This summer has to be marked ''the season of the dress''. Browse any boutique fashion store of note. The window displays are a good starting point.
There they are, all the pretty dresses!
This dress trend has nothing to do with one particular style to have hit fashion enthusiasts between the eyes with its fresh fabulousness. Rather, the kick is in their design diversity.
But there is a common thread running through the widely varying shapes and styles, in that so many of them can move effortlessly between events.
They're a bit like that appealing friend who, with lashings of confidence and style, can navigate you through any situation or social occasion as you glide happily along in his or her slipstream.
These gems of the festive season, each targeting a carefully considered market, fall into no apparent category. ''Dressy daywear'' - no matter how hackneyed a term - would be the closest.
It's a matter of mixing beauty and practicality, a significant combination that the brilliant Gabrielle ''Coco'' Chanel began perfecting as far back as the 1920s.
Take that first little black dress launched in 1926. Subtly glamorous and steeped in wearability, this landmark piece was described by Vogue as ''the Model T Ford'' dress after the vehicle that everyone could afford to drive and that came in one colour, black.
But the summer of 2013 has seen less black daywear, reserving it for work gear and sleek, chic cocktail wear.
There are, however, nuances of other eras, such as the 1950s full-skirted dresses with fitted bodices, the shirt dresses and mini shifts of the '60s (think Twiggy), along with Christian Dior's A-line, H-line (drop-waisted) and trapeze line.
These are dresses that fit well with New Zealand's summer lifestyle, designed to transition smoothly between shopping sorties and school break-ups or evening barbecue, Christmas Day church service and festive lunch, family dinner and a first date or a night on the town.
Many have enough punch for a summer wedding or a big race meeting. It's a miracle what headwear and high-heeled sandals can achieve, although watch when walking on grass!
And for those who are a bit dubious about the whole dress thing, why not heed the advice of leading New York designer Diane Von Furstenburg, who built her empire on the simple and flattering wrap dress she designed as a statement piece for sexually liberated women in the early 1970s.
On every dress tag was the slogan and company's registered trademark ''Feel like a woman, wear a dress.''
