How to get the look: Slip dresses

Plumo's simple Aradia dress in dark purple, £65, plumo.com

Slip. I'll just slip into a slip. It trips off the tongue doesn't it? And yet...

True there's something silky about the very name. Plus an implied effortlessness that corresponds to the style's pleasingly minimalist glamour. And yet, the slip is a bit of a false friend in this respect.

That explains the depressing gap between how I imagine I'm going to look (late 1990s Moss) and how I then discover I really look (primary-school teacher in summer)

Standard fashion logic. The simpler the style, the higher the spec needs to be on things such as hair, skin, accessories. The slip doesn't give you anything to hide behind. Quite literally if you're going for Moss's iconic diaphanous nipple-baring number (one way to avoid looking like a teacher I guess). If not, consider your underwear choice wisely.

I was thinking more 'European actress en vacances'

In that case Plumo's simple Aradia dress in dark purple – excellent even without a Riviera tan – is just the thing (£65, plumo.com, above). If you're a bit braver, Whistles' feather-light shoestring strap Nell dress (£125, whistles.com) is as close to going naked in public as most of us will get (we hope). Don't eat a big meal in it, that's my advice.