A summer dress with somewhere for your hands to go.

Three things usually go wrong with a striped summer dress on a fuller body. The skirt is gathered onto a seam at the natural waist, so all its fullness is added at the widest point of the torso. The stripe runs in one direction over the whole dress, which means a single unbroken line has to cross both the bust and the hip — and any strain across the bust visibly bends it. And a real buttoned front gaps between the buttons at the bust, then opens again every time you move, so you end up wearing a vest underneath.

The Mariel avoids all three. Its seam sits under the bust, not at the waist, so the gathering starts above the stomach. The stripe direction changes at that seam — horizontal across the bodice, vertical down the skirt — so the dress reads as two separate panels and neither stripe run has to cross both the bust and the hip. And the line of wooden buttons is trim sewn onto a closed front, not a working placket, so there is no opening there to gape.

Why it works

• Seam set under the bust: the skirt's fullness starts above the stomach instead of being gathered onto the widest part of the waist
• Stripe direction changes at the seam: horizontal on the bodice, vertical on the skirt, so no single stripe has to run over both bust and hip
• Wooden buttons on a closed front: a decorative line rather than a fastening, so there is no placket to pull apart at the bust
• Softly gathered A-line skirt: the fullness is spread evenly all the way round rather than pressed into pleats at the front
• Side seam pockets: set into the gathers at hip level, where the surrounding fullness keeps them from pulling open
• Plain short set-in sleeve: no cuff, band or elastic at the sleeve hem to press a line into the upper arm

Fit note

Relaxed through the body with no shaping below the bust seam, so your usual size is normally right — sizing up mainly adds width across the shoulders. Worth knowing: the button line down the front is decorative and does not open, so do not count on it for getting in and out. The stripe is fine and the cloth is light, which is what makes it comfortable in heat and also means it creases where you sit; it drops out again once it hangs. Midi length, sitting around mid-calf. Sizes M to 4XL.