A Letter From a Reader
The one dress I throw on and instantly feel put together
A button-down mini in a textured weave that skims instead of clinging, with sculptural rose-knot cuffs and sleeves that cover the arms. The dress I now reach for without thinking.
The Aveline. The dress I have reached for more than anything else in my closet since June.
I am 61 years old, and somewhere along the way getting dressed had turned into a negotiation I kept losing. Everything comfortable in my closet was shapeless and dull. Everything pretty clung to me the second the humidity found me, or needed ironing I no longer had the patience for. Most mornings I gave up and reached for the same tired slacks.
It wore on me more than I let on. I had started to feel a little invisible in my own clothes, which is a strange thing to admit at my age.
Then a woman in my walking group here in Savannah kept turning up looking comfortable and quietly put together at the same time, in the same kind of dress, in a different color each week. I finally asked her. She laughed and told me to go and read their note first.
The Brooks Family is a small boutique on a corner in Savannah, Georgia. They opened their doors in 1976 and the same family still runs it, passed down from mother to daughter, three generations in now. The dress is called the Aveline, and their note walks through the handful of things they refused to compromise on when they had it made. I am going to let their words carry most of it, because they say it better than I could.
1Rose-knot cuffs that actually hold their shape
The Brooks family says the cuffs are the whole dress. Soft, sculptural, tied into a rose at the wrist, large enough to be seen from across a room. Three times the factory sent them back flat and limp, and three times she sent them back again. They are the reason a stranger asks you where your dress is from, and she would not soften them to save a dollar.
★★★★★
"Three people asked about the sleeves the first day I wore it. Three."
Carol R., Pooler GA2A textured weave chosen over linen, on purpose
This was the part that won me over, because it is the opposite of what every other shop tells you. They tried linen first and refused it. Pure linen is beautiful for about two hours, then it creases into a paper bag, the cuffs go soft and sad by lunchtime, and it fades in the deep shades.
So they had it made in a textured slub weave instead. The slub is the fine irregular grain you see when the light catches it, the part that reads as expensive. The weight behind it is the only reason those rose cuffs are still standing up at six in the evening. I can tell you it does what they say: I wore mine on a long drive to my daughter's and walked into supper without a crease on me.
★★★★★
"I wore it on a four hour drive and walked into dinner with no creases."
Diane M., Richmond Hill GA3Sleeves that cover the tops of the arms
Three-quarter, with volume through the arm, so nothing is pressed against you and nothing is on display that you would rather keep to yourself. They write that it is the thing women our age thank them for most. It also takes more fabric, which is why most dresses at this price will not do it. I stopped needing a cardigan in August, which at my age feels like a small victory.
★★★★★
"Finally, sleeves. I have it in two colors and I am going back for a third."
Patricia L., Rincon GA4A shift cut that skims, and never clings
A relaxed A-line that falls just above the knee, loose where it should be loose so the air moves underneath, instead of grabbing the one part of you that you would rather it left alone. They had the waist let out twice before they signed it off. It skims straight over my middle, and that is the whole reason I kept it.
★★★★★
"It skims straight over my middle instead of hugging it. The first dress in years that does."
Linda K., Tybee Island GA5Floral buttons down the front, all the way down
A full row of soft floral-shaped buttons, not the three decorative ones at the collar that most makers get away with. It means you can open the collar on a hot afternoon and close it again for supper, and it means the dress looks like something rather than a plain shift with a print on it. It is a small thing that does a lot of work.
★★★★★
"The little flower buttons are what sold me. Such a small thing, and it makes it."
Janet S., Guyton GA6Ten colors that go with what you already own
White, beige, mushroom taupe, mocha, olive, sage mist, navy, burgundy, pink and black. They chose every one of them to sit beside the shoes and the cardigans already in your closet, so the dress earns its place from the first day instead of waiting for an occasion. I started with the beige. I now have three.
★★★★★
"I started with the beige and went back for the burgundy and the sage."
Maureen T., Statesboro GAThe Aveline, against the dresses I had been buying
I had bought a great many two hundred dollar floral dresses before this one, always looking for the one that did not let me down by the afternoon. Laid out plainly, here is the difference.
What I Kept Buying
- Flat, stitched-down cuffs
- Creases by noon, or clings in the humidity
- Bare arms, or sleeves that pinch
- Three decorative buttons at the collar
- Deep shades fade after a few washes
- Two or three safe colors
The Aveline
- Sculptural rose-knot cuffs that hold
- Slub weave that stays crisp and breathes
- Three-quarter sleeves with room to move
- A full row of floral buttons
- Color that holds, wash after wash
- Ten colors, chosen for your closet
Why they are clearing it now
The Aveline launched at $210 and sold at that price all season. They are running their America's 250th anniversary event and the whole collection is clearing, so it is going out at $64.95, and the discount stacks further if you take more than one color, up to an extra 25 percent on top.
They are plain about it in their note. At this price they are barely covering what the dress costs them to make, cuffs and all. They write that they would rather it go to women who will actually wear it than sit folded in a box waiting for full price, and that a woman who tries the Aveline once usually comes back for another color. On the evidence of my own closet, they are right.
I ordered mine that evening. It arrived a few days later in a kraft-paper parcel with a short handwritten note from the family. I have reached for it more than anything else in my closet since.
“
★★★★★
I now own the beige, the navy and the burgundy. Between the three of them I have barely reached for anything else since June. My summer closet has never been simpler.
Sandra P., Bloomingdale GAThe Brooks family outside the shop in Savannah. Three generations, and the same door since 1976.
I do not usually write things like this. But I spent too many years feeling plain and a little invisible in my own clothes, and one dress quietly gave me back the pleasure of getting dressed in the morning. If any of that sounds like you, I hope you find your size before the colors go.
— Deborah Willson
Aveline Button-Down Mini Dress
$210.00$64.95
- Textured slub weave, breathable and never clinging
- Sculptural rose-knot cuffs and floral buttons
- Ten colors, XS to 2XL
- Free shipping & 30 day money back guarantee
Stack and save: buy 2 save an extra 10%, buy more and save up to 25% extra.
See if your size is still in stockSizes sell out by color during the sale.
About the writer. Deborah Willson is 61, born in Macon and living in Savannah, Georgia, a few minutes from the Brooks Family shop. She owns the Aveline in three colors.
This is a personal account from a The Brooks Family customer. Deborah was not paid to write it. The Brooks Family · Savannah, Georgia, since 1976 · Free shipping · 30 day money back guarantee. Prices and availability are accurate while the anniversary sale stock lasts.