A little grey dress (Review of the Revolve Dress from Encircled)

Website of Encircled (Canada)
The Revolve Dress (Canadian site)
The Revolve Dress (U.S. and International)

Darrin: "I went to a great deal of trouble to find a present that would express exactly how I feel about our marriage..."
Sam: "And you bought me a PRISON GOWN!"
(Bewitched, "I'd Rather Twitch than Fight," 1966)

No, Samantha didn't like her ugly grey bathrobe. Grey carries along all kinds of boring baggage, doesn't it? Almost as much as black, and without the chic. So if I said that I wanted a plain grey dress with long sleeves (and was prepared to spend more on it than Sam's bathrobe and Darrin's new jacket put together), you might think I needed my head read. Why not buy something brighter and prettier? Why not save a lot of money and buy a dress at the thrift store? (I looked many times, but didn't find anything that fit this particular gap.) Even the Encircled website photographs of the Revolve Dress gave me a few misgivings. They seem a bit severe, and none of the photos make the dress look much longer than tunic length (although the model is a lot taller than I am. Well, most people are taller than I am).

Even so, I kept circling back to the Revolve Dress. When the opportunity to order one came a little sooner than I'd planned, I decided to at least try it out; if it looked all wrong, I could return it.

The dress arrived very quickly, in a no-frills mailer pack. But this is no "prison gown." It's made of a soft, very luxe-feeling fabric called micromodal, which is knit and dyed right in Toronto. Worn frontways, the fabric drapes from the shoulders, down the front.

Reversed, you have a boatneck neckline, with the drape in the back. Generally I avoid boatnecks (a case of Post-Traumatic Stripe Disorder from the '80's), but this one works, especially with a necklace adding some vertical.

The skirt, to create three different lengths, has ruching on one side; it's just enough to keep the hemline from being too plain. The deep grey fabric is nice enough for a party, but it can also be toned down and serious. And when the dress is tucked up to form a top or a tunic, it can play dress-down equally well.

Paired with an Encircled Chrysalis Cardi (my review)

The Smoke dress mixes well with my other clothes, and accepts my problematic penchant for mismatched teal greens. You know you've made the right choice on something (clothes or anything else) when, after owning it even briefly, you can see how big a hole there would be without it. The hard-to-match jacket I bought last winter:

my favourite navy-grey-green striped scarf:

the grey pants I found for a dollar at the thrift store:

they each have a new friend.

It can even work as a skirt, if you like to layer.

The colour choices for a Revolve Dress right now are Black, Smoke, and Plum. Sizes run from XS to XL, and there's a measuring chart on the Encircled website. The dress is made to last, but you have to be prepared to give it a bit of care: it can't go in the dryer, and handwashing is also recommended although it can be machine washed.

Moral of the story: nice things may come in no-frills mailer packs, especially if they're from Encircled.

(So what happened to Samantha's ugly bathrobe? You can watch the episode on You-tube and find out.)

This is an unsolicited review of the Encircled Revolve Dress. I received no compensation for writing it. All opinions are my own.