MILLY Dresses: Sizing, Fit and Best Buys

I think of MILLY as a conversation between two cities: Paris's atelier discipline and New York's pace. Michelle Smith founded it in New York in 2000 with Andrew Oshrin, bringing her experience at Louis Vuitton and Dior to a label she led creatively while Oshrin handled the business side. The language is a strong feminine point of view, bold color, print and texture, which is why an occasion dress here feels playful and not precious. I went deeper on a related idea in ASTR the Label Dresses: Sizing, Fit and Best Buys.

The moment I always come back to is 2018, when Michelle Obama's official portrait by Amy Sherald was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery. The dress was a bespoke MILLY design by Smith, based on a Spring 2017 look. I love that its shape began in a collection and was not invented from scratch for a camera, and that a graphic print ended up hanging in a national museum.

That mix of polished outline and cheerful surface runs through everything in this edit: floral maxis, graphic swim and separates that look happy to be there.

MILLY's dress story is movement between a neat shape and a lively print. The Izel Colette Sequin Mini Dress brings the sparkle, while the Vera Satin Floral Maxi Dress and the Flowers Of Spain Linen Dress let the print do more of the work. The Kait Bloom Dress and the Meg Butterfly Lace Midi Dress keep the eye traveling through color and surface, and the Ots Sheer Knit Midi Dress is the softer, more layered direction.

Picture her stepping into an afternoon garden party in the Vera, then taking the same print to dinner with a small metallic bag. My note is to pick the dress around the invitation first. A sequin mini and a floral maxi ask for very different rooms, so I would not choose by print alone.

Swim is where MILLY's pattern sense feels most at home. The Two Tone Rope Bikini Top and Two Tone Rope Bikini Bottom make one coordinated pair, and the Margot Jacquard Cottage Bandeau Top and Margot Jacquard Cottage Bikini Bottom make another. If you would rather skip the two pieces, the Rope Print One Piece keeps the rope idea in a single garment.

I like that these are clear choices and not a wall of unrelated prints. Choose the set that feels like you, then let a crisp linen shirt left open do the rest. Picture her walking from a shaded cabana to lunch like that, still a little salty.

Outside dresses and swim, the tops and separates make the print-and-color idea easier to wear in pieces. The Mia Gingham Top is neat and cheerful, and the Brushwork Floral Linen Top and Adeline Floral Top bring the botanical side. I would set the Robin Gingham Midi Skirt against a plain knit so the checks do not compete, or wear it with one of those tops when I want the pattern mix to be the whole point. If you want to keep going, Anna October Dresses: The Best Buys Right Now is the one I would read next.

The Heart Applique Maxi Skirt is the graphic alternative, and the Arya Faux Fur Jacket and Amanda Floral Linen Short stretch the edit toward colder and warmer days. What I would skip is wearing three prints at once. Pick one as the anchor and repeat one of its colors in a second piece.

I keep coming back to the contrast at the center of the label: a polished outline, then color and print that refuse to fade into the background. It lives in the portrait dress, but also in the everyday choice to pair a graphic print with a shape you already know. I would start with the occasion dress that makes me smile, then add swim or separates only if they fill a real gap in my closet. Although a gingham skirt is hard to argue with.