Best White Summer Dresses Edit For 2020

Owning a little black dress (or three, let’s be real here) is a fashionable right of passage. We think that a compelling case can be made for a white dresses too, especially in the warmer months. I’m sure I don’t need to convince you of the versatility of the white dress; it looks just at home on a beach as it does in the middle of a market or at a dinner. Likewise, white dresses manage to appear both dressy and casual, which is no mean feat. As a trend white dresses are hardly one at all and almost every spring/summer season designers return to this classic, subtly updating hemlines or details - so you see, it will never go out of fashion. Below is our edit of the best white dresses on the market right now and, helpfully, quite a few are on sale too - they are all styles that you can expect to have in your armoire for years to come.

Mini Dresses

A mini white dress is the go-to for those extra hot days when any excess of fabric sounds truly awful. This season, two aesthetics dominate: romantic and minimalist. If you’re in the romantic camp, look out for oversized silhouettes and voluminous styles with details like broderie anglaise. The minimalist style takes its cue from the 90s with simple clean lines, square necklines, and ‘spaghetti’ straps. For daytime, trainers look particularly modern with shorter hemlines alongside chunkier sandal styles. Remember that Jacquemus shirt dress everyone fell head over heels for last summer? I think we’ve found a very similar style at a fraction of the price here.

Shop UK and EU

Shop USA

Midi Dresses

The midi-length white dress might just be the hardest working piece of clothing in our summer wardrobe. It really is endlessly versatile (just swap slides for espadrilles and you’re ready for the next adventure), plus the length ensures you’re never tugging on the hemline or worrying about a strong gust of wind. In the pictures I’m wearing a linen midi by a new London-based brand Leol; it’s airy and just the thing to wear for a day of running errands that ends in dinner with friends. For something similar, I’m loving this strappy & Other Stories number. A special mention has to go to COS’s minimalist backless midi, which looks like it belongs to a 90s supermodel.

Shop Uk and EU

Shop USA

Maxi Dresses

Flowing, airy, and bohemian are just a few of the words to describe the beauty of maxi white dresses. Once reserved solely for the beach, the maxi length has confidently made its way to the city. It’s not hard to see why - there are so many ways to style them, such as adding a denim jacket for chillier mornings or evenings, throwing over a bikini, or by layering lots of gold jewellery to further enhance the bohemian angle. A wicker bag and a red lip are likewise classic accompaniments.