5 Vogue Editors Road-Test The Best Party Dresses Of The Season

Welcome to The Dress Download. Every season the Vogue eDitors share their hand-picked and road-tested edit of styles that are available to buy now. Whether you’re shopping for work meetings, a wedding or your holiday wardrobe, let us guide you straight to your next purchase.

No wardrobe is complete without a gorgeous selection of dresses. That’s the opinion of the British Vogue editors, who not only have their own dress style signatures down to a fine art, but who are also often found influencing the purchases of their colleagues and friends. Take European beauty and wellness director Jessica Diner, whose floral dress collection is now a part of her wardrobe DNA, or Deborah Ababio, global entertainment director, who always gravitates towards colorful styles.

Party season is arguably the time of the year when dresses – particularly of the jazzy variety – truly come into their own. While lockdown saw sequins, feathers and shiny fabrics confined to the back of our wardrobes, 2022 marked the return of the dancefloor essential and, 12 months later, it’s clear that our obsession with glitzy gowns shows no sign of slowing down. We may have missed out on our usual dose of red-carpet glamor this year due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes, but street style and social media have provided ample party-dressing inspiration.

Team Vogue are nothing but experts when it comes to event dressing, which is probably unsurprising considering how many dinners, cocktail parties and fashion week events we attend (it’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it). So, what are the disco-ready styles the editors are loving this season? Last year saw the emergence of the “naked dress”, which started out as a niche trend championed by only the most online dressers, but this year, the barely-there look has hit the mainstream, with mesh, lace and peekaboo fabrics proliferating in the collections of high-end and high-street brands alike. Editorial assistant Riann Phillip is investing in Self-Portrait’s shimmering mesh maxi this season, which offers just the right amount of sheer fabric (and dazzling sequins) without leaving the wearer feeling exposed.

Thanks to the return of ’90s minimalism, we have also seen the elevated LBD claim the spotlight, with the likes of Khaite and Alaïa delivering sleek silhouettes that hark back to the days of Claudia Schiffer on the runway. Commerce writer Alice Cary offers her own 2023 spin on the LBD with Taller Marmo’s fringed asymmetric midi-dress, which offers just the right amount of throwback appeal, but with a suitably contemporary edge. Speaking of throwback moments, make sure you don’t forget to check out pre-loved options this party season: commerce editor Joy Montgomery trawled Ebay to find the perfect vintage taffeta minidress from Vivienne Westwood (and for just £195). We’ve shopped similar styles below, but worry not, because there are plenty more second-hand gems where that came from.