Boden Abigail dress

[Poblano]

The Boden Abigail dress is significantly reduced in the Black Friday sales. Looks like it could be a winner for office days.

I know it's been in the range for a while, does anyone have it and have any thoughts on fit, quality, prints, whether it's actually as good as I think it could be...?

https://www.boden.co.uk/en-gb/abigail-jersey-dress-black-ribbon-wave/sty-j0493-chk

MN is odd.

You get threads where's a wholesale love in for some "gorgeous" dress (which often isn't) Then you get threads like this where there's a wholesale pile on over what's basically an inoffensive, every day, work dress.

It's not my style but if the material is any good and you like it, it doesn't deserve the vituperation it's got.

@IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle
okay Johnnie 😉

It's hideous and I'm not sure what kind of professional job you could wear it for and be taken seriously. The only place for this dress is the impossibly skinny mum who dominates the playground and dresses up for the school run.

Maybe you need to get out more if you genuinely can't imagine anyone wearing a dress like that to work.

It's not a great dress. I wouldn't buy it but some of the comments are OTT. Seen far, far worse.

I was really looking for responses from people who had tried the dress on themselves, rather than people who had just looked at the picture.

I agree that mumsnet can be a funny place. I once posted a picture of another dress, asking what shoes would go with it, and was told by most people that the dress was horrible (which is not what I'd asked). In real life I get compliments every time I wear the dress 😆

I have a couple of these dresses and like them and get compliments when I wear them, but find it can be hit and miss with the thickness of material- the ones I kept are thicker, but some I tried on had a very thin feel to it which wasn't nice. For reference I'm 5ft6 and size 8/10 (since the waistband height /dress length can be an issue as well)

I think you need to try it on. On me, (5’7” size 12) the cut was just a bit blah, and I think it’s fine to have a blah t shirt or jumper, but if all you are wearing is a dress it needs to work harder.

Heavens forfend, how ghastly the thought of a 60 something woman actually being seen in public

Fwiw I was a size 6/8 when I bought them and at 5’3” the petite length fitted well. They were perfectly flattering, washed well, and didn’t need ironing. They’re just not my style anymore.

I tried this dress ( I’m 67 size 12 5’2”) in the short sleeve version. I sent it back because of the silly ruched middle, it didn’t sit on my waist and it was very unflattering.
I used to buy a lot of the Boden ottoman style dresses to wear at work ( school), lovely fabric, washed well, didn’t need any ironing. The quality in recent years has definitely declined.

why are all the models wearing the same pendant? weird.
if I want a good work dress that I can just throw on, I go to (much maligned on here) Seasalt. Better quality I reckon.

@garlicandsapphires , definitely better quality.
I think that maybe whoever lent them jewellery in the past so they're using the stylist's own necklace. It's a fairly standard necklace, so it might be a subliminal ploy to get us to identify with the brand.

I like ot. Would possibly work for me, am 5ft nothing and size 12. Will report back! (To note, I often rhink the prints will work for me and find them dreadful in real life, hoping this one is not in that category...)

Update - I ordered the Abigail dress. Well actually I ordered several, to try different sizes, lengths and prints.

In terms of fit, the regular is knee length on me (I'm 5'6) so perfect. The waist is in the right place for me, but I do have a short body and long legs. The sleeves are really nice and long. I find the neckline really flattering. The jersey material is quite thin, but it drapes better than some of the thicker jersey dresses I've had in the past.

I also ordered the Thea dress in a couple of colours but that was nowhere near as flattering on me.

I've kept 2 prints in the Abigail dress, the cognac cube geo print and the green ribbon wave print. Plan to wear them with tights and flat Chelsea boots. Not the height of fashion perhaps, but very much suitable for my office environment.

I have this dress in blue, it fits nicely on me and I like it. I’m a size 10 and 5ft10.

The material is thinner than some of my old Boden summer dresses though so I agree with pp on the quality.

TBH I rarely buy anything from Boden now.

Changing the subject slightly but there’s a really good sale on at boden currently - I for £130 off some boots I’d been looking at for ages. I agree their stuff isn’t as good as it was quality wise but the sales are epic. Does make me wonder if they’ll still be around in a few years though as 70% off seems a bit drastic!