The Occasion Dress I Felt Beautiful In Again

A detailed lace fit-and-flare with a high neck and a full skirt — elegant, covered where you want to be, and the one you feel truly beautiful in.

Somewhere in my fifties, I stopped expecting to feel beautiful at an occasion. Appropriate, yes — tidy, suitable, fine. I dressed to not be noticed, and I'd quietly made my peace with being the older woman in the back of everyone's photographs.

The dressy dresses I could find were either fussy and stiff, or the safe, forgettable kind that felt like giving up before I'd even arrived. And so many of them left the parts of me I'd rather cover on show. There never seemed to be one that was elegant, comfortable and covered, all at once.

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. Before I tell you what it did for how I felt at my niece's wedding, 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 Charlotte, 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 dress you feel beautiful in — not just appropriate

We did not set out to make an "age-appropriate" dress. We set out to make one a woman catches sight of herself in and thinks, oh — there I am. Detailed lace, a fitted bodice, a full skirt that moves when you do — beautiful, not merely present. If you have spent a few years dressing to blend in at other people's occasions, this is the one that puts you back in the picture.

2A high neck and lace sleeves that cover you elegantly

So many occasion dresses leave bare exactly what you'd rather keep covered. The Charlotte covers you where you want to be — a high lace neck that sits softly at the throat and short lace sleeves that cover the tops of the arms — but it does it all in delicate lace, so it reads as elegant rather than closed-in. Dressed, covered and lovely, with no shawl to throw over the top.

3A defined waist and full skirt that flatters

It's cut as a fit-and-flare — gently nipped in at the waist to give you a proper waistline, then a full lace skirt that falls away from there and skims right over the hips and legs. You get a real shape where you want one and ease where you don't, so it flatters without clinging to a single thing you'd rather it didn't.

4Intricate lace that looks far more than it cost

The whole dress is covered in intricate, delicate lace, right down to a scalloped hem — the sort of detail that reads as expensive the moment anyone sees it, and that people can't help but ask you about. It's a proper, special-occasion dress that looks like it cost several times what it did.

5Ready for every occasion on your calendar

At this stage of life the invitations keep coming — the wedding, the christening, the milestone birthday, the nice dinner out — and finding the right thing for each one is an ordeal. The Charlotte waits ready on the hanger, elegant and right for any of them, so the next invitation is a pleasure to open instead of a problem to solve.

6Two elegant colours, in a size for you, from S to 4XL

It comes in two beautiful colours — a rich fuchsia pink and a soft ivory — and it runs from S all the way to 4XL, cut so the fit-and-flare shape flatters a real range of bodies. A dress made to fit the woman, not to make the woman fit the dress.

The Charlotte, against the occasion dresses you've been buying

	Typical occasion dress	The Charlotte
How it makes you feel	Appropriate at best, invisible at worst	Beautiful — the one you feel like yourself in
Coverage	Bare arms and a low neckline, or a shawl	A high lace neck and lace sleeves that cover, elegantly
The fit	Clings to the middle, or a shapeless sack	A fitted waist and a full skirt that skims the rest
The detail	Plain, and looks it	Intricate lace that reads as expensive
The occasions	Nothing right — the shops are an ordeal	One dress, ready for any of them

Why they're clearing it now

They priced the Charlotte 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 and felt something I hadn't in years about a dress — a flutter of anticipation for the next occasion, instead of dread.

I don't usually write things like this. But the Charlotte gave me back something I'd quietly let go of — the feeling of walking into a room and liking what the mirror showed me. Elegant, covered, comfortable, and genuinely beautiful. If you've been dressing to blend in at other people's occasions 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 Charlotte — $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.