Story

The Wallflower is my favorite dress in our entire FW16 collection. After a dress I had planned for the collection did not work out the way I intended, I was at a loss for what to replace it with. I knew I wanted a dress with short, flowy sleeves and a bias-cut skirt that hit below the knees, but I couldn't figure out what other design elements to include. As with many problems, the answer to often lies within — in this case, it happened to lie within my wardrobe, in which hung a vintage wrap dress I've had for years but had only recently rediscovered.

That vintage dress has a lot of problems, it being poorly constructed and in minor disrepair among them, but its main problem is that I find it difficult to wear without accidentally flashing someone throughout the day, due to either the too-loose surplice top or the skirt without enough overlap. I realized it would be simple to make a wrap dress that was elegant and figure-flattering but also modest, so I sat down at my drafting table and designed the Wallflower. With a fitted bodice and just enough skirt overlap to avoid a sartorial disaster, the Wallflower is the wrap dress of my dreams.

Design Details

• Main fabric: 90% khadi cotton / 10% tussar silk
• Lining: 100% organic cotton
• Designed, cut, and sewn in Arkansas, USA
• Full wrap dress with two-button closure on waist
• Fully lined
• Semi-fitted bodice and waist; bust darts for shaping
• Two slash pockets in front
• Skirt is cut on the bias for extra flowiness
• Waist tie is not pre-tied and is attached to dress in the back
• Measures 40" long
• Hand wash cold, line dry, warm iron as needed (learn more about garment care here)

Materials

This dress is made of handloom fabric woven by hand in India. Handloom was the way basically all fabric was made from the dawn of time until the invention of electricity and modern milling techniques; it requires a high level of skill and craftsmanship, using the same techniques that were used centuries ago. The handloom process uses zero electricity, and the industry employs many skilled workers in rural areas of India where other jobs are scarce, making handloom super sustainable in addition to being breathtakingly beautiful. (Read more about handloom on our blog here.)

This particular fabric is a blend of khadi (i.e., hand-spun) cotton and just a little bit of tussar (i.e., wild) silk. It's soft and gauzy, warm and breathable, rustic and refined, all at the same time. The fabric is ivory-colored and has stripes of black, blue, grey, green, and tan; it pairs well with black, light and dark denims, and our Mulberry Twill fabric.

The dress is lined with 100% organic cotton double gauze, produced in India, in its natural undyed shade of ivory. It is unbelievably soft and breathable.

In addition to the fabric, this style uses 100% organic cotton thread, two vintage mother-of-pearl buttons, and organic cotton labels.

Fit

Take a look at our Size Guide to find your size.

The Wallflower is fitted in the waist and the bust, so use your waist and bust measurements when determining your size. If your measurements fall in between sizes, I recommended sizing down.

Alyssa is wearing a size Small and is 5'8" with a 35" bust, 26" waist, and 37" hip.