A letter from Dianne: the patchwork dress at Dubbo
I spent two summers dressed in my husband’s fishing shirts. This is the first dress I have ever written a letter about.
Six things two long floral dresses get right that a borrowed long-sleeved shirt and a pair of trousers in thirty-four degrees got wrong, written down by a customer, not a shop.
Dianne Prescott · Customer · Epping, Sydney · 5 min read
At my skin check last winter the doctor froze three spots off my arms and told me, kindly but firmly, to keep the sun off my arms and legs from now on. I am 64, I have sixty summers of freckles to show for it, and I did exactly as I was told, in the only way I could think of. For two summers I went out in one of Graham’s long-sleeved fishing shirts and a pair of long trousers. Then, at the end of October, at the giraffe-feeding platform at the Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, a woman held out a leaf of lettuce to a giraffe in a long patchwork floral dress, and covered every bit as much of herself as I was covering, and looked like she was on holiday.
Her name is Jocelyn, she is from Gilgandra, and she cooked for shearing teams for thirty years. Her dress was the Rhonda, red flowers, blue polka dots and big pink roses pieced together like a quilt. Mine is the Maya, soft mint with watercolour blossoms, and I went back for a Rhonda as well. They are from Thompson Sydney, a small Australian boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. I ordered the first one the week we got home, fully expecting to send it back. I did not, and I wrote to the boutique to tell them why, and they asked if they could put my letter up for other women to read. So here it is, the six things these get right.
Covering up in summer, if you have tried it lately, comes in two piles. The first pile is the sensible one, long trousers and a long-sleeved shirt, usually your husband’s, which does the job and makes you look like you have come to read the meter. The second pile is the pretty one, sundresses and shorts, which look lovely and leave your arms and legs out in the sun for the whole day.
Covered up and looking like a tradesman, or pretty and burnt. I stopped accepting that a woman my age has to choose, and Jocelyn on the giraffe platform was the proof.
Jocelyn and the giraffe. I took it for her on her phone, and she sent me a copy that night.
It covers the same skin as the fishing shirt
This is the thing I would tell you if I only had a minute. From the V-neck the dress falls all the way to the ankle, and the sleeves stop just past the elbow. The listing for the Maya says the three-quarter sleeves keep the sun off your arms, and that is exactly what I wanted. Add a hat and the sunscreen, which I still wear because the doctor would have my head, and that is the same skin Graham’s shirt and trousers were covering, in one thing you pull over your head.
“I bought it because my doctor told me to cover my legs. I kept it because everybody asks where it is from.”
Heather M., NarromineYou look like you are going somewhere, not going to work
The fishing shirt covered me, but nobody ever looked at it and thought I was on holiday. The Rhonda is a patchwork of big blocks, tiny red flowers on cream at one shoulder, one great pink rose on the other, blue with white polka dots lower down. The Maya is the quiet one, a soft mint with pink and coral blossoms and peach lilies scattered over it. Either way, you look down at yourself and there is something lovely there.
The Rhonda up close. Graham says it looks like the quilt on his mother’s spare bed, and he means that kindly.
“It is so cheerful. I wore it to the show and three women stopped me before I had got to the pavilion.”
Sue B., TrangieOne gathered seam high at the waist, then a skirt that moves
Long trousers in the heat stick to the backs of your knees. These have one soft gathered seam up under the bust, and from there the skirt falls loose and roomy all the way down, so nothing pulls, nothing clings, and it moves when you walk. There is still a shape to you, which a borrowed shirt never managed. I wore the Maya round the backyard the afternoon it came, and I was still in it when Graham lit the barbecue.
Me in the Maya, out the back by the Hills hoist. Graham took it, so be grateful the top of my head is off.
“Comfortable all day and it still has a shape. I did not look swamped, which is what I always worry about with a long dress.”
Kath L., Peak HillSide pockets, which the fishing shirt did have, to be fair
Both dresses have side pockets. Graham’s shirt has two on the chest, which is the only thing I will miss. On the platform Jocelyn had her sunglasses in one pocket and a spare lettuce leaf in the other, and she had both hands free for the giraffe and the rail. I was holding my hat, my handbag and the cart key, and I dropped the lettuce.
“Pockets in a long dress. My phone and my glasses go in them and I have not hunted for my handbag since.”
Elaine R., MolongTwo prints as different as two women
I liked that the Rhonda and the Maya are the same dress in two completely different moods. The Rhonda is bright and busy, the kind of print that starts a conversation. The Maya is soft, the colour of the gum leaves out the back, with the flowers spaced out so plenty of mint shows between them. I wanted the quiet one first, and I am still a little surprised that I went back for the loud one.
The Maya, the afternoon it arrived, with the jacaranda out the window. Banjo sat on the mailer bag.
“The mint is such a soft colour. It looks fresh without making me feel like I am trying too hard.”
Judy F., CoonabarabranLong to the ankle, the same cut from S to 5XL, and twenty-odd designs
They come in every size from S right up to 5XL, the same cut the whole way up, which I wish more places would bother with. The Rhonda and the Maya are only two of them. The collection runs to about twenty-two long floral designs, from white watercolour roses to big peonies and lilies, and I spent an evening on the sofa choosing while Graham watched the cricket. Jenny from over the road saw the Rhonda on me at the letterbox and asked if I had got lost on my way to a garden party, which from Jenny is a compliment.
Both of them on the bed, the mint on the left and the patchwork on the right. Two summers of fishing shirts, finished.
“I bought one and went straight back for a second print. They are the only long dresses I own that I actually wear.”
Dot P., GeurieThe Rhonda and the Maya, against the way I had been covering up
You can cover up in almost anything. I know, because I have tried most of it, and most of it belonged to Graham. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Covered, and looking like you have come to fix something
Trousers that stick to the backs of your knees
Navy, khaki or whatever was clean
Two of everything to put on in the heat
Nobody has ever asked where you got it
V-neck to the ankle, sleeves past the elbow
One gathered seam, then a loose skirt that moves
Patchwork florals or soft mint watercolour
One dress, pulled over your head
Asked about at a giraffe-feeding platform in Dubbo
About the price
I will be straightforward about the price, because it was the thing that made me suspicious. The Rhonda and the Maya are both $76.95, and they were $154.00.
The boutique says the spring sale price is about making room for the summer stock, selling directly, with no middleman taking a cut, and that at this price they are barely making anything on them. That is their arithmetic, not mine. What I can tell you is that Graham paid more than that for the fishing shirt, and I bought two of these.
If the doctor has told you to cover up and you have been doing it in whatever was hanging in the wardrobe, this is the dress I would hand you instead. Keep the hat.
Dianne
The Rhonda & Maya Vintage Floral Maxi Dresses
- ✓Rhonda: patchwork of red flowers, blue polka dots and pink roses
- ✓Maya: watercolour blossoms on soft mint
- ✓V-neck and three-quarter sleeves
- ✓Gathered waist seam, relaxed skirt to the ankle
- ✓Side pockets
- ✓Sizes S to 5XL, free delivery across Australia
Spring sale on now. The middle sizes are already going.