I don’t wish to sound discouraging, but do party dresses exist beyond the John Lewis website? I don’t own a single dress that I wouldn’t also wear to work. The only non-negotiable dress code I can think of is a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, and that isn’t of enormous concern to most of us, unless you’re the Duchess of Cambridge, and if you are, welcome! I’m sorry I was so rude about your black suede knee boots, but you really did wear them to death. If you want a classic black form-fitting LBD in the Roland Mouret mould, you couldn’t do better than Zara’s draped shift dress (£59.99; zara.com), which has a lovely wide square neckline.

Source: The Times December 07, 2019 00:00 UTC