If you like Reformation but not the price or the ubiquity, the useful move is to match the shape and the material rather than hunting a copy. The details that give a cheap version away are lining, edge finishing and the weight of the fastenings. Buying the same silhouette from a brand that makes it properly ages better than buying a near-copy of a famous one. Lining is what stops a cheap fabric reading as cheap. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What decides this is shoulder fit, length and how the fabric moves. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: Few Moda's Serenette Cap Sleeve Midi Dress at $148, and meshki.com.au's Analia Chiffon Maxi Dress - Lilac at $105. The first is the considered buy; the second is the one to start with. Check where the waist seam sits on the model against your own proportions. A dress that fits the shoulders can be taken in anywhere else. One that does not, cannot. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

A belt turns a shapeless dress into a deliberate one. Let the dress be the loudest thing you own that day. From the second group, Wild Oak Boutique's Amberly Floral Dress ($74) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, tops, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

There are 20 dresses here from 14 brands, $68 to $399, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. wildoakboutique.com's Dollie Risen Jeans at $68 is the low-risk way in, and Monday Swimwear's Fererra Dress - Husk Geo Silk at $399 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. Read as a set, they get you close to Reformation without any single purchase being compulsory. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: the piece you reach for on a rushed morning is the one that was worth the money.