Disclosure: The following dress was received as a review sample. All opinions are my own and based entirely on my experience.


Under normal circumstances, I love the holidays! Halloween is definitely my favorite, but Thanksgiving and Christmas aren’t far behind. Once December hits, I want to consume nothing but Christmas music and movies all month. All things red and sparkly come out of my closet. New York City is alive with the sounds of Salvation Army donation bells and the scent of fresh pine from the Christmas tree vendors scattered every dozen blocks.

But with Covid-19 cases surging up, I didn’t get together with family for Thanksgiving nor will I be able to visit any family in person for Christmas. So I really haven’t gotten into the “holiday spirit” yet.

But that may have all changed this week. On Wednesday, I received the most festive Christmas dress from Bolero to review. Then on Thursday, my husband and I strolled through the neighborhood to pick out our Christmas tree. Normally, we get a skinny one that’s no taller than me since we don’t have a lot of space in our apartment. But there was one tree that really stood out. It had a thick trunk, stiff branches with lots of nooks to tuck ornaments inside, and beautiful blue-ish needles. It was several feet taller than what we normally get, but only slightly wider in diameter. The price was almost double our usual choice, but it just called to us!

The Canadian saleslady told us it’s a Nordmann fir tree. We were excited to later learn that it’s known for not shedding its needles even once it dries out. The only bummer is that it has no pine scent. But we also bought a wreath for the door that gives off plenty of fragrance on the way in and out of the apartment.

Naturally, I wore my Bolero “Timeless Christmas” frock to the tree vendor (though it was covered by a coat). When I got home, I styled it with some extra accessories and red lipstick and employed my husband to take a few photos while I trimmed the tree, put up Christmas lights, and sipped eggnog.

Please note that the “Timeless Christmas” print is available in all sizes (S-1XL), but the “Xmas Wishes” and “Candy Cane” prints are remaining stock from last year, so there’s only size medium left. There was a website glitch at the time I wrote this such that the size selection dropdown is missing on Timeless Christmas, so if you can’t choose your size, you can write to Bolero HERE to make an order.

This is homemade eggnog that we aged in the fridge for a full year.

On to the details: This is a size small. I measure 38”-29/30”-42” and height 5’6”. I typically wear bra size UK 28GG/30G. In these photos, I’m wearing an Ewa Michalak PL bra in 30GG.

The Timeless Christmas dress is one of three limited edition holiday dresses being offered this year. Timeless feature a crew neck with semi-sheer mesh at the collarbone area, three-quarter sleeves, a full circle skirt, and, of course, POCKETS!

The skirt has round gold studs affixed with glue to both the front and back (note that this sample dress only has them on the front, but the ones customers receive will have them on both sides). As well, there is red rick-rack trim on the skirt, coordinating green trim on the ends of the sleeves, and a sparkly beaded Christmas tree heat-bonded to the bodice.

The dress comes with a black belt to tie around the waist, but I replaced it with a 2-inch wide belt from my collection to really cinch in my waist and give that vintage ’40s “New Look” silhouette. The bodice is made of the softest stretch jersey—it almost feels like microfiber. I want a whole dress made of it! The skirt and green sleeve trim, meanwhile, are a slightly weightier ponte knit.

The bodice doesn’t have darts, but rather gets its bust-friendly shape from the way it’s cut out and from the super stretch of the fabric (but note that there’s no strum-strum effect across the boobs). The sleeves skim over my arms without being too tight or too loose, so there’s no bunching up in my elbow. As well, while you could wear a strapless bra for a perfectly clean look, I just picked a red bra and the little bit of visible strap blends right in.

I paired the dress with a white “Samantha” petticoat from Malco Modes, which I intentionally wore low so it would peek out a little, and gold “Amber” heels from Miss L Fire. It makes a super festive holiday look and I’ll definitely be wearing this for every Zoom call and drive-by gift exchange.

I honestly feel so cheered up and much more in the holiday spirit after wearing this dress for half a day. Time to break out A Charlie Brown Christmas and The Muppet Christmas Carol!