A Letter From Michelle — The Isolde
A Letter From Michelle
Too tight around the stomach, too hot, or too revealing. Why is finding a simple dress so complicated?
On why 100% cotton is the part that actually matters, where the gathers have to sit, the six things I would not compromise on, and why the Isolde is $64.95.
Three complaints, and I hear all three at the counter in the same week.
It clings at the middle. It is too warm by lunchtime. And it leaves your arms out, so you carry a cardigan you are then too hot to put on.
Each one has a different cause, which is why no single dress ever seems to fix all three at once.
So this one answers them one at a time. The gathers sit below the bust, so nothing is touching your middle. It is 100% cotton, with no polyester in it anywhere. And the sleeves are long, and they push up.
Six things I would not compromise on.
It is 100% cotton, and there is no polyester in it
Not a cotton blend, not cotton-rich, not cotton with something added to keep the price down. Cotton is what lets heat off your skin instead of holding it against you, and a dress that is twenty percent polyester holds it twenty percent of the time — which is always the hour you are sitting in a warm restaurant wishing you had worn something else.
“Bought the white for our trip to Charleston. Wore it with flat sandals while we wandered through the little shops, then straight to dinner. Didn’t feel the need to change.”
Patricia W., GreenvilleThe gathers sit below the bust, not at your waist
That is the single decision the whole dress turns on. A seam at the waist sits exactly where most women over sixty would rather nothing sat, and it pulls every time you sit down. Here the fullness is released higher up, so the skirt falls away from you from the ribs down and never touches the middle at all. Skimming, not clinging, and not a tent either.
“At 66, I prefer dresses that don’t cling around my stomach anymore. The gathers below the bust give this a lovely shape without making me feel like I’m wearing a tent.”
Carolyn M., RoanokeTwo pockets, deep enough to be worth having
Set into the side seams, and cut deep rather than decorative. A phone goes in. Reading glasses go in. Keys go in and stay in when you sit down, which is the part most dresses get wrong even when they do bother with pockets. It is the difference between carrying a handbag around the market and not.
“POCKETS!! Actual pockets that fit my phone and reading glasses. I don’t know why so many dresses leave them out. That alone makes this one a favorite. 😊”
Donna P., LancasterLong sleeves, and they push up
Covered to the wrist, so there is no cardigan to carry in August and nothing to think about in the photographs. And because it is cotton rather than a blend, long sleeves do not mean warm — you push them to the elbow when the sun comes out and let them down again at dinner. The neck is a small V, open enough not to feel closed in.
“I like the little V opening at the neck and the sleeves that I can push up when I’m doing things around the house. Nothing fussy, just a pretty everyday dress.”
Judith K., StauntonFive colors, and not one of them is a project
Khaki, Blue, Green, Pink and White. Every one of them is a color you can put ankle boots or flat sandals under without thinking about it, which is the whole job of an everyday dress. The cut, the pockets, the sleeves and the cotton are identical on all five.
“Ordered the beige first and liked the style enough to get the dusty pink too. I’m retired and practically live in comfortable dresses these days. Both colors are lovely.”
Elaine R., BellinghamSix sizes, and the one thing cotton costs you
S through 3XL, every size the same price, and cut relaxed on purpose, so take the size you usually take. And the honest word, because it is the other side of the thing I have just spent a letter praising: cotton creases. It comes out of a suitcase looking as though it has been in a suitcase. That is the same property that lets it breathe, and I would rather tell you now than have you surprised at the door.
“I wore the khaki one to lunch with my daughter last Sunday. Paired it with ankle boots and a little gold necklace. Such an easy outfit, and I felt nicely put together.”
Marilyn T., AshevilleThe Isolde, against what else $65 buys
| Most $65 everyday dresses | The Isolde | |
|---|---|---|
| The cloth | A polyester blend that holds the heat in | 100% cotton, with no polyester in it anywhere |
| The middle | A seam at the waist, and you feel it by dessert | Gathers below the bust, so nothing touches your middle |
| The arms | Sleeveless, so you carry a cardigan you never wear | Long sleeves you push to the elbow when you are warm |
| Pockets | None, or two that will not take a phone | Two deep ones, set into the side seams and usable |
| The neck | High and round, or cut lower than you want | A small V opening, open enough without feeling open |
| Sizing | Stops at XL, if you are lucky | S through 3XL, every size at the same price |
Why we are clearing them out now
The Isolde was $189.95, and that number was for 100% cotton rather than a blend, two deep pockets set into the side seams, a raised waist with the gathers released below the bust, long sleeves and a full A-line skirt. Cotton on its own costs more than cotton with polyester in it, and the pockets are the part most makers quietly leave out. But the store turns twenty this year, and my daughters Julie and Amy are both at the counter most days now, which is not something I let myself count on in 2006. We wanted to mark it by handing something back to the women who kept those doors open, so it is going out at a little over a third of what it was.
And the honest reasoning. There is a kind of dress you put on at nine in the morning and never think about again until you take it off, and almost nothing is made that way any more. That is what you are buying. At $64.95 you do not have to make it last five years.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,369+ reviews
$189.95$64.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 66%
- 100% cotton — no polyester anywhere in it
- Two deep pockets, set into the side seams
- Gathers below the bust, so nothing sits at your waist
- Long sleeves that push to the elbow
- A small V opening at the neck
- A full A-line skirt that skims rather than clings
- Khaki, Blue, Green, Pink and White
- Sizes S through 3XL, every size the same price
- Cotton creases — that is what lets it breathe
- Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
Every color and every size the same price · while sizes last
One more thing, and then I will let you go.
Go and find the last dress you bought and look at the label inside the collar.
If there is polyester in it, you have just found out why you were warm at that lunch, and it was never you.
Read the label on the Isolde the day the box arrives. If it says anything other than cotton, send it back within thirty days and we will refund you.
Go and pick your color.
With love and gratitude,
— Michelle · The Hayes Family Hamptons
PICK YOUR COLOR — $64.95 →This is a personal letter from Michelle Hayes, co-founder of The Hayes Family Hamptons. Customer reviews are quoted as written. · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.