Smart/casual office dresses

[stella69x]

What brands are good? I am fed up of buying cheap nylon/polyester rubbish but have no budget to speak off. What brands should I be looking at on eBay?

I'm a 10/12 apple shape (bigger ribs, smaller hips), 5'6" and prefer above the knee

watching.

Anyone?

I tend to buy work dresses in phase eight/whistles/baukjen and I'm similar colouring to you. I have big boobs but slimmish hips and not much difference between my waist/hips (not sure what shape that is!)

I've just bought this:

shell dress

whistles

I find the shape of their dresses very flattering and if you're looking to buy second hand I often see their dresses coming up.
Not on ebay but both whistles and phase eight at debenhams have 25% off at the moment too.

Not colouring, I meant height.

GAp have 30% off at the moment and COMPTOIR have some silk dresses in the sale that look good, too www.comptoirdescotonniers.co.uk/eboutique/t976-all-winter-sale-50-off?page=all

Fenn Wright Manson do good jersey dresses which are generally wrap and you can smarten up, also Great Plains.

Hobbs or Hobbs NW3 have a lot of good smart casual dresses, they've worn well for me and are washable. A few from M&S have washed and worn well. Uniqlo and Jigsaw are also favourites of mine.

I have that whistles dress and I like Hobbs and LK Bennett. I occasionally find decent well priced dresses in M&S which have the advantage of being machine washable

Watching. I like boden

Hobbs, LKBennett, Jaegar, and Jigsaw are my fave smart office dresses.

I have slightly more caual wrap style frocks from Next and Great Plains too.

All of those that have been suggested and I would add Me&Em. I got their cowl neck dress in the sale for £34 and it's an amazing dress, very flattering.

Thanks for all the ideas, I will be spending a happy evening browsing for bargains

I would also say Hobbs. I don't pay full price, but I do stock up in the sale, where dresses are marked down from around £150 to about £70. Definitely not cheap, but good quality, they wash and wash (even when they say dry clean only ), and the fabrics are pretty decent. I bought a summer dress in the Chrustmas sale which is silk, and reduced to only £47. Really looking forward for warm enough weather to wear it.

Don't want to highjack this thread, but what shoes do you wear with your dresses? I really struggle with this for office-wear in summer. Do you wear tights or not (I always feel a bit under-dressed without them, but in summer?). If so, what colour? I never resolve this problem of shoes with dresses in summer, so end up wearing trousers.

I wear tights and flat boots in winter, bare legs (Johnson holiday skinned) and ballet flats or sandals.

Muted metallic shoes go well with most things in summer, or nude or tan.

I wear smart ankle boots or shoeboots and tights in winter, or stillettos. Alternatively I have some pointed flats and pointed tan heeled shoes ready for the summer.

I love all the many phase eight jersey type dresses with rouched stomach I have purchased so look out for them. Very flattering and comfortable.

If buying new try TK Maxx for bargains on higher end stuff. I have also been impressed with some of the stuff I've picked up in matalan over the years - some fitted cotton/linen shift dresses that still look great now.

Or is it ruched? I've never written that word down before