Many of my clients during my recent styling and shopping sessions have shared how difficult they find dressing for the warmer months. From Spring dresses, to skirts and shorts, it can be a daunting time of year especially as our social calendars start to (hopefully) fill up with fun and interesting events.

In this blog, I wanted to share with you some of my favourite 2021 spring/summer trends that are wearable and useful for your wardrobe, as well as the way to style them over and over again to maximise your investment, starting with dresses.

Spring/Summer dresses for 2021

Let’s start with an easy to access full-outfit choice – the dress. For some of my clients it’s their go-to outfit choice, for others, it’s not quite their thing. Dresses can be a great item for your wardrobe and with a few changes to your accessories or styling they can offer different looks when you rewear them.

Puff Sleeves are in

For my pear shaped clients, any detailing in the sleeve that is voluminous can be a perfect option to balance out their shape, which is great news for the current big trend in dress styles. If you are smaller in the chest than on your hips, look for a dress with puff sleeves and a-line skirt, a dress with a structured waist, or try one with a tiered skirt which will bring you in at the waist and skim passed your hips to bring some comfort and confidence in the warmer months. If you are more hourglass, a V-neck with empire waistline will bring attention to your waist, you will also only want a minimal sized sleeve. If you are a straight body type, bring the voluminous sleeves lower down and try an off-shoulder style with an elasticated empire waist to add definition to your waistline.

For all of the puff-sleeve dresses, you will tend to see some sort of rouching or elastic styling to the top. This is great for bringing definition to the waist but be considerate of where this ends and the softer fabric begins as you will want to make sure it stops at your natural waistline.

Square neck lines

Square necklines are becoming a popular styling for dresses and work beautifully to elongate the neck. If you have a smaller bust you can look for dresses that have this neckline and a delicate strap as you may be comfortable wearing no or minimal support. For larger busts, that are curvaceous, choosing a square neckline that has the sleeves stop by your bra strap will help prevent you from adjusting the sleeves! You will also see many of these dresses with elastic or rouching, this can go a long way to adding support and definition in your waist. For a short option, this Zara sun dress in satin is incredibly pretty and perfect for those who gravitate towards a more romantic style.

Less structure, more floaty styles

From taking in all of the styles, I have seen that the most popular is seemingly poplin or a more laid-back silhouette. This is possibly due to fashion designers gently bringing us out of our comfortable styling for the past year, so expect floaty, summery dresses with minimal structure.  This may feel welcomed, and for some shapes it’s perfect, but for others it can feel a little difficult to wear. If you want to ensure your waist is defined, you can look for those dresses with elastic at the waist, an empire waistline falling to an A-line skirt, or bring a belt to your outfit to define your shape.

Tea-dresses are the perfect go-between for these floatier styles while still bringing structure to define your shape. They are often button-up with a collar neckline, gentle waistline, and floaty skirt. So if these voluminous options just don’t suit your wardrobe, find a tea dress that is easy to throw on and are across the high street in different patterns and styles (they also work perfectly with a casual jumper thrown over).

Which of these dress styles are you looking forward to trying in the coming months? If you are unsure on how to find the right styles for your body shape, or feel overwhelmed by the ways to style the latest trends, please get in touch.