You don’t see houndstooth used as regularly in reproduction clothing as you’d expect, for some reason, though I can’t fathom why. It’s a print I love and feel is under-appreciated, so the first moment I saw this Hell Bunny dress at London Edge in September I was smitten. It went immediately onto my ‘When’s this coming out? Must buy, MUST BUY’ list and since then I kept checking any Hell Bunny stockists I could find to see if this dress had been released yet.

Despite that, I very nearly missed out on this dress as my size sold out quickly in many places, but I’m thrilled I managed to snag it. If you love the style of this dress, you’re going to want to scour the interwebs for any available left in your size or else be prepared to act quickly when the second run of stock comes out later in the season. Because I can tell you this, the moment I tried this dress on, it became one of my all time favourites.

Dress: Jackson dress by Hell Bunny
Brooch: Vintage
Shoes: Old everything5pounds.com
Bag: Lola Von Rose
Petticoat: Jennifer by Malco Modes

The Jackson dress is a full skirted swing dress featuring half sleeves and a velvet style collar and matching belt. Even though I saw this dress in person at London Edge, I didn’t clock that the belt was covered in the same velvet as the collar, so discovering that fact when my order turned up gave me a little burst of delight.

The skirt is not quite a full circle but it takes a medium petticoat with ease, measuring 26.5 inches long. As ardently as I adored this dress, I had a niggling worry that I might find the sleeves too restrictive even in the size 16, as some of my shorter sleeved size 16 Hell Bunny dresses are a little tight in the cuffs. This dress, though, caused me no such discomfort. There’s enough give in the fabric that not only did the sleeves and shoulders fit but they’re genuinely comfortable. Ladies who have large upper arms or broad shoulders are likely to find this dress is a sleeved wonder that works for them.

The sizing of the dress in general is very consistent with Hell Bunny’s usual sizing, which tends to run a little large compared to standard UK sizing. This size 16/XL flat measures 35.5 inches in the waist, stretching to almost 38 inches flat, so you can see how much give the fabric has. The armhole measures 21.5 inches and the sleeves stretch to almost 16 inch in circumference at their widest point.

Like so many other pieces from Hell Bunny this season, I’m thoroughly made up with this dress. It’s always wonderful when a dress you’ve been excited for lives up to your expectations, even more so when it exceeds them, like this dress did. It’s the only white and black houndstooth piece I have in my wardrobe, vast though that is, and it’s so lovely that I think my need for houndstooth might be adequated sated.

If you’re a houndstooth lover, you’ll be interested to know Hell Bunny are also offering a pair of Jackson trousers and a Jackson pencil skirt in this print this season. However, if you’re not as taken with dogstooth as I am but you like this dress cut, then you might be pleased to learn that this same style will be coming in a navy tartan print as well, the Livingston dress. At the time of writing this the Livingston dress hasn’t been released yet, but a large portion of Hell Bunny’s AW16 line already has been so it shouldn’t be too far off now.

The Jackson dress is available in sizes XS-4XL, but there’s currently only remaining stock of select sizes on Hell Bunny’s website. They’re are expecting more stock of this piece later in the season, as well as further AW16 releases, but you can get 20% off any order right now on the Hell Bunny site using discount code amymay20!% If you can’t wait for a restock of the Jackson dress then Hell Bunny have in-store and online stockists all over the world, so a quick online search might help you find out if your size is available anywhere.