[Editor’s note: When we originally published this story, the dress was on sale for $28. It’s back to $35 now, so we’ve edited the prices accordingly.]
I have found the perfect summer shirtdress, and it costs $35. I love shirtdresses and am constantly looking for a good one, but so often they’re either stiff or schoolmarm-y or somehow unforgiving, so I don’t like spending a lot on them. Shirtdresses should be easy, no fuss, soft, inexpensive, and possible to wear to both school pickup and out to dinner. That’s all I ask; my wants are few.
I was at a reliable Target earlier this year to pick up paper towels — it was one of the sad Manhattan Targets that has hardly anything on display — when I spotted this shirtdress in white. It was soft and looked like it would hang easily on the body, but the white was rather transparent and would work better as a swimsuit coverup, so right there in the shop, I went online and ordered the dress in dark blue. I have since also bought the dress in blue stripes and am tempted to also get the pink one and just rotate all three every day this summer.
These dresses are so easy to wash and dry in machines and don’t seem to get crumpled easily, so I have already traveled with them. In fact, I even sat on a paper full of wet silver glitter glue while wearing the dark-blue one (my kids seem to think the sofa is an appropriate place to dry their art projects) and it washed out in a regular wash.
Also, the Target pictures don’t show it, but the dresses can be quite sexy. They have slits up both sides so you can show a little leg when the breeze blows, and you can unbutton according to how sexy you’re feeling. And it has pockets.
It seems to run a bit large, but the material is soft enough that it doesn’t really matter, and it has ties in the front that you can use to give it some shape. And the best thing is that they are often on sale.
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