In the name of good journalism, I went to try on The Polka Dot Dress at Zara on King Street South in Dublin city centre. Its content is made up of photographs submitted by followers, taken of themselves or others (including strangers) in the dress, with its oldest subject to date an 86-year-old woman, Beryl.
Zara has even gone as far as to label it The Polka Dress, as if no others exist – despite there being several in that pattern in their own current summer collection.Īn Instagram account has been set up by London-based stylist Faye Oakenfull in response to this popularity – Hot4theSpot, which has more than 11,000 followers. It has not been seen on any celebrities, royals or otherwise well-known faces (yet), but press coverage is mounting: the New York Times declared it the dress that had “conquered Britain” the Sun called it “THE” outfit of the summer (can a dress can be classed as an entire “outfit”?) and the Telegraph asked “ Why is everyone wearing the same Zara dress as me?”. Zara has produced an unexpected viral hit this summer: a relatively shapeless, long-sleeved, mid-length polka-dot dress.
