I Found the Dress of the Year—The Bestselling $128 Tuckernuck Callahan Shirt Dress

About that length—I’m a petite, so I’m usually swimming in dresses, but the 33-inch drop of this one hits above the knee, so I can still show a bit of leg when I’m wearing it with boots. (On taller people, this will look more like a mini dress.) The full cut makes it swingy, but the polyester fabric has a nice weight to it, so it’s not going to become indiscreet with a big breeze. Also, it has pockets—pockets!—which keep the dress weighted down, but since they are along the side seam, they don’t add to any bulkiness. Also the long sleeves and half-placket button front are covered up enough to look refined and sophisticated, but not at all frumpy.

I chose my Tuckernuck Callahan shirt dress in a tiny dot pattern, which looks like something from a niche French brand versus its origin, preppy, Georgetown, Washington, D.C.-based retailer Tuckernuck. I packed the dress on a recent long weekend in New York and wore it to the theater with boots and an oversize wool coat and felt super cosmopolitan but still comfortable, even after a marathon six-hour theatre session with dinner between acts. Also—the frock didn’t need steaming before I wore it—the packing wrinkles fell out when I hung it in the steamy bathroom while I showered.

I look forward to layering the dress over tights and a turtleneck when the weather becomes full-on cold, and am considering shopping the dress in other fabrics and colorways. I’ve noticed some similar shaped dresses at lower price points on Amazon, and one in corduroy at Anthropologie, which are piquing my curiosity, but I can’t speak to their fit or quality the way I can the Tuckernuck Callahan (I forgot to mention—it machine washes then dries on the hanger in 20 minutes?). So I’m all in on this dress, my gateway drug to the wide world of shirt dresses ever after.