The One Easy Dress I Feel Like Myself In Again

One easy boho-print midi you pull straight on — cool, comfortable, with real pockets and enough colour to feel like yourself in the mirror again.

On a warm morning, getting dressed had become more effort than it was worth. Matching a top to bottoms in something cool enough for the heat but nice enough to leave the house — by the time I'd worked it out, I was already too warm and half out of patience.

And what I did own left me feeling plain and invisible. The comfortable things were shapeless, the prints made for my age either shouted or read as dowdy, and I'd resigned myself to the same beige and navy, day after day, feeling like myself in none of it.

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 easy, colourful thing she said had become the one she reached for on every warm day. Before I tell you what it did for my summer, 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 Luna, 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.

1One easy dress you pull on and love

We made it to be the easiest thing in your closet on a warm day — one boho-print midi you pull straight on, with no top to match and no outfit to assemble. It's soft, cool and comfortable the moment it's on, and it has enough character that you feel like yourself in it. You reach for it, put it on, and you are dressed and out the door — liking how you look.

2Cool and airy through the hottest days

The fabric is light and airy and the loose, tiered 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.

3Skims everything, never clings

It falls from a soft empire waist into a gathered, tiered skirt, so it skims right over the middle and hips instead of gripping them — and because there is room in it, it sits just as comfortably at the end of the day as the start, on the days your body decides to change its mind. Relaxed, but pretty with it.

4Real pockets, even in a dress this pretty

There are real pockets set into the skirt — deep enough for your phone, your keys, a tissue, your hands. You can carry the essentials in the dress itself and leave the bag at home, and your hands finally have somewhere to be when you stop to talk.

5A boho print with real character

The print is a proper bohemian one — colourful and joyful, but beautifully done, right down to the contrast border across the waist. It's the kind of thing people notice for the right reasons: it looks chosen and characterful, not costumey, and not like a dress bought for an older woman. A little colour back in your day, and a little of yourself back in the mirror.

6Six prints, and a size for you, from S to 5XL

It comes in six different boho prints — each colourful, easy and just as characterful as the last — and it runs from S all the way to 5XL, cut relaxed so it fits and flatters a real range of bodies. A dress made to fit the woman, not to make the woman fit the dress.

The Luna, against the summer dresses you've been buying

	Typical summer dress	The Luna
Getting dressed	Matching a top and bottoms in the heat	One easy dress you pull on — done
In the heat	Heavy, or clings the moment it's warm	Light and airy — the heat moves right through
The fit	Clings to the middle, or a shapeless sack	An empire waist and tiered skirt that skim
Pockets	None — a bag in your hand all day	Real, deep side pockets for phone, keys, hands
The print	Plain, or shouts, or reads matronly	A colourful boho print with real character

Why they're clearing it now

They priced the Luna at $149.95 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 pulled it on the next warm morning, and I've barely worn anything else since.

I don't usually write things like this. But the Luna has been the thing I've reached for on every warm day since it arrived — cool, easy, comfortable from noon to night, and colourful enough that I feel like myself again in the mirror. If summer has become something you get through rather than enjoy, this is the one I'd tell you to try, while the sale is still on.

— Margaret Ellison · Mount Pleasant, SC

See the Luna — $54.95 →

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.