Sunset Abstract Print Bell Sleeve Midi Dress

A bell sleeve midi in a sunset abstract print, mustard, deep green, navy brushstrokes on cream. I built this for a client who refuses to wear black to church on Sunday. She told me, the first time we met, that black felt like a verdict her mother had not yet pronounced.

The print reads as art from across a room and as paint up close, which is the way a good print works: it survives the long look. The bell sleeves are wide enough to swing when she lifts her hands in worship, narrow enough at the shoulder that she can wear a small handbag without fighting the cuff. The fit and flare cut moves the way she does. The skirt falls to mid calf, a length that reads as Sunday in Lagos and as Friday evening anywhere else.

She wears it to brunch after the service. The same dress survives both rooms without translation. Her pastor told her she always looked happy in colour. She told him she had bought it specifically not to be in black. He laughed. She has reordered the cut in a different print twice since.