The Wildflower Dress I Felt Beautiful In Again

A flowing wildflower-print maxi — poppies, lavender and daisies on soft cream — that's cool, covered where you want to be, and genuinely beautiful.

For years, I dressed to not be noticed. Plain, safe, forgettable — I'd stopped expecting a dress to be beautiful, or to make me feel anything at all. Somewhere along the way I'd quietly let go of feeling lovely in what I wore, and I hadn't even noticed it going.

The prints made for women my age either shouted or read as dowdy and matronly, so I stuck to the same beige and navy — and the comfortable things were shapeless, and the pretty things too warm. Beautiful and comfortable seemed to belong to someone younger.

It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who told me to stop settling and try a dress from a small family boutique here in South Carolina — one she said made her feel lovely again. Before I tell you what it did for how I feel, I think you should read the Clarke family's letter first.

The Clarke family runs a small boutique here in South Carolina, family-run since 1986 — three generations, mother to daughter. The dress is called the Anneliese, and their letter walks through the handful of things they refused to compromise on. I am going to let their words carry it, because they say it better than I could.

1The wildflower dress that makes you feel beautiful again

We covered it in the loveliest wildflower print — poppies, lavender and daisies scattered like a whole summer meadow across soft cream — because we think a woman deserves to feel beautiful in what she wears, not just tidy. It's the kind of dress you catch sight of yourself in and think, oh, that's lovely, and the kind a stranger stops you about. Beautiful, not just appropriate.

2Cool and airy through the hottest days

The fabric is light and airy and the loose, flowing cut lets the air move right through instead of trapping the heat against you. On the warmest afternoon it stays cool and away from the skin — a dress you can actually enjoy the summer in, not just get through it.

3Covers the tops of your arms

The sleeve comes to just below the elbow — it covers the top of the arm, the part most women would rather keep covered, but stops short so it's still cool and easy in the warm months. No bare upper arm to think about, and no cardigan to throw over the top and ruin the ease of a summer dress.

4A relaxed, roomy fit that never feels tight

It's cut relaxed and roomy, so it falls loose over the middle and hips without gripping a single thing — but the flowing shape and the beautiful print keep it looking elegant rather than shapeless. Nothing pulls, nothing clings, and you can breathe — as comfortable at the end of the day as it was at the start.

5A flowing maxi that moves beautifully

It's a long, flowing maxi that moves and drapes beautifully as you walk, and covers as much as you'd like — the sort of relaxed, graceful thing you feel lovely just standing in. Effortlessly elegant, and completely at ease, both at once.

6A size for you, from S to 5XL

It runs from S all the way to 5XL, cut relaxed and roomy so it fits and flatters a real range of bodies rather than only one. A dress made to fit the woman, not to make the woman fit the dress.

The Anneliese, against the dresses you've been buying

	Typical summer dress	The Anneliese
How it makes you feel	Tidy at best, invisible at worst	Beautiful — the one you feel lovely in
In the heat	Heavy, or clings the moment it's warm	Light, airy and flowing — the heat moves through
Your arms	Sleeveless, or a cardigan over the top	A sleeve that covers to the elbow, and stays cool
The fit	Pulls, grips, and rides up when you move	Relaxed and roomy — nothing pulls or clings
The look	Plain, or shouts, or reads matronly	A lovely wildflower print people stop you about

Why they're clearing it now

They priced the Anneliese at $159.95 when it launched, and it sold at that price all season. But for America's 250th, the Clarke family wanted to give something back to the women who have kept their doors open since 1986 — so every dress is going out for a little over a third of that.

Mine arrived folded in tissue with a little handwritten note on top. I held it up to the light, saw all those little poppies and lavender sprigs, and felt something I hadn't in years — a flutter of delight at a dress.

I don't usually write things like this. But the Anneliese gave me back something I'd quietly let go of — the feeling of catching sight of myself and liking what I saw. Cool, comfortable, covered where I want to be, and genuinely beautiful. If you've been dressing to blend in the way I had, this is the one I'd tell you to try, while the sale is still on.

— Margaret Ellison · Mount Pleasant, SC

See the Anneliese — $59.95 →

This is a personal account from a Clarke Family customer. Margaret was not paid to write it. · The Clarke Family · Family Fashion · South Carolina, since 1986 · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.