I love a good shirt dress, it’s classic and feminine without feeling too too girly, and I love that they never really go out of style. If you look at my spring wardrobe you can find shirt dresses from the past few years that I still reach for and love just as much as the year I bought them!
When I was getting ready for Paris, and thinking about what I was going to pack I came across this dress from Boden, a brand I’ve been following for a few years (thanks to the company still sending the last owner of my condo their catalogs) but have never taken the plunge and ordered from. When I saw the cut of this dress I was immediately sold, then when I looked closely at the print I knew I had to have it for Paris.
I mean, how perfect is it with all the vespas?! I immediately ordered and anxiously awaited it’s arrival- as in obsessively checked the tracking status every few hours as if it was magically going to appear at my doorstep that day.
Sadly, we didn’t have enough time to rent our own Vespa for me to live out my dream of riding one around the city (specifically around the Arch de Triumph, any other Mary Kate & Ashley fans out there?) but while wandering Île Saint-Louis, we came across a few I was able to “borrow” for these pictures!
I was a little bit apprehensive about the fit of the dress while I was waiting for it to arrive, because there’s one thing about shirt dresses I absolutely hate – the gaping between the buttons. There’s nothing worse than finding a dress that fits almost perfectly, and then having the buttons gape across the front. Thankfully, Boden feels the same way about gaping shirt dresses because throughout the bust and waist of this dress they ingeniously put hidden buttons on the inside of the button strip between each main button, to prevent all gaping issues. The end result is a perfect button strip that lays flat in all situations.
I wore this dress on our last morning in Paris, we got up before the city fully woke up and headed off, croissants in hand, to explore Île Saint-Louis. A sleepy little island full of pastel shutters and doors right in the middle of the Seine. It’s primarily residential, with gorgeous townhouses that each had balconies to die for, fueling more than one fantasy of packing up and moving to Paris. I loved how peaceful it was, walking around early in the morning we only saw a handful of people, making it a definite contender for a neighborhood to stay in next time I’m in the city of lights.
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I paired the dress with my favorite loafers, I packed 4 pairs of shoes for this trip and ended up wearing these for 90% of it because they were just so comfortable for lots and lots of walking! After walking around the island we crossed one of the bridges to Île de la Cité to see Notre Dame, stopping to peak into some of the little shops as we walked. As a kid, The Hunchback of Notre Dame was one of my favorite movies, I must have made my parents sit through it 100 times, when I was in Paris 10 years ago it was one of the first places I visited, how could I go to Paris and not see the gargoyles of Notre Dame?
Things have changed a little bit in 10 years, and this time around, we didn’t realize you needed to secure a ticket ahead of time to go to the top of the cathedral so unfortunately we missed it, but if you’re heading to Paris I think it is a must see. The view from the top is absolutely incredible and seeing the bells in the tower and gargoyles up close really is something! If heights aren’t your thing, or you aren’t a great planner like me, you should still visit the cathedral, the inside is unbelievable or even just walking around and seeing it from outside is worth it.
After sitting under a few just-bloomed magnolia trees and talking about our favorite parts of the trip, we took the long way back to the metro, walking back along the Seine through the islands to soak up a little bit of extra Parisian air and sun before heading back to the hotel to pack up and say goodbye to Paris.
