One of the strange things about modern fashion, I’ve found, is that many people view wearing any dress as making a great effort, producing a perceived automatic higher level of dressiness in the beholder, despite the fact that pairing separates together literally takes more effort than donning one dress. A dress by itself is its own outfit, with the option to add more layers and accessories to elevate its stylishness and to adjust for weather and occasion, yet even a casual dress can often be viewed as ‘fancy’ by some. For regular dress wearers, shirtdresses are perfect day-to-day casual pieces, but because they’re collared and generally modest you can wear them in all manner of environments, appearing put together with very little real effort expended. Choose a shirt dress in a classic Horrockses Fashion print from their Joanie Clothing collaboration and voila, your easy outfit is vintage loveliness layered upon vintage loveliness. 

Dress: Forget-Me-Not Stripe Carly dress gifted by Horrockses Fashions x Joanie Clothing
Bangles: Cloud & Coconut bangles by Splendette
Belt: Old New Look
Bag: Old

The Carly dress is a re-release from last year’s first Horrockses Fashions x Joanie Clothing collaboration range, featuring classic Horrockses prints paired with Joanie dress shapes. The Carly dress is a 1940s shirtwaister style midi dress with short sleeves and a collared neckline, with pockets in the skirt, which hits below the knee. Functional buttons run the entire length of the dress front and are the only way to get into and out of this piece. There’s even a secret button hidden under the placket at the waist to ensure there is no gaping there, a feature I truly appreciate at both the waist and bust in any dresses that close by way of buttons. This dress comes with a matching fabric tie belt, which I’ve swapped out here for one of my favourite grommet belts. 

Carly comes in two prints, this blue Forget-Me-Not stripe, a chain of orange-centered white daisies and their basil green leaves dancing in lines across a sky blue background, and an Oranges and Lemon print, in which stripes are creating by alternating bands of, you guessed it, oranges and lemons. Both prints are from the Horrockses archive, created by Joyce Badrocke and Pat Albeck respectively. Both dresses are made from Lenzing Ecovero viscose, a fabric Joanie Clothing use that is derived from certified renewable wood sources, part of their effort to be more eco-conscious and ethically produced brand than is the norm for high street and fast fashion brands. They tout it as being ‘easy wear and easy care,’ two things I can very much get on board with. 

I asked for this Carly in the 20. The waist measures 42 inches flat with a touch of give, while the bust measures 50 inches flat with the same only slight give. The skirt is 30.5 inches long, and would not lay nicely with a petticoat. Carly is machine washable. 

The Carly dress comes in two prints, the Forget-Me-Not stripe and the Oranges and Lemons print, both available in UK sizes 8-22. Joanie Clothing ship worldwide and offer a discount code to newsletter subscribers. 

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Disclaimer: The dress featured in this review was gifted to me by Joanie Clothing with no obligation to review. All opinions expressed are truthful and my own, with no input from any of the companies listed or any other individuals.

COVID-19 NOTE: These pictures were taken alone and safely in a secluded outdoors area with no other individuals present, practising responsible social distancing to help limit the spread of Covid-19.