Why buy pretty summer dresses if we won't be able to wear them?

[JackOrMeryl]

I got a couple of emails from fashion brands today - so many pretty summer dresses. But I often find that our summers (bar a couple of weeks, usually) are not hot enough to wear short-sleeved or sleeveless dresses because I get cold. I WFH and unless I'm in the sun, the house is rarely baking hot.

Such a shame because whenever I go on holiday somewhere warm like the Mediterranean, it's so nice to wear dresses every day and every evening. And I can't just put a (denim) jacket on. To be warm I need something against my skin, like a long-sleeved tight/thermal t-shirt.

Anyone else?

I don’t remember a rainy summer. I remember being hot last year!

Exactly this - unless it's high 20s I can't have my legs out.

Gosh I'm the opposite. I live in dresses and sandals from April/May to September/October, I just chuck a cardigan or denim jacket over if needed.

In the south and wear mine all summer long, plus I love a good selection for holidays

I can't relate at all, I don't find dresses very comfortable I feel like I've forgotten to put something on when I'm wearing them, but am almost always warm.

Maybe you just need to treat dresses as sometimes clothes like snow gear.

I also tend to run cold, my solution isn't very popular on here though! I wear ankle length cotton black leggings with summer dresses and sandals or canvas shoes (like toms/ skechers bobs/ converse) depending on the weather, and wear a short or long sleeve thin tshirt under the dress if it is strappy, or a vest top if it is not, and a thin cotton cardigan over the top. It has to be very warm for me to have bare arms and legs!

What do you do on holiday? Does it mean you can never go to the pool or beach and need to avoid places like that, and only go places where you can fully cover yourself due to cold?

Well it very much depends where you are. I will be in flip flops soon (hates shoes) and then vest and denim shorts or summer dress with a hoodie / denim jacket if needed and will be that way until Autumn. SE London.

Also have you seen a doctor. I am sure there are some Medical conditions where you feel the cold so much. I’d explain to them it needs to be high 20s or you’re so cold you need to cover your legs up.

@JJathome If I do a beach holiday it needs to be high 20s, ideally low 30s. Happy to sit on the beach in the UK with my coat, jeans and a jumper on while the DC swim, though, and have done loads of times. And I did recently have blood tests but all is normal - I just run cold.

I wear them to work. Cardi and sandals.

So very happy with lots of summer dresses.

Wow that’s really unusual, I ve never seen anyone on the beach in say mid twenties in their coat jeans and a jumper. That must be really hard for you.

how do you cope in winter if you need to dress like that in summer?

I WFH north based and wear summer dresses pretty exclusively from May until the end of September.

I’m comfortable with bare legs once it goes over about 22 degrees. I rarely find it warm enough in the evening to wear skirts or dresses in this country. And I get cold feet these days, it has to be about 25 degrees before I swap trainers for sandals.

If you really want to wear a summer dress (and I agree that nude tights are awful, just so uncomfortable) Sloggi do long leg knickers that work quite well both for warmth and contraception.

It’s not the cold that stops me wearing summer dresses it’s the bloody rain. Who wants to wear a gorgeous dress only to ruin it with an anorak.

I wear lots of layers and feel cold quite a bit in winter. And invested in a duvet style coat.

To be fair, at mid 20s I’d be ok in jeans and a jumper on a beach, maybe even just jeans and a T-shirt if it was sunny with no wind.

Absolutely with you on this OP! My dm always buys herself and my dcs lots of summer clothes. She loves them. But I feel they are such a waste unless we are going somewhere warm. We are lucky to get a few weeks of warm weather every year. Nearly always windy so need a cardi/jumper over them. Defeats the purpose imo. My own wardrobe barely changes in summer, unless it's roasting I'm gonna be cold 😅 We live near the sea though so it's breezy 90% of the time.

I tend to wear long summer dresses. To keep me warm on all but the warmest days, I wear leggings underneath. These don’t show due to dress length plus trainers with socks. I do have a couple of very thin dresses for really hot weather. I wouldn’t need loads of these. This year, I think my 15 yo is going to object to my dresses lol as I’ve lost weight and started wearing leather look leggings… ah well.

Glad I’m not the only one. I have a wardrobe full of pretty summer dresses that are hardly worn.

Hmm, interesting replies. I think I must tolerate or prefer the cold. Last year was underwhelming but I find it's hot for months in the South, too hot. Even yesterday I was lounging outside in my PJs ! I think it was 11c. Obviously not hot, but I was comfortable. I can't stand the 35c summers we're getting. They seem to be longer too. When I was a child, a month of warm weather was normal and even then it could be chaotic like Spring, now it's dry and warm for at least five months and two of those months might be sweltering. Low 20s is ideal weather for me.

I go on holiday where it's very warm. Something like 30s. Then I can quite happily lie by the pool all day.

Only ever seen someone on the beach in the mid 20s in jeans and a jumper once. Well it was slacks. And an elderly lady. And to be fair she looked like she was hot and uncomfortable.

i see folks trying to cover up due to body image issues, but that’s something different.

i feel sad for you, that must be incredibly difficult.💐

You don't have to buy summer dresses. SE UK corner here,we got a puppy born in July, October she had never seen rain and was terrified, she didn't want to go out in the garden.(Sunday we took them to a nearby beach, there was folk laying down wearing t shirts. I have a few dresses, life is mostly garden and dogs. The dresses have to be multi purpose, because only have a pension. Autumn winter, skinny t shirt under, cardigan or jumper over,thick tights boots, ankle or knee depending on how cold.

They may not for you but I buy and wear them spring to autumn, I just put a little cardi on if it's a bit chilly, maybe tights and then a jumper over as we head to autumn.

I do like the aesthetic of pretty dresses with big boots and slouchy knits, though.

Sounds like being indoors in the shade is more of the issue, for you. Maybe treat yourself to a couple and keep them for BBQs and summer days out?

I love summer dresses

Great for wearing to work in the warmer months
They skim over my thighs were as shirts don't
They make trips to the beach easier to get changed and things

Also by the warmer months I'm tired of wearing jeans so like to mix it up a bit