helps me to view item costs as whole costs, shipping included, to justify whether it’s worth spending money on. And that, to me, is reasonable!

Now I have to add a side note about these shoes, because I shared a photo on Facebook and got countless questions about them! They are from Amazon, from one of my favorite shoe brands, Chase&Chloe, and they are by far the most comfortable shoes I own. I have plans to purchase a pair in every single color, because I need more shoes like this in my life! And if you’re like me and have wide feet, they’ll be especially fantastic for you! I didn’t have to size up at all to get a comfortable width, although I have had to do that occasionally with other shoes from the brand. These ones, though… they’re perfect.

Dress, c/o Dolly and Dotty | shoes, Amazon | headscarf, bracelets, and purse, thrifted | earrings, gift