The floral dress I feel beautiful in — and it's forgiving right where it counts.

On the patchwork dress with a high waist that skims the middle, a puff sleeve that covers the upper arm, and a full skirt that moves — a dress like a painting. Why a small South Carolina family made it this way, and why they're clearing it now.

By Sandra Thompson · Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Posted September 2026 · 6 min read

I am 63 years old, and a summer dress had come to feel like a gamble I usually lost. The pretty ones clung where I did not want them to and bared the arms I would rather cover; the comfortable ones hung like a sack and made me feel older than I am. Somewhere in between was a dress that made me feel beautiful, and I had all but stopped believing it existed.

So I wore the same pants and a loose top to every warm-weather occasion, and felt a little plain at every one of them while other women floated by in something lovely.

Then a woman in my church group here in Mount Pleasant arrived at a summer lunch in a floral dress so beautiful I could not stop looking — and she was clearly comfortable in it. I finally asked her. She laughed and told me to 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 Hardy, 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.

1A high waist that skims the middle

We set the waist high, just under the bust, and let the skirt fall full and free from there, so it skims right over the middle instead of clinging to it. Fitted where it flatters, and forgiving everywhere you would rather it were.

2A puff sleeve that covers the upper arm

We gave it a soft puff sleeve that covers the top of the arm — the part most of us would rather keep to ourselves — while staying short and cool for a warm day. Covered where it counts, without a heavy sleeve.

3A pieced floral, like a painting

We pieced it together from panels of vintage floral — green, blue and cream, each one different — so it reads like a painting rather than a printed dress. It is the kind of thing a stranger crosses a room to ask you about.

4A full skirt that moves with you

We cut the skirt full and long, to a graceful mid-calf, so it moves and sways with you as you walk. Elegant enough for a wedding, easy enough for a summer lunch, and lovely either way.

5A whole outfit in one dress

We made it as one easy dress that does the whole job — on over your head, and you look entirely put-together, with no top to match and no bottom to choose. The most you will do is pick your sandals.

6It fits the body you have

We make the Hardy from a size XS all the way to 2XL, with a high waist that flatters and a skirt with room to move. It is meant to fit the woman — not make the woman fit the dress.

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

Why they're clearing it now

They priced the Hardy 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 one is going out at less than half of that.

I ordered mine that evening. It arrived a few days later in a kraft-paper parcel with a short handwritten note from the family. I have reached for it more than anything else in my closet since.

I do not usually write things like this. But I had spent too many summers in the same plain pants, sure that a dress could not make me feel beautiful and comfortable at once — and this one does both. If that sounds like you, I hope you find your size before it clears.

— Sandra Thompson · Mount Pleasant, SC

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