All Occasionwear

Everything we make for an occasion, in one place. A hundred and fourteen pieces — the widest edit in the shop — from £10 accessories to £240 gowns, sized UK 6 to 26 and XS to XXXL.

Free UK delivery on every order, no minimum spend, and free 14-day returns.

Start with the invitation

Occasionwear is a broad word covering quite narrow briefs, and the dress code on the invitation decides almost everything.

  • Black tie — floor-length, structured fabric, deep colour. Go to evening dresses.
  • Cocktail or semi-formal — midi or knee-length, occasion fabric. Party dresses and midi dresses.
  • Wedding, as a guest — no white, no bridesmaid colours. Wedding guest dresses.
  • Daytime and garden — lighter fabric, hem at or below the knee, ground you can walk on. Garden party.
  • No dress code at all — the hardest brief. A midi in a good fabric is almost never wrong.

What is in here

Fifty-four styles are floor-length, sixteen midi and fifteen mini. Sixty-three are tagged for parties, fifty-nine for evening and fifty-two for nights out, which is where the weight of this edit sits.

By fabric: eighteen satin, fourteen chiffon, thirteen embellished. By detail: twenty-nine backless or open-backed, twenty-eight bodycon, seventeen ruched, sixteen halter-neck.

Colour runs black first at twenty-nine styles, then green at sixteen, blue and yellow at eleven each, white at ten and champagne beige at nine.

Buying one dress for several occasions

This is what most people are actually trying to do, and there is a reliable answer: a midi in satin or chiffon, in a colour that is not black.

The reasoning is unglamorous. Floor-length limits you to formal events. Black is the safest single purchase but the least memorable across a season where the same people see you repeatedly. A coloured midi in an occasion fabric goes to a wedding, a christening, a work dinner and a birthday lunch, and nobody notices it is the same dress.

If you know you have three weddings in a summer, buy one and change what goes with it rather than buying three.

Sizing across the edit

Most of this collection is sold in letter sizes XS to XXXL, and a group of seventeen styles in UK numeric sizes from 6 to 26 including the wider W fittings. Full measurements in centimetres are on the size guide.

Our dresses are true to size. Between two sizes, take the larger in satin and chiffon and your usual size in anything with stretch. For a fitted or mermaid cut, order to your hip measurement. For an A-line, order to your bust.

Ordering for an event

Three to four weeks ahead. Occasion dresses need alterations more often than everyday clothes, and a local alterations shop needs about a week for a hem. That week is the difference between a dress that fits and one that nearly fits.

UK delivery is free on every order with no minimum spend and takes around seven working days. Returns are free within 14 days with a prepaid label already in the box, so ordering two sizes and sending one back costs you nothing.

Where to look next

By length: maxi, midi, mini. By role at a wedding: bridesmaid or guest. By fabric: satin, lace, sequin.