Is this dress frumpy? Please help !!!

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I have quite a lot of nice clothes for everyday wear but don’t have anything that is particularly “dressy”. Part of the reason is that I don’t really go out much, except to work or the occasional casual dinner, etc. I would like to get a slightly more dressy outfit to wear to e.g. my work Christmas drinks. I am in London so it’s more of a casual vibe anyway.

I am 50, short and very slim. No bust to speak of sadly.

I was looking at this dress, as it’s available in petite and I think the bright red would suit me, but I am just not sure if it’s really me:
https://www.boden.co.uk/en-gb/elise-velvet-midi-dress-red/sty-d0810-red

maybe could look good with chunky boots?

Alternatively I was looking at the silver faux leather skirt from Wyse but I think that looks better styled more casually with a black top - but it’s an option…
https://www.wyselondon.com/collections/leather-etc/products/lateisha-faux-leather-skirt-silver

this dress is also gorgeous I think but I suspect it would swamp me!
https://www.wyselondon.com/collections/dresses/products/ari-smocked-dress-leopard?variant=40487396999257

I do look a bit like a younger and skinnier version of the older model (who I think is the co-owner of the brand )!

thanks in advance!

The Boden dress struggles to look good on the model. The other two.colours are better. The other options, imo, are hideous.

If you are tiny op, I think you need something simpler for presence and panache.

The leopard print one is awful, sorry, I don't like animal print anything though.

I love the red dress, it's gorgeous. I like the silver skirt too, very nice.

I love everything you have contributed to this thread. I'm being very nosy but do you work in fashion or an industry with high style standards?

The silver skirt is really great but you will find a cheaper version that’s just as good.

The leopard print item would overpower you I think. I could see a tall, quirky type looking fab in it.

The red is the best. And with your dimensions you won’t look frumpy. Big-boobed women would look like Mrs Claus.

@RandomersAssociation 's suggestions are fine. Fully agree about shopping in ranges aimed outside your age-groups and mixing them.

I've never seen anything by Wyse that I've liked.

Boden dress is VERY frumpy! Love the idea of the silver skirt with black turtle neck!

Not a fan of any of them. If I had to choose I will choose the first one. They don't look froompy to me. Just not my style.

Just FYI (if you haven’t ordered from Wyse before) if the item has puff sleeves, they are really enormously puffy in real life, like 10 x more than how it looks in the picture. I like Wyse but now only order items that don’t have any puff sleeves because of this.

Even Boden petite are cut large. I don’t dislike it but I think you could find something better and more flattering.

The first 'boden' dress is the same as my wedding dress except my dress was longer, white and satin. I wouldn't say 'frumpy' at all, its very on trend as a style now (I guess I was a head of the fashion lol).

The latter 2 take a certain eccentric fashionista type to pull off.

Since everyone is mentioning boobs I will say my DD's looked very 'boobalicious' on my wedding day... not sure how on earth that relates to 'frumpy' though.

I also wore boots under my wedding dress, I'm disabled and would fall over otherwise.

The red dress is great!

I'm fascinated by what material that leopard print is made of - silk & metallic fibres?! It kind of looks like plastic, it's so shiny. I presume in real-life it looks more like silk.

Sorry but I don’t like any of them

I don’t really like any of them and I loathe Boden but the red dress is the best.
would you wear a jumpsuit OP?

I hate the Cawley stuff posted but I love the silver trousers - where are they from @RandomersAssociation

Red dress is lovely .I always steer away from Tops and skirts ,I think Dresses look smarter .Yes I think would look great with Boots

I love the red Boden dress

This has been such an interesting thread!! I really appreciate all the comments.

Casual clothes are so much easier. I will report back but I suspect that maybe I will not go for the Boden dress as while it’s nice, it’s not really me.

i will be back!

I personally would always go for something you can wear again, unless you’re happy for it to be a one off item. That’s what I’ve learned from past one off style purchases anyway.

The silver skirt if you style it right, you could easily wear casually or for parties. You could also wear it again. It’s expensive though and if it were me I’d go for silver trousers as I’d get more wear out of them.

The red dress is lovely. It
can be dressed up or down and worn on other occasions. It is definitely not frumpy.

I love the red dress. It is versatile and can be dressed up or down. You can wear it on future occasions

I love Wyse - that silver skirt is stunning. The Boden dress is frumpy I'm afraid, I think it's the length that's the problem for me.

Correction: The Cawley and silver trousers aren't good and neither is the ill-fitting brown jacket.

Yes. Sorry no other help to offer.

The silver skirt is bloody awful. Very unflattering, bad length, bad width, awful pockets. And silver leather? Just no.