Where can I find beautiful summer dresses at a decent price?

[ijustlovecoffee]

I’ve seen these four dresses and love them, but the cheapest is £42 and that’s a lot of money.

I really want a good collection of 4 or 5 beautiful summer dresses that I can wear for work, on holiday, at the weekend etc.

I am a size 18, not too confident about my arms but also I want to stop hiding them just because of silly insecurities.

I’ve got a bit of an apron belly so like to hide that with floaty skirts.

Any recommendations welcome!

We are also the workers not being paid a liveable salary. If we’re talking about inflation we cannot ignore the erosion of salaries over the same period.

pls dont tell someone wanting clothes to cover their body up that they need to just pay more. That wasn’t the OPs question.

If you read my comment carefully, @DeathBanana I have outlined several routes for accessing inexpensive good quality dresses. (That is, well made, in long lasting fabrics, thus likely to look good for several years. Meaning one doesn’t have to constantly waste money re-buying.)

Many people have suggested places for buying new dresses within the budget the OP has set.

The idea of buying 4 new dresses at once would have been pretty unusual for most people until fairly recently. In my living memory anyway. Now, the OP may have gone through significant weight or other body changes which necessitate buying many things, and that's why people have suggested Vinted, eBay, sales.
But the idea of being able to buy something decent for very little money is built on the exploitation of people with far less than us in the UK.

New Look

Oh come on, you can’t compare life in the UK to the third world! Nobody ‘needs’ 5 summer dresses. As a society, we’ve just got used to excessive consumption.

Vinted, eBay and charity shops are all overflowing. We have more clothes than we know what to do with. Nobody is going naked.

Yup. I used to pay around £30-40 in the 80s. You can get clothes astonishingly cheaply now.

Which is why everyone buys so much stuff and the planet is drowning in fast fashion.

Not sure if this has been suggested. I'm awake at 1.30am so not read everything but can you afford to order a couple of new, more expensive dresses, try them on at home and get a feel for what you like and what size you are in a particular brand. Then, send them back and look on vinted for similar. Or do that in a shop if they have your size. I tend to order stuff free to Next stores (as my size is never in stock), try on the next day in store. I may keep the odd special item, then return the rest immediately and shop around for second hand versions.

Agree with all PPs but Asda was a really good call! Sleeveless / cap sleeve midis, size 16/18 (Asda comes up big), in ascending price order.

You should be able to dress your summer for under £100 😎

https://direct.asda.com/george/women/dresses/D1M1G20C1,default,sc.html?prefn1=bucket_size&prefv1=18%7C16&prefn2=length&prefv2=Sleeveless%7CCap%20Sleeve&prefn3=dress_length&prefv3=Midi&srule=prod_g_price_asc

These are around your budget and really nice! https://yesfriends.co/collections/dresses

I got this from Tu and it’s £26, cotton, lined and comes in various colours, wearing it today, very happy with it!

Have to say I scoffed when a pp said up thread that you can pick up NC dresses new with tags on Vinted for a tenner. Then I did a quick search and ate my proverbial hat 😁

Can I ask … with fees and postage even £15 ish is a risk for me if it doesn’t fit and I’m not familiar with the brands sizing. Can I ask, how true to size are their dresses?

It depends on the dress. I have a style that suits me and I buy an 18 and it fits perfectly - but I have also bought an 18 in a different style which was too big and a 20 in another and that was too small!! 🤷🏻‍♀️

They do have good resale value so you should be able to sell it on if it doesn’t fit.

I am a size 18/20

I’ve picked up some bits on Matalan, fingers crossed they’re lovely!

To be honest Vinted is great for me for some things, but when it comes to NC dresses I’m a little reserved - I have an apron belly and I hate things that cling to it. So I like a flowy dress and some of their cuts can be a little odd.

Same here. 4 brand new dresses a year the ones I like (not cheap) would deplete my salary.

I have one dress in my wardrobe at the moment. I’m not going to spend £100 or £200 on one new one when I’ve just got 3 for £51!