At 63, I had packed my dresses away every October for thirty years

Six things the Marceline gets right that a summer dress never could, from a woman who had decided winter was for slacks.

Diane Pelletier · Customer · Ottawa, Ontario · 5 min read

Every year around Thanksgiving, I carry my dresses down to the basement. The linen one, the floral one from Claudette's wedding, the blue one I wore to every graduation. Into the cedar chest they go, and they don't come up again until the lilacs are out.

For the five months in between I wore the same thing: black slacks, a fleece and the parka. Church, the grocery store, dinner at my daughter's. Same outfit, different fleece.

Then last Christmas Eve my sister Claudette watched me come down the stairs, dressed for the midnight service, and said it.

"Diane, you dress like you're about to go out and shovel the driveway."

I laughed, then caught myself in the hall mirror. She was right. I wasn't dressed for church. I was dressed for the walk from the car to the church.

How it happens

Nobody decides to spend half the year in a fleece. You try a dress one November. It's a summer dress with a cardigan over it, so your arms are cold, your knees are cold and there's a draught at the neck all evening. On the way home you think, well, dresses aren't for winter. After that, slacks win by default.

What I had wrong

I thought the problem was the cold. It was the dress.

A summer dress is built to let air in: short sleeves, an open neck, a hem at the knee. A winter dress is built the other way round. A collar up the neck, sleeves to the wrist, a hem that meets your boots. Close the gaps and a dress is no colder than slacks, and it does something slacks have never once done for me.

Mine is called the Marceline

It's from Sylvie & Odette, a small boutique in Montréal that dresses women our age. Claudette sent me the link with no message, which is how she says "I told you so."

It's a long dress in deep chocolate brown, with a soft, brushed surface that looks just like suede. A little stand-up collar, a zip from the neck to below the waist, a wide belt with a square buckle, and long seams running to the floor, where the skirt opens into a full flare with a slit up one side. I ordered it expecting to send it back. It's been to Thanksgiving, to church twice and to lunch at the Château since. Here's why it stayed.

1.It closes every gap the wind finds

Collar at the neck, sleeves to the wrist, hem down to the boot. Under my wool coat there's nowhere left for the cold to get in. Walking to church in a north wind, the only bare thing on me was my nose.

2.It zips down the front

No pulling it over your head and wrecking your hair, no twisting round for a zip in your back, no calling down the stairs for Gilles. I step in, zip up, and I'm dressed. You choose the neckline too: zipped to the collar outside, opened a few inches by the fire.

3.The belt gives you a waist, wherever you want it

Slacks and a fleece give you one shape: straight up and down. The belt gives you a waist again, and because it adjusts, you decide where it sits. After Thanksgiving dinner I let it out a notch, and nobody at the table was any the wiser.

4.It looks like suede and doesn't act like it

The surface has that soft, uneven depth real suede has, so it looks far more expensive than it was. Two women at church reached out and touched my sleeve. But it isn't fussy: it's made to be easy to care for, and it has survived a car ride, a long dinner and a dog who leans.

5.The flare and the slit let you actually walk

The slit made me nervous when I unpacked it. Then I wore it. A long, narrow dress means little steps on the church stairs. This one opens into a full flare below the hip, and the slit gives you a proper stride. With tall boots, the slit shows mostly boot. And the whole skirt swings when you walk. I'd forgotten that feeling.

6.Brown goes with everything winter already owns

One colour, and it's the right one. Chocolate brown sits with a camel coat or a black one, brown boots or black, gold earrings and a cream scarf, so you don't need to buy a thing to wear it. It comes in XS right up to 3XL, at one price.

What happened at Thanksgiving

I walked into my daughter's with the squash casserole and my son-in-law asked if I was going somewhere afterwards. My granddaughter took my picture by the window, and it's the first winter photo of myself I've kept in years. Claudette ordered her own before the pie came out.

The Marceline, against my winter uniform

About the price

$89.95 CAD$159.95 CAD

I paid more for a parka that makes me look like a sleeping bag, so I wrote and asked what the catch was. They're a small shop selling directly, with no department store in the middle, and the winter dresses are on sale to open the season. It's one colour and one run, so when a size sells through, that's it until next year. Their words, not mine.

I read the reviews first, the way you're probably doing now. They sit at 4.2 stars. Not one of those suspiciously perfect fives, which made me trust them more.

What I'd tell you if we were friends

If you were at my kitchen table, I wouldn't sell you a dress. I'd ask when you last wore one between November and April, and watch you try to remember. Most of us never decided to stop. We wore the wrong dress once, got cold, and handed the whole winter to slacks.

Two practical things. It only comes in the brown, and the middle sizes go first. And you have 30 days to send it back, which is a cheap way to find out whether Claudette was right about me.

The cedar chest is still in the basement. The Marceline isn't going in it.

Diane

About the writer

Diane Pelletier is 63 and lives in Ottawa, Ontario, with her husband Gilles and a retriever. She is a customer, not a fashion writer, and she was not paid to write this letter.

Marceline | Belted Zip-Front Maxi Dress

★★★★★ 4.2 out of 5

$89.95 CAD$159.95 CAD

• Stand-up collar, long sleeves and a maxi hem
• Zips down the front, no pulling over your head
• Adjustable belt with a square buckle
• Soft suede-effect fabric, easy to care for
• Full flare and a side slit for an easy stride
• Chocolate brown · XS to 3XL, one price
• Free shipping across Canada · 30-day returns

See the Winter Dresses

Winter sale on now. When your size is gone, it's gone until next year.

This page is an advertisement for Sylvie & Odette. Sylvie & Odette · Montréal · Free shipping across Canada · 30-day returns.