Our new multiway dress from Autograph is our hardest working dress design yet because there are so many different ways to wear it. Garment technologist Siobhan explains the thinking behind this super-versatile dress.

The idea for this dress came about while I was packing for a weekend break where I was only allowed one carry-on bag for my flight.  I don’t know about you, but I find packing a frustrating experience  – even on a good day –  so I started to think, wouldn’t it be fab to be able to pack one dress that would take me from a day’s shopping,  to meeting up with friends,  to dinner.  A dress that I could squeeze into my one little carry-on bag that wouldn’t crease,  that could be flung out of a bag and still look a million dollars!  

So, the little brain cells started ticking away furiously.  Eventually, a stretchy jersey dress started to come into focus – so comfortable to wear and impossible to crease. The basis of the dress was a boob-tube bodice maxi dress. Then ties were added into the front empire seam – the hardest working pieces of fabric you will ever see!  You have to try the dress on yourself to see what I mean. These ties can transform the dress into a short-sleeved, quite modest dress (perfect to wear to work).  They can also be twisted round the body to create a halter-neck dress, with more or less coverage on the shoulders, a one-shoulder dress,  a tribal-neckline dress, a sweetheart neckline… the list is endless. 

Shop Autograph Multiway Dress (available exclusively online).

One of the girls working on the dress development with me is using five of the dresses for her bridesmaids – how brilliant is that!  They can all wear them quite modestly for the ceremony and then change the ties to make the dresses glam and strappy for dancing later on.  They’re all bound to do something slightly different with the ties,  but that’s the beauty of the whole thing.  They’ll all be wearing the same dress, just different, personal versions that they have created themselves.  I can’t wait to see the photos! I know they’ll get to wear their dresses over and over again which makes them amazing value. This dress will truly earn its place in your wardrobe.

So, we’re dying to hear from you about how you get on with this dress. We have visions of  trying-on sessions with your best friend, armed with her digital camera,  snapping away furiously when you come up with more and more ways to wear the dress.  We can’t wait to see how many ways you can find to wear it.  We had to stop after about 25 as our model was getting dizzy spinning around!

Shop all dresses

Watch the video below for more inspiration on how to wear this dress:

Let me know what you think of the dress by leaving a comment below. How would you wear it?