Sylvie | Botanical Print Tassel Tie Midi Dress

Stems that grow upwards, sleeves that stop gripping at the forearm.

A fine stem print is a directional print, and directional prints fail quietly. Wildflowers on thin stalks have a right way up, so the artwork has to be placed on the panel rather than tiled across it — tile it anyway, which is what happens when a design is stretched onto a bigger garment, and the stems end up running sideways under the arm with flower heads halved at the side seam. The sleeve is the second problem. A gathered cuff is one of the least-graded parts of a dress: it barely changes size as the garment goes up, so on a fuller arm it bites into the forearm, leaves a mark, and makes the sleeve balloon above it. And a pale, fine weave lets through more light than a dark one; these dresses are almost never lined, and the skirt is the biggest panel, so that's where you notice it.

Sylvie is drawn and built for that. The botanicals run upright the whole length of the dress and carry over the shoulders and down the sleeves as one placed composition, not a repeat, so nothing is cut off mid-stem. The cuff is a soft shirred frill rather than a tight elastic band — the gathering is held in the fabric itself, so it gives at the arm instead of gripping, and it finishes at the elbow rather than halfway down the forearm. The V is a narrow split with the tie at the top of it, so you set the depth once and the knot holds that point. Below that the dress falls straight from the shoulder with no waist seam at all, and one gathered tier above the hem adds width where the skirt has to clear the hip.

Why it works

• Upright placed stems: the flowers grow up the dress and carry over the shoulder, rather than being tiled and halved at the seams.
• Shirred frill cuff at the elbow: gathered into the fabric instead of a tight band, so it gives at the arm rather than gripping the forearm.
• Narrow V with the tie at the top: the knot holds the depth you set it to.
• No waist seam: nothing has to land on your natural waist, so sizing for the bust doesn't misplace a seam.
• Gathered tier above the hem: width arrives where the skirt needs to clear the hip, so it falls rather than pulls.
• Soft-draping weave at ankle length: the skirt hangs in narrow folds close to the body line instead of standing away from it.

Fit note

Loose the whole way through with no fastenings — it pulls on over the head, so take your usual size. The weave is fine and the ground is pale, so it does let light through, most noticeably across the skirt in bright sun; a slip underneath if you would rather it didn't. The sleeves are cut to finish at the elbow and the frill will sit a little higher on a fuller arm, which is where it is most comfortable anyway. Sizes M to 4XL.