Wedding guest dress - splash out on silk or stick to budget?

[PopsicleSchtick]

I have two weddings to attend this summer (a cousin’s and a friend’s) - both similar in style (country hotel) but with completely different guest lists, so thankfully I only need one dress for both!

I’ve fallen in love with dress A from Hobbs. It’s definitely over budget, but it’s also pure silk, and part of me is thinking “You get what you pay for”.

https://www.johnlewis.com/hobbs-ann-floral-pure-silk-dress-multi/p113606997

However, £350 is a hell of a lot. So I’m also looking at dress B - also from Hobbs, but viscose, so significantly cheaper. I don’t think the quality will be quite as great, but on the other hand, anything from Hobbs isn’t going to be your standard Primani viscose:

www.johnlewis.com/hobbs-carly-floral-dress-blue-multi/p113526626

What would you do? Also open to other suggestions! I’m tall (5ft 10) and a size 12, with dark hair; I find bolder colours and prints tend to suit me.

Have you looked at LK Bennett? Have some lovely occasion wear in striking colours or more subtle fabric and patterns that might ensure you could definitely wear them for another 5 years at parties etc? Someone will probably be along to say they’re dated designs, but I think many of them are really elegant. Similar prices as the first dress, but if you get lots of wear out of them, worth it - and they have great sales!

https://www.lkbennett.com/Occasionwear/Wedding/Wedding-Guest-Dresses

Agree. I think both dress are elegant and flattering, including the cheaper one. They are styled with shoes, the dresses you linked to are styled with shoes, I don't see a huge difference there. Not every body type can pull off some of the current trends of massive puffy sleeves. I would look like a pioneer with a wagon with my puff sleeve floral dress, or a granny in a nighty. Bit of a rant sorry. Yes I know these looks are current, but don't always seem very modern to me.

The phase 8 is ok but I think the tie belt looks kinda cheap and no better than op's choices.

I much prefer the phase 8 dresses, I think they are more suited to your age. I do agree the one’s you have linked seem more appropriate for someone older. But then i’m no fashion guru.

@PopsicleSchtick i love the silk Hobbs one, I’m early 30s and I don’t feel it’s old at all. Happy to give you a code for 15% off Hobbs if it’s available directly with Hobbs? X

Sent you the code in private message just incase you wanted it 😊

I wore a Rixo dress to a wedding - got so many compliments (i’m 58) and got a seamstress to sew up the neckline slightly . Hobbs is frumpy

Thank you! 😍

I’m really surprised you would think that. I see lots of printed dresses at weddings - in fact, I think they’re a safer option for guests than a plain dress, as you risk picking the same colour as the bridesmaids.

As for the photos, I’m the cousin of the groom at one wedding and a non-bridesmaid friend of the bride at the other. I doubt I’ll be in even five photos across both weddings!

Sorry, but stick with the first silk one. I do not understand the love for Phase Eight and their fussy dresses.

Phase Eight dresses generally don't look to me to be remotely suitable for anyone under 50. Tbh - nor anyone over 50 but are the sort of over fussy, at no point in history ever actually fashionable "occasion dresses" that are supposed to be suitable for over 50s.

The best that can be said about them is they're not as terrible as JJ's House

You keep using the word “fussy”. What do you mean?

I think Phase Eight varies. Agree a lot of their dresses are on the old fashioned side especially their floral prints. However there can be some good uns among the plain dresses and the jumpsuits. They can cut well.

Edited to add: the two floral Phase 8 dresses the OP has noted, sleeveless/high neck with a large floral, I would not put in the old fashioned category.

Anyway not everyone wants to be cutting edge especially at a wedding.

The one you linked- very bold colours and pattern, the gathered neckline, the tie back bow, the handkerchief hem. Put them all together in one dress and it's too much. Most Phase Eight stuff is over-embellished- too many details on one dress.

It's also too short. If longer it might have carried it off but not at just below knee lenghth

Both very nice but no 1 the better of the two. So the question is ....

How much wear would you get out of the silk one? Is it something you could and would wear on other occasions or would it be stuck in the wardrobe forever?

If youre not going to get much wear out of the £350 option I would go for the £170 even if money isn't tight. Added to which the cheaper one is machine washable.. SIlk is dry clean only....

On balance I'd go for the second one. Its very pretty.

Looks thin, cheap and overpriced.

Op sounds like you like the silk one best
mid go for that if I was you as sounds like you know what you want

I actually think the second, cheaper one looks nicer - a more feminine cut

Edit: They are both beautiful but depends on your personal style and which one YOU love x

Kingston is a great idea. There’s a Phase Eight there too, a Mint Velvet in Fenwick which can offer some decent wedding guest options - and they have a good Never Fully Dressed section in Fenwick, as well as some much higher end stuff which is good to check. The Bentalls centre and John Lewis there covers a lot of ground for brands as well. Have fun!

Don’t you think John Lewis at Oxford street is better ? Then maybe kings road ?

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/6301074605-hobbs-petite-silk-light-green-dress

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/5828007425-hobbs-creammulti-silk-dress-petite-size-p14-brand-new

I don't know what size you are but worth looking on Vinted

Petite is too small - I think op said she was tall and likes bold colours.

Yes, I’m 5ft 10. Lovely dress, but I don’t think I was ever petite 😄

@PopsicleSchtick, but do you see why the Vinted dress @Hallebere posted is better?
It is still classic, which seems to be your style (mine too) but the pattern is more delicate and unusual. Plus the style - with its round simple neck, no handkerchief hems, no extra frills - is cleaner, less fussy. And the material is silk - you can always tell the polyester is polyester and it just looks cheap and sweaty.
Think about really really expensive designer clothes - look at some of the floral dresses by Oscar de la Renta, for example. The colors and print are unusual - it isn't a usual color (like a primary color that exists in the smallest paint palette designed for a child) and the floral print, isn't a cliched print that it feels like you have seen a million times, but it has some interest, some rarity - it looks, perhaps, like a botanical print taken from the pages of a rare 19th century book, or the flowers are particularly painterly.
It is this rarity in fabric pattern (and the quality of the fabric and cut, of course) that makes a dress look special and extremely expensive, and timeless rather than immediately dated. So your challenge then is to look for such a print, such a more unusual color, on the high-street.
And you can find it!
Another thought - I know you are drawn to the classic styles (which is great) but as you have the height and can carry bold colors, have you looked at MeandEm? They have some really lovely two-piece sets, in solid bold colors, which someone with height could wow in. (They also have some lovely dresses, although again more solid color than floral or print, but you could really carry a monotone look very stylishly).

Agree. Both op's original pics are still better. The phase 8 looks cheaper.

I just could not even begin to imagine that I would spend 350GBP on the Hobbs A dress, for those patterns to not match up so badly.

It is terrible. I would not be able to appreciate this dress on someone, as all I can see is that awful pattern mismatch.