They say that everyone has a base colour they build their wardrobe around, either black, navy or brown. For me by neutral base has always been black, with a leaning towards navy in summer. Brown, though, has never really interested me, whether in pale near-grey tones or rich chocolate. Until recently. Suddenly, in my ever-expanding love for autumn styling, I’ve begun to wonder whether brown tones suit me, and whether it’s a colour I should be adding in to my wardrobe. So when I saw this Charlotte dress by Lindybop, I knew I had found the contender that could make me try.

Dress: Charlotte dress by Lindybop
Cuffs: Faux Fur removable cuffs from eBay
Faux fur cape: Lillian by Collectif
Boots: Cognac Cecily boots from JustFab (referral link here for money off)

This Charlotte dress is exactly the kind of autumnal dress that comes to mind when I think of cold evenings and browning leaves. The red and white check pattern is subtle and refined, making it a check that will work even for people who aren’t enamored with bold plaids. The brown of the print’s background is light and cool, so it’s easier to incorporate colour into your styling should you wish than it would be were it a dark, rich brown.

A shirt dress style, it opens and fastens with buttons that run down the full length of the front centre. The whole dress is lined in a soft brown cotton fabric that feels good against the skin. The sleeves are three-quarters in length, the most universally flattering sleeve style, and the dress comes with a matching fabric tie belt. The skirt is 25.5 inches long, able to fit a slim-medium volume petticoat without any awkward gaping or straining of the buttons in the skirt. 

I knew when I ordered this dress that it wouldn’t suit me to wear it fully buttoned up to the collar, but as it happens even sizing up into the size 20 in an attempt to achieve a comfortable fit across the bust in the non-stretch fabric didn’t suffice. My bust said that was a no-go, most likely because despite the individual product size chart for this piece, the dress I received came up small against that chart. The bust flat measures 44.75 inches, rather than the 45.3 listed on the website, and the waist measures 37 inches before the non-stretch fabric begins to gape at the waistband between buttons. Compared to the 39.8 inches on the size chart, that’s almost 3 inches smaller. The sleeves, though, were surprisingly comfortable despite my large upper arms, flat measuring 21 inches at the arm hole and 16 inches in circumference around the bicep. All in all, you should prepare to size up above even what the size chart suggests, because technically my 46 inch bust would’ve needed the UK 22, despite the fact that I typically wear a size 18 in most brands.

The Charlotte dress comes in UK sizes 8-22 but some sizes are already selling out on Lindybop’s own UK website. Lindybop does have a US website, as well as stockists all over the world.