I love mustard–I know that, you know that, it’s probably been stated a million times by this point. In fact, I think it is a truth universally acknowledged that a vintage dress in possession of a good mustard colouring must be in want of an Amy, so deep seated and everlasting is that love. The unusual part of this post about a dress of mustard is that not only is this dress not made wholly from mustard, but it also includes two colours that a) I do not wear and b) I actually, kind of, you could say, definitely…hate.

Pink. Augh, I loathe pink clothing with a near disconcerting passion. I can make an exception for floral prints that include greenery, because come on, that’s just a lovely ode to the glory of nature, and for a blush pink underwear set trimmed with black ribbon, because coy is coy is coy, and sometimes that’s fun. But everything else? Burn it, as far as I’m concerned. I have no use for the colour that we are raised as western women to be told is the prettiest and sweetest and most feminine of all colours. And orange? I don’t even understand what orange exists for, since outside of a sunset all it recalls to me is pumpkins. And considering I don’t care about Hallowe’en nor awful pie, I don’t really have a care for pumpkins, most especially not in my wardrobe, and with them the colour orange.

But then came Miss Candyfloss, with their genius design talent and clever colour blocking and wonderful little souls, and they made a dress that combines my favourite colour with The Two I Will Not Wear, and would you look at that, I couldn’t resist. Turns out, when it comes to pink and orange, it’s mostly just about how you wear them. Who knew?

Dress: Lorena-Sun C/O Miss Candyfloss
Cardigan: White MAK Cropped Cardigan
Bangles: Los Flamingo Creeper bangle and old wooden bangles

Let’s state the obvious: for a lot of people, this dress will be a bit too much. And that’s fair enough; wearing bright colours can be scary for people who aren’t sure which ones best match their skin tone, or which ones go together best when it comes to accessorising, or who simply don’t like to draw attention to themselves. So the full-throttle colour combination of bright orange, mid pink and a rich mustard is definitely a lot, but if you feel yourself drawn to this dress instinctively, then cower away from it a little in uncertainty, let me assuage your concern–this dress is only as obnoxious as you decide to make it.

Because yes, you could, like I did just a couple weeks ago as shared on my Instagram, fully lean into the brightness and layer more colour on top of this dress to dial it up to 100 (below). You can add an orange cardigan to reflect the final tier of the skirt, tying all the colours together to attain a feeling of balance. You could add a distinctly different but complimentary colour into the mix, like a rich mid green, to break up the sunshine feel of the colours, or you can add gold accessories to put one in mind of a summer heatwave. But you can definitely style this dress in a way that doesn’t feel quite so out there, hints of which I opted for with this blog styling. Here, neutral tones and crisp white will be your friend.

I got a bit excited about how colourful this dress is

Brown accessories, whether ballet flats or tall wedges, wooden bangles or a tan bag, work well as the perfect neutral accessories in summer, because they give the feeling of grounding bright colours without competing with them. Adding such touches to this dress will effectively tone it down, as those accessories won’t add extra ‘busyness’ to the colours of this dress. A white cardigan works similarly if you want or need to wear this piece on a day that isn’t bare-shoulders weather, or if you just need that comfort blanket of covering your upper arms. If you’re wearing it alone, however, adding little more than a simple pair of flats and maybe some cat’s eye sunglasses will let this dress do all the talking without adding conflicting accessories and layers that can make you feel overwhelmed and overwhelming.

Now that we’ve held hands and had a little heart to heart about why this dress isn’t as scary as it might seem, let’s address its finer details. It’s a halter-neck style that comes without the sacrifice of an achy neck, as the design replaces tie halter straps with a fixed back that bares your shoulder blades. It has a hidden side zipper and the bodice features two columns of buttons, of which the right column is decorative and the left column is functional. The bonus there is that you can undo the buttons as well as the zip before putting it on to ensure you don’t mess up your carefully styled hair when you slip the dress on over your head, as doing so gives you ample head room. The tiered skirt has a lovely, relaxed volume that puts one in mind of dreamy vacations in hot faraway places, but it has room for a petticoat if you’d like to wear one. It comes with a matching orange notched fabric belt.

I ordered this in my usual Miss Candyfloss 2XL and it fits a little bigger on me than some of their other dresses do in this size. I don’t think the XL would comfortably fit my bust without needing to open up some buttons, ruining the look of the bodice, so the 2XL is still the best option for me, but if you’re also a 2XL you might need to keep that in mind. For reference, mine flat measures 39 inches flat in the waist with just a touch of give, and 45 inches flat in the bust with another inch or two of stretch, which is definitely bigger than their 2XL usually measures. The skirt is 28.5 inches long.

The Lorena-Sun dress is a limited edition style and it comes in sizes XS-3XL. Still, if after all that you’re still unconvinced about this sorbet-inspired colourway, it’s also available in red as the Miriam-Rose dress in the same size range. Miss Candyfloss ship internationally, and a few select stockists also have this dress.