Styling a Bardot-Style Black and White Gingham Dress for Summer

Fit-and-flare dresses make me think 1950s. Gingham makes me think summer.

A gingham fit-and-flare dress just makes me think 1950s Brigitte Bardot in the French Riviera. Whilst I may be more Ann-Margret (hair-wise) than Bardot and I’m just here in a little lane in South West England, I think I’d be happy to channel that “south of France 60 years ago” look every summer. This Hobbs dress is definitely the one to do that in.

I wanted to style it differently to how I wore it when I was featured in the Sunday Times Style magazine – it simply needed a Panama hat, flats and a cross-body bag to make it more casual. It’s still incredibly dressed up compared to what most women were wearing at the supermarket that day (yes, I braved popping in dressed like this to pick up a few groceries) but I figure that if I can’t wear summer dresses on an everyday basis, when can I? I somewhat long for the days when this would have been a very casual look… We’re back to the 50s again. Men and women wore hats, women also wore gloves, hair was always pristine. I think that’s a post for another time.

Are you comfortable when out in public if you’re more dressed up than everyone else? Do let me know!