LORRAINE | One-shoulder maxi dress

Three weddings this year and I could not face buying a third dress. This one did all of them.

The trouble with wedding season is that the dresses are all either strapless, which is out of the question, or covered from the collarbone down and aging by ten years. There is very little in the middle, so most women buy the second kind and then avoid the photographs.

Lorraine takes the middle. One shoulder is covered and the other is bare, which gives the top half a line without asking you to hold anything up, and the asymmetry pulls the eye diagonally rather than straight across the bust. From there it flows to the floor without a defined waist, so nothing binds during a long reception. Brown, black, green, blue and olive green, all deep enough for evening.

Why women our age keep coming back to it

• One shoulder covered, nothing to hold up. The asymmetric neckline gives you the interest of a bare shoulder with the security of a real strap on the other side.
• No waistband through a long evening. The dress flows from the bust to the hem, so sitting through dinner and speeches costs you nothing.
• It reads as an occasion dress without shine. The shape carries it, so there is no sequin or sheer panel to date the photographs.
• Sizes from XS to 3XL. The same cut runs across the whole range rather than stopping where most evening dresses stop.

Buy more, save more

• Buy 2 items, save 10 percent
• Buy 3 items, save 15 percent
• Buy 4 items, save 20 percent

The discount is applied automatically at checkout.

How it fits

Sizes XS through 3XL, with an easy fit through the body. The measurement that matters on a one-shoulder dress is the bust, because that is where it has to stay put; check that one against the chart and take the larger size if you are between two.

30 days to change your mind

Order it well before the event and try it with your shoes. Thirty days for a full refund, no restocking fee.

A few recent reviews

I was worried about the bare shoulder at my age. It looked elegant, not young.
Noreen K., Gilbert

The olive green is a proper deep green. I have worn it to two events already.
Charlotte W., 58

It stayed exactly where it was all evening, which was my only real worry.
Dixie L., Flagstaff