I love a sarong dress. I own some from the more expensive side of repro clothing from Pinup Girl Clothing and Vivien of Holloway, so it’s nice to see brands like Hell Bunny and Voodoo Vixen offering some cheaper options for the SS16 season (though I’m aware Hell Bunny has done sarong pieces before.)

This bamboo print is one of Hell Bunny’s new prints designed for this season and comes available in this sarong style dress, a circle skirt, a halter neck swing dress, a floaty bell-sleeved top and a short sleeved collared shirt dress, so there’s a great variety of cuts and styles for you to choose from if you love the print.

Dress: Bamboo Pencil Dress by Hell Bunny
Bangles: Dark Woven Bamboo Bangles set by Splendette
Hair Flower: Miss Melody by Daisy Jean Florals
Wedges: Old season very.co.uk

Most of my sarong dresses have a real tie at the waist where the front of the skirt wraps around from behind and ties at the waist to close, meaning you might show a bit of leg from an unruly gust of wind or large movements. The skirt of this dress is a full pencil skirt over which they’ve added the sarong style flap as an extra piece of fabric to achieve the look. That flap is sewn along the right hand seam of the skirt and along the waist so it isn’t adjustable to tie tighter. The tie at the waist is sewn in place and not ‘real,’ able to be tied only to create a bow for the overall look of the dress. There’s a split in the back of the skirt and a shirred elastic back section, closing with a back zipper. The best feature is that there are three button holes on the shoulder straps that allow you to choose the best length of strap for you, which is a great touch for fit customisation and means you can avoid that annoying straps-falling-off-your-shoulders occurrence that I’m sure we’ve all had more than once.

I’m wearing an L/14 here, which in typical Hell Bunny sizing runs large. This dress can accommodate up to a 35 inch waist despite being made for 32 inch waists. I’m 5 ft 7, so it hits me a little shorter than I would like, particularly with the back split in the skirt. An extra of couple inches length in the skirt would cover my knees and create a slightly more flattering silhouette, I feel, but that’s personal preference. Since there’s stretch in this dress, it’s a comfortable wear, particularly since you can adjust the shoulder straps to fit you just right so they don’t slide off your shoulders or dig in too tight. I love this bamboo print so much I’m somewhat tempted to get it in the circle skirt or the halter neck dress.

Hell Bunny are wholesalers and don’t sell direct to customers, so you’ll find this bamboo range is available from in-store and online stockists globally depending upon individual boutiques. I ordered this dress off an eBay stockist and typically found this Bamboo Pencil Wiggle Dress dress costs around £43.99.