It’s official. We’re done for.

Opening an article in The Guardian dedicated to the world’s frumpiest dress, complete with an ‘unboxing’ description, has me questioning everything I knew to be true about journalism.

Maybe the world has reached a point where the news is so bad that people will latch onto anything for a few minutes of respite.

Whatever the reason, this ‘sisterhood of the travelling dress’ rubbish that we’re about to unpack is quite a journey.

Still here? Fine – over to The Guardian:

The dress is very good friends with leather jackets, red lipstick, Birkenstocks, Veja trainers, totes and cross-body shoulder bags. It does not have time for the performance of modern femininity – an embarrassment of Lycra, neon and scratchy lace. It can be worn when the weather is intolerably warm and your day stretches ahead of you – work, drinks, dinner – and it won’t chafe or itch. The dress is on your side.

You will have met the dress by now, even if you don’t remember it. Perhaps it was on a train platform, or at a summer barbecue. This £39.99 Zara polka-dot midi dress has become this year’s unexpected fashion success, worn by women across the country and feverishly discussed online.

The dress is apparently sentient and we should fear it.

Adding to the ‘charm’ of the relatively shapeless frock is the fact that it now has it’s own Instagram account called Hot 4 the Spot where people post adoring tributes to the dress:

This account has 25 000 followers.

Caz Wren, 47, a London-based makeup artist, is arguably the reason the dress went viral. Wren bought it in February. “It was perfect for me – it covers all bases.” She liked it because it wasn’t too fitted across the bust – as Wren has a large chest, dresses look unflattering if they have high waistlines.

On 19 April, Wren was working at a studio in north London while wearing the dress. She had styled it with trainers and a blazer, and was applying makeup to a model when she saw the art director Clementine O’Hara walking towards her. In the same dress. “She had a blazer and black boots on, and I’d actually tried on black boots that morning.”

Hold my beer. This changes everything.

Also in the room was their mutual friend, 28-year-old stylist Faye Oakenfull. “I put it on my Instagram as a funny awkward fashion moment,” Oakenfull remembers. “People started messaging me. It escalated from there.” Over the next few weeks, Oakenfull documented sightings on her Instagram. “Everyone started getting really into it.” When Oakenfull went on holiday, she said: “I’m not doing any dress content for a week.” By then, her followers were hungry for polka-dot content and, on her return in May, Oakenfull set up Hot 4 the Spot, describing it as a “safe space for the dress”.

Look, you’re going to have to get to the original article if you want more of this madness. I will treat you to the ‘unboxing’ description I mentioned earlier.

I unfold the dress from its packaging. Despite previously selling out, it is still available online in some sizes. Zara will not say how many dresses have been sold. By now, I have heard so much about it that it feels like meeting an old friend. Slipping on the dress, I understand immediately what the fuss is about. It is more voluminous than I thought – and no one warned me how hard it is to do up the button at the back of the neck. But it feels like wearing a nightie, which is to say wonderful. Out for dinner on Saturday night, I gorge myself on pillowy pide, hummus and kebab and experience the joy of my stomach expanding gently like a self-inflating airbed under a polka-dot canvas, invisible to anyone but me.

Right. Enough of that.

Off you go, back to your day.

[source:guardian]