The Perfect Beige Wrap Dress For Weekend Brunch Handpicked by Claire

I spent about three years thinking beige was for people who’d given up. Then I wore a beige wrap dress to a brunch I almost cancelled because I couldn’t face getting dressed, and my friend Priya took one look and said “oh, that’s annoyingly good, isn’t it.” That’s the whole review, really. Annoyingly good.

The thing about a beige wrap dress is it does the opposite of what you’d expect from that colour. You’d think it disappears on you. Instead the wrap does all the work, it pulls in at the waist, skims everywhere else, and suddenly you look like you’ve made an effort while having done the least amount of effort a human can do on a Sunday.

A good one has proper tie fastenings rather than a fake wrap sewn shut, because the real ones let you adjust for whatever you ate the night before, and honestly that flexibility is the entire point.

Fabric matters more than people admit. You want something with a bit of drape, not stiff, not clingy, because beige is unforgiving about both. Too stiff and you look like you’re wearing a tablecloth.

Too clingy and every seam shows. Somewhere with a bit of give in it is where the colour actually earns its keep.

Styling it is almost insultingly easy, which is why I own more of these than I’ll admit to out loud, four, if anyone’s counting, and someone was counting, and it was my sister, who said “this is a problem now.” Gold jewellery lifts the beige rather than fighting it. A tan or woven bag does the same. Trainers make it a proper weekend dress, a low heeled sandal takes it somewhere slightly more done for lunch that turns into afternoon drinks. Add a denim jacket if the morning’s cold and you’re still not overthinking anything.

Where it actually earns its space is exactly this kind of occasion, brunch, a garden lunch, any daytime thing where you want to look like you tried without looking like you tried. It photographs well in daylight, moves well in a chair you’ll be sat in for two hours, and never once makes you feel like the most dressed up person at the table, which, for a Sunday, is precisely the win you’re after.