Styling the Joe Browns Pretty Pinafore dress at Boston Common

Although it was the heaviest item of clothing in the suitcase, which was straining past the 20kg limit, I couldn’t travel to America without this new grey dress I recently bought from Joe Browns, I absolutely love it! And then, during our month in Connecticut we had the opportunity for a brief weekend trip to Boston, Massatusetts, so we thought we’d use make the most of the New England fall colours to take outfit photos for the blog….

Unfortunately it absolutely chucked it down with rain and the storm was big enough to be given a name, but I can’t remember what it was called now! So on our arrival on Saturday, we braved the weather and went exploring until in the end we gave up and retreated to a small shopping mall! The next day began drizzly, but was so much better than the night before, so we decided to walk to Boston Common – a place recommended in an old blog post by Victoria at In The Frow. Unfortunately the storm meant a lot of the trees there were only just clinging on to a few red leaves, but there were still autumn colours around and you could tell it would have been beautiful there in better weather. We took most of the photos of the dress under the shelter of the bandstand.

I can’t gush enough about this pretty pinafore dress, the style suits me perfectly and flatters my curvy shape, and even though I’m a little late to the Prince of Wales check party, I love the print, so I won’t be worried when it’s not so much in fashion. It’s definitely one of the better quality dresses I’ve bought from Joe Browns and is a good heavy polyester, viscose and elastane mix fabric. The waistline sits quite high, but as the pinafore straps are adjustable, I could make it a bit longer to fit me better.

It’s a really smart dress actually, and I think it would be perfect for work-wear. I wore it with a cream jersey long-sleeved top underneath. There is a faint line of red in the check print, so a red top underneath would also work well. I went with the red for a cardigan over the top for an extra layer of warmth, which was definitely needed that day! It’s a cropped wool cardigan from Lindy Bop and works perfectly with a fitted top underneath and a flared skirt. If you’re going on a date after work, the top half of the dress fits well enough that you could actually take off your underneath layer for more of a sexy look. When I grow up I’ll be one of those people who need day to night clothing!

I wore black leggings underneath for warmth, and black suede ankle boots which I bought from New Look.

If you’d like to see what else I bought in my little Joe Browns haul, take a look at this blog post and my YouTube video of me trying it all on. And if you’d like to watch the vlog of our visit to Boston – I’m currently in the middle of editing the video, so please subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss it!

Shop the look: (The Joe Browns Prince of Wales check Pretty Pinafore Dress and the New Look Black suedette ankle boots are the same; the red cardigan from Asos is similar.) Click the pictures to take you there.

Linking with the lovely ladies at #iwillwearwhatilike at Not Dressed as Lamb

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See the dress in video on my latest Lookbook: