A Reader’s Note
My Daughter Told Me I Do This About Forty Times a Day. I Had No Idea I Was Doing It at All.
On a habit almost every woman I know has, what it is actually a response to, and the dress that ended mine.
We were at a cafe in June when Rachel said, without any particular weight to it: ‘Mum, you keep doing that.’
Doing what, I said. She did it back to me — both hands, flat, smoothing down the front of a dress from the waist, twice. I had done it sitting down, and again when the coffees came, and apparently I do it every time I stand up and most times I catch myself in a window.
Once she had said it I could not stop noticing it, and not only in myself. Watch a table of women in their fifties and sixties for ten minutes. Watch the hands.
Here is what is actually happening. Flat fabric, however loosely it is cut, settles against you the moment you stop moving. It lands where it lands and stays there, so you reach down and reset it. Then you sit again, and it settles again. Forty times a day, without ever deciding to.
I had always assumed the answer was to buy things a size looser. It is not, and that is the part I want to explain, because I would have dismissed it too.
The four things that make it different
Wattle & Reed say a piece only goes on the site if you can sit down in it, get through the whole afternoon, and still look the way you did when you left the house. This is the first dress I have owned that passes that on the first count.
Pleated from top to hem, not just through the skirt.
Because the fabric is folded rather than flat, it does not lie against you at all. It hangs off you in lines, with air between the folds. It moves when you move and drops back into its lines when you stop, so it resets itself every time you sit down and stand up. There is nothing to smooth, because nothing has settled.
A relaxed cut through the middle, on purpose.
Pleats do their work when they have room to hang. Nip the waist and the folds flatten exactly where you wanted them most, and you are back to a dress that traces you. So the cut stays easy through the middle and lets the pleating carry the shape instead.
Maxi length, because the length is what makes it ordinary.
I had always filed long dresses under beach or wedding, with nothing in between, and that was my mistake. A hem that stops partway breaks the line and makes the dress an event. One unbroken line to the ankle reads as deliberate at dinner and completely unremarkable at the shops at ten in the morning.
Light and breathable, which up here is not optional.
Folded fabric has more surface than flat fabric, which can go badly in the heat if the material is wrong. This one is light enough that the space between the folds moves air rather than holding it. Done properly the pleating works in your favour in summer.
What I have noticed since
The habit stopped inside a week. Not because I decided to stop — because there was nothing left to correct.
Ken says I look like I am in a better mood. I am not. I just have my hands free.
It is not just me
Two hundred and sixty-seven of these have gone out across Australia so far. The pink and the marine blue are the two most ordered, and six in ten women take an XL or larger. Across the whole shop it is nearer three thousand customers.
If you are between two sizes
Six in ten women who order take an XL, 2XL or 3XL. The cut is relaxed through the middle by design, so if you are between two sizes take your usual one.
| Size | Most ordered | Fit |
|---|---|---|
| S | 5% | Relaxed |
| M | 13% | Relaxed |
| L | 18% | Relaxed |
| XL | 24% | Relaxed |
| 2XL | 20% | Relaxed |
| 3XL | 19% | Relaxed |
Why it is $89.95 right now
It is listed at $224.95 and sells for $89.95 in the spring sale. I do not know how long that runs, and this is a page that would like to sell you one — weigh it as you should.
My own sum was simple enough. I have spent more than that on a dress I wore twice and smoothed down all evening. This one I have worn twice a week since July, and my hands have stayed where they were.
Nathalia™ | Pleated Dress
$224.95 $89.95
Spring sale — 60% off- Finely pleated top to hem — hangs in lines, never settles
- Relaxed cut through the middle
- Light, breathable fabric for real heat
- Maxi length, one unbroken line
- One piece — nothing to coordinate
- Five colours · sizes S – 3XL
- Free shipping & 30-day money-back guarantee
Questions I had too
Will all those pleats add bulk?
The folds are narrow and the fabric is light, so what they add is air rather than volume. The effect is vertical lines, which lengthen rather than widen.
Is a maxi going to be too long for me?
It is cut to fall to around the ankle. If you are shorter than average it will sit closer to the floor, which most of us prefer with a flat sandal.
Do pleated dresses need ironing?
The folds are the construction, not a press, so it comes back from the wash in its lines. Hang it rather than folding it into a drawer and it keeps them.
What are the shipping costs?
There are none. Wattle & Reed offer free shipping on all orders, without exception.
What happens if I change my mind?
Thirty-day money-back guarantee, so you can return your order. You will get a tracking code by email when it is dispatched.
30-day money-back guarantee
Wear it, wash it, live in it for a full thirty days. If it is not right, send it back for a full refund. Shipping is free on every order.
Your two options
P.S. Rachel has since ordered one for herself, which I consider the end of the argument.
P.P.S. With thirty days to send it back, the only thing at risk is the trip to the post office.
About the writer. Gail is 60 and lives on the Sunshine Coast with her husband Ken. Her daughter Rachel now owns the same dress.
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