Everything worth knowing about Nigel Preston, and What She Wore is below, starting with the part that changes what you buy. 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. 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: shop-resa.com's Olivia Dress in Cotton Bluebell at $125, and Tibi's Tech Swiss Dot Square Neck Cami Dress at $284. The first is the easy entry point; the second is where the money goes. A dress that fits the shoulders can be taken in anywhere else. One that does not, cannot. Lining is what stops a cheap fabric reading as cheap. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

Let the dress be the loudest thing you own that day. A belt turns a shapeless dress into a deliberate one. From the second group, RESA's Monica Blouse in Tide ($98) 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, knits, 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 pieces here from 16 brands, $49 to $350, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. THATS SO FETCH's Wonder Dress - Black at $49 is the low-risk way in, and lalignenyc.com's La Ligne x Dianna Agron Dianna Cardigan at $350 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. Read as a set, they get you close to Nigel Preston, and What She Wore 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: pay for the thing that touches your body and economise on the thing that sits on top of it.