Wedding guest dress help please

[orangemouth]

I feel like I've looked at thousands of dresses online and I'm not getting anywhere so I'm coming to Mumsnet for help. I would go shopping in real life but I don't know where to start and they are full of autumn stock now anyway. The wedding is in Cyprus so will be warm. I have found two dresses that I like but they are not quite right. This one is lovely but I'm worried it's too formal for an abroad wedding. www.karenmillen.com/product/karen-millen-soft-tailored-drape-midi-dress_bkk31391?colour=red&size=8&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=UK_FB_ASC_PUR_BAU_WEB%2BAPP_DPA_060126&utm_term=smartly&utm_content=UK_24022026_NON-PROMO_BRAND_SS_NEWIN_PRICES_STATIC-DPA&utm_id=120237205041850301&fbclid=IwYW9zYgTr-htwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtATAAYWRpZAGrMLU_GCK9c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEej6S3xaCe7SGaBk_gkjdwdMQZSA9BUYoG6as0ESOnPaKOwh-NBxTMZm3ABjc_aem_CDIlzXME2zNb6Q6zvVzfsQ
And I really like the shape and style of this one but I don't think the pattern will work. https://www.phase-eight.com/product/kaz-checked-one-shoulder-midi-dress-PE221348.html?utm_source=google&utm_source_platform=google_ads&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=NEST_PhaseEight_UK_EN_BoF_Shopping_Brand_Test&utm_id=23743485733&utm_content=agid_198389062709-ad_818465655357&utm_term=&utm_matchtype=&network=g&device=m&placement=&targetid=pla-2299630432750&utm_tpl=live&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23743485733&gclid=Cj0KCQjwv4XUBhDBARIsAE6bQUTb5MQASUlt54Ytyo8Dyt7XwVvLPj72MEMGP9psIjSbvlJTBphzD20aAuwIEALw_wcB
I'm 42 and a size 10-12 with a large bust and I really don't want something that clings to the stomach area. Green is a no. Grateful for any help mumsnet can offer.

Agree, @EleanorMc67 - I’m the exact same vintage as you, and the 80s felt like a dressing up box of infinite possibilities! You could dress however you pleased, and everyone was so much more individualistic.

Mind you, we also had the advantage of charity shops (and relatives’ wardrobes) chock full with beautifully made, quality pieces in expensive fabrics, which could be had for pennies. Plus lots of small, inventive fashion brands and still a lot of UK manufacturers.

DD and all her friends (who do all look very cool) love charity shopping, but it’s thin pickings - mainly just a load of recycled cheap tat and fast fashion getting knocked out for a few quid less than it cost to start with.

I feel very lucky to have been born when we were, for lots of reasons, but not least the brilliant freedom and creativity of those times.

Funnily enough, I was just talking to my partner recently about how lucky I feel now to have been a teen/young adult in the 80s/90s! That conversation was more about music, which I was (& am) hugely into - but it then led me to thinking about how there was such huge cross-fertilisation between the two then, in a way that I don't think there is now?

And as much of my inspiration came from male pop stars as it did from female ...

The minimal restrained black-&-white cool of Sade & Corinne Drewery.
The lace & velvet frills & furbelows of Adam & the Ants & Duran Duran.
The painted Germanic androgyny of Steve Strange & Phil Oakley.
The jeans, DM boots & tweed overcoats of The Smiths & Joy Division ...

I loved all of it!!! And not a stylist to be seen back then ... (was it even a job?)

All of this! Plus limited media and no phones or computers, so everyone discovered their own niche styles and interests.

Life was so much more of an adventure when you still had to go out and find things out for yourself or through word of mouth, rather than every image, place, idea and experience being homogenised and served up in a 10 second tiktok. The world feels so much smaller now, and not in a good way.

You need to read up about Anthony Price if you think bands like Duran Duran didn’t have stylists! Of course they did. Image has mattered for many decades. Those who copied the looks of the top bends were very much driven by stylists.