Boden dresses - am I completely wrong then?

[NigellasGuest]

Perhaps I'm just a frump but I've seen a few dresses in the new collection which to me look pretty good. I've only looked at them online I must admit. But I've read on here recently people saying Boden dresses are pretty awful.

Here are some examples:

with huge chunky pearl bracelet and fishnets
with opaques and boots
ok it's a wrap dress

BTW I'm talking about all of the above in NAVY.
Can you tell me are these really so bad? or am I just totally misguided?

www.stories.com have bought loads from them recently

what a good site! I had never heard of them. How do you get to know places like this? Perhaps I'm just unaware. I like this one.

www.stories.com/Ready-to-wear/Dresses/Pleated_dress/582938-548274.1

Ooh thats lovely I ordered a grey pleated one but its not here yet

this one

Love those &otherstories dresses. I love that site. Shoes in particular.

Boden by its very nature is frumpy. Didn't they say they were aimed at women who were afraid of being sexy?

I will never understand the love of Boden on here

I don't get the Boden-love either. My MIL wears lots of Boden and she's a not-very-trendy over 60. I think those dresses would look great on Alexa Chung, but if you're not tall, long of leg, slender, young and 'cool' then they'd be frumpy. Sorry.

I think the Boden dresses are very classy. With the right shoes and accessories they could look quite chic.

I have a friend who wears lots of Boden and she looks great in them. I don't see what makes them frumpy. They tend to have shape and bold colours. What's frumpy about them?

Everything: the colours, the shapes, the cut, the material...

Here's a half-decent rip-off of the Marni dress if anyone's interested. 90cm is way too short for me sadly.

OP, I really like the 2nd Boden one which you linked to. Infact I have something very similar from MaxMara. i would wear that in a Laura Bailey style: messy bun, chunky necklace & either high heel mary-janes, ankle boots or biker boots.

IME Boden often gets the proportions of the skirts of their dresses wrong. That is what can make them frumpy. However I love a good midi dress and IMO a lot of Boden dresses can be vastly improved by decent styling.

All those navy ones are awful, the material looks thick and really dull and flat - like the dress is absorbing all the light. Which would make them hideously unflattering to anyone who isn't slim.

I love Boden, I have bought at least one dress from them every season for the last 4/5 years. I see nothing in the winter collection that tempts me at all.

I agree about Boden needing styling well. I bought a lovely summer dress from them, but it needs to be worn with a belt and some interesting shoes to lift it. I've had tons of compliments.

Boden is frumpy because its all so timid. Never quite the right length. Too much fabric in the skirts. Horrid thin and over stretchy jersey. Never quite getting the detail bang on. IMO its aimed at the 55+ age range anyway. If you look at the reviews they are all by older ladies.

The skater dress, that said, might just work...depending how you wear it.

I quite like dress one and two, I buy mainly jumpers and basics from Boden, rarely a dress. I agree they are suited to slim flat chested types.

DollyDowser exactly, thank you! that's why in my OP I said how i would accessorise these dresses!

I am still none the wiser as to why the dresses I linked to in my OP are so inferior to what other people have linked to (with the exception of the uber-designer stuff). I really like several items from Reiss and the Stories website linked to by Noddy is a godsend - I'm going to be trying them, that's for sure.

For the record, I have not bought at Boden before so haven't seen anything "in the flesh", and I'm basing my thoughts purely and 100% on what I'm seeing on a computer screen.

Also I'm booking to see a HOC consultant in September for a style consultation (not colour) because I think that could help me!

It's true I am reading certain things into the Boden stuff on screen because I know what it's like in real life. E.g. I ordered a ponte dress a couple of seasons ago when they first started doing them and it was the right size, but it was shapeless and swamped my slimmest bits. It was like I'd wrapped myself in a picnic blanket. Since then I've been paying closer attention to the photos. You can sort of see when they're going to be slinky and fitted and when they're not.

Thing is OP, I once fell for judging Boden on the pictures. I'd never liked their style, so I'd never ordered anything before. I was looking for a wool dress & saw some I thought I'd give a go. But when the dresses arrived I was appalled. The colours were dreary or too bright, badly cut, oddly shaped, seams in the wrong place, & peculiar material. They all went back.

Looking at the selection in the OP. The first one has ghastly flower buttons and is very granny. The second skater dress, you can get ones that are much better cut - LK Bennett do one for example. Why does the skater dress have a seam down the middle of the chest? And 2 diagonal seams across the skirt? It will hang strangely.

The third comes in dismal colours, ghastly dowdy flower print, the waist band is too wide, and an odd height - neither empire line nor sitting properly on the waist. [/rant]

Some of their kids clothes are fine though...

I thought I'd give the Sophie dress a try, really love it (esp at 25% off ) looks much better IRL.

Lovely 60s shape, gentle hand wash, lovely cut.

www.boden.co.uk/en-GB/Womens-Dresses/Day-Dresses/WH593/Womens-Sophie-Dress.html