Why the buffet dress is this summer s just glamorous enough wardrobe staple
This wafty number is all about freedom to move, but also creating a little mystery.
4 July 2021 • 5:00am
The White Company dress
Credit: Phill Taylor
I’d never heard of the term ‘buffet dress’ until I was watching an episode of the latest series of The Great British Sewing Bee a few months ago, in which contestants were set the challenge of making one. As soon as I heard it, it made me think of wafting down for a long, all-you-can-eat breakfast at a hotel somewhere hot and sunny.
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Remember when the smelling salts had to be passed around because Samantha Cameron, wife of the then serving Prime Minister, omitted to wear a hat to Kate and William’s wedding in 2011?
Well, the new Mrs Johnson has gone one further in the unconventional stakes and jettisoned her shoes. In photographs of the couple taken at the garden reception following their wedding service at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday afternoon, she appears to be unshod. In a departure from the modern bridal custom of spending unfeasibly humongous sums on some jewelled footwear, her feet are unadorned apart from some crimson nail polish.
Boris and Carrie are due to get hitched next year
During the course of Boris Johnson’s colourful life and career, it could never be said that organisation is among his strong points.
Book deadlines, Brexit deals, garden bridges, necessary haircuts… A basic rule of thumb is that if it requires foresight, the Prime Minister will probably lose track of time, ruffle his mane, then bumble his way through it.
Well, now he has another date to work towards: July 30, 2022, his next wedding day. Put it on a Post-it, Boris. Set a reminder on your phone. Even you won’t be forgiven for missing this one.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who s the wokest dresser of all? From pineapple leaf eco frocks to Vietnam War shrapnel earrings, the environmentally sound style that s seducing celebrities
Carrie Symonds went to the ballot box last week in a dress made from rolls of unused fabric
She s just one of many women in the public eye flying the flag for environmentally-friendly fashion
Suki Waterhouse and Stacey Dooley love to rent outfits, while Emma Watson has sported upcycled earrings
Livia Firth even received an award from the United Nations for her Green Carpet Challenge, which encourages stars to dress sustainably during awards season
The £400 eco-dress dress Carrie Symonds wore to cast her vote Chloe Street
No stranger to a sustainable sartorial statement, Carrie Symonds has once again used her moment in the spotlight to platform an under-the-radar ethical clothing label.
Walking arm-in-arm with her fiancé Boris Johnson into the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster on Thursday morning to cast her vote in the elections, Symonds wore a floral midi dress from Camden-based label O Pioneers.
The Clara Contrast Dress is made from 100 per cent cotton and comes in a striking pink and green abstract Liberty print with contrasting forest green three quarter length ruffle sleeves, ruffle collar and ruffle hem. The dress, which costs £395, is now sold out, but a few sizes of the same style in other prints are still available online.