There are not many Dolores Doll dresses currently available on the Collectif website but I have been trawling the internet to see if I could find any offerings from previous collections. Luckily I am very dogged with these sorts of searches so persevered when I didn't initially find a great deal of options...and was thrilled when my hard work eventually came up trumps.
My first purchase was the Collectif Dolores Doll Ivory Hibiscus dress.
Image courtesy of Collectif
I fell in love with the fabric of this dress the moment I saw it. It's so delicate and feminine. I was a little concerned that it might be too pale for me but I found one on the ASOS Marketplace Collectif Boutique for a bargain price so I knew I had to go for it.
As with the Polka Dot dress, I went for a size 12/medium.
It's perfect! The size 12 fits exactly the same as the Polka Dot dress, meaning that it fits my waist nicely but still has room for my boobs. The skirt flares from the waist into a full swinging circle. It makes me want to twirl and twirl all day!
The fabric is even more beautiful in real life than in the promotional photo. The background colour is ivory/off-white, which is warm and complementary to many skintones. The floral pattern is subtle yet eye-catching and I feel like a real girly girl when I wear this dress. There are greens with a hint of blue mixed in, making it an unusual but stunning combination of soft colours.
The material is 98% cotton and 2% elastane so it is lovely and cool for those hot summer days (which seem a long way off at the moment!). The added stretch means that the dress fits your curves comfortably and without too much constriction.
The dress is machine washable, which makes it very easy to care for. However I think I will mostly be washing my Dolores Doll dresses by hand in order to extend their lifespan. I machine washed my Polka Dot dress inside out on a cold wash but it has aged the fabric a little, so I don't want that to happen again as I honestly think I would cry if I had to part with a Dolores Doll.
I love the length of this dress. I am only 5'4 and it comes down to a little below mid-calf. This suits me very well as I don't like to have my legs on show if I can help it, unless I can wear very thick tights or leggings, which of course would look completely wrong with this delicately-coloured dress.
As you can see, I have teamed the Dolores Doll Ivory Hibiscus dress with killer heels in nude. It would be great to pick out some of the colours in the dress and find matching accessories - heels in a complementing green would really make this dress pop.
I decided to add a belt to see how it worked.
What do you think? I can't quite decide if the white belt works or not but it was the best match from my entire belt collection, which is pretty extensive. I love how the bright white belt draws the eye to my waist, contrasting against the colours of the dress.
As it's winter now, I know that I won't be wearing this dress without something to cover my arms. I threw on a shrug/bolero in a lovely shade of teal blue and here are the results:
I think it works! The colour of the shrug makes the colours in the dress more blue, which I like as blue has always been 'my colour'. But the shrug also works alongside the greens and ivory, creating a much more winter-friendly outfit.
The shrug comes from an independent store in my local town but you can get heaps of great colours and styles of shrugs/boleros from Excite Clothing.
It's best to stick to plain nude heels with this combination as I think adding any further colours or shades would be a mistake and the whole outfit would end up being too busy. In these pictures the focus is on the dress and the bolero, with further interest being created by the belt.
So, what do you think? What colours and accessories would you team with the Collectif Dolores Doll Ivory Hibiscus dress?
