I bought my favorite dress on my birthday, July 15, 1977, in a chic town tucked along the Costa Esmeralda. I was traveling around Sardinia with some wonderful women, living on $20 a day, wandering back roads in search of cheap hotels with baths and no bugs. We went to the beach almost every day, and I could never resist a chance to prowl through another ruined fort or castle, or stumble into a cave, or clamber around an ancient pile of rocks. But, on my birthday, we meandered into Porto Cervo to window shop.

Everything was beyond my price range. And then I saw the dress. It was mauve, in a deliciously filmy cotton, and it could slip off the shoulders. It swirled when I walked. I loved it. So I bought it. Anyway. My hair was to my waist. That afternoon, after the beach, I braided it into small braids, and then undid it when it dried so it eddied around my face.

I wore the dress for a magical birthday dinner at a table under a grape arbor at a Sardinian restaurant. The evening was so warm. We laughed. We toasted. I had the wit to avoid the grappa. And I felt pretty.

The dress was a character at that birthday party. Although I wore it again, it never felt the same. It was magic.

Mary Janigan, Toronto

Over the years one dress has sprung into my memory many times. I bought it in 1962 for my trousseau (an old-fashioned word!). It was a sundress, made of cotton, in the most magnificent colours – no particular design but flowing into each other in splashes of hot pink, red, blue-pink (purple) and gold. The waist was slender, the skirt gently flared, the back low, the front in a V. Maybe it was the sheen of the cotton, the daring design, the strong impressive colours, but I felt attractive, empowered and happy wearing it.

I remember on our honeymoon in Nassau, on a hot July evening, walking on the beach carrying my shoes (probably hot pink sandals), and wearing the sundress. Tom and I were returning from having dinner at a nearby hotel and playfully enjoying the beautiful setting.

I also recall wearing this dress to a garden dinner-dance in our honour before the wedding. The hostess was so impressed with the dress that she gave me a magnificent silk stole in hot pink – it matched perfectly. She had had it and never used it.

Why have I remembered that dress? Maybe it was because it was part of a new life for me. Or, as a shy, quiet girl I was wanting to show that I could be strong and successful – part of my road to maturing. Whatever the reason, it is good to look back and appreciate it all.

Theda Deacon Toronto, Ontario

I have a kept a dress for more than forty years, it has travelled across the Atlantic with me, survived all our moves and even the ransacking of my cupboard by my girls in search for “something different.”

Of itself, it is not so spectacular. My wedding dress, my ball gowns from the 80s are all much more flamboyant. But this dress I wore to a garden party at Buckingham Palace which I attended with my parents in 1965. Thus it has become a tangible relic of my childhood, of life in England, of the prime of my parents, of a beautiful day in a palace garden – a different life and world.

It is a knee-length peach silk/linen mix, fitted, sleeveless with a boat neck in front, low square neck in the back. There are two rows of applique embroidery of large stylized flowers and leaves in the same fabric down the front. I wore a pale blue silk coat over it. This was also my dress for summer parties and weddings (always held in the afternoon then) that year, and no doubt for the next few years, too!

Frances Price, Toronto, Ontario

I was born during “The Depression.” Those words shaped my childhood – one knew there were people much poorer than my family, but one learned not to ask for too much – not to be seen to be greedy, not to waste, and to use everything to the very last drop. I was the youngest of four girls and I always wore my sisters’ hand-me-downs. So did all my friends who were younger sisters, so it was not discussed.

The big rage in my youth was Shirley Temple. She was a huge star and I adored her in “The Good Ship Lollypop” – the first movie I ever saw. I was “Shirley” for weeks after that. I think I memorized the whole movie and I yearned for a Shirley Temple doll. My wish came true; that Christmas I received a Shirley Temple doll. She had on a blue and white checked dress and a white Peter Pan collar edged with the blue and white check. Shirley was carried everywhere and I tucked her into bed beside me every night.

My next Christmas, I received a Shirley Temple dress – the same as my doll wore! It was my first own dress – brand new – not a hand-me-down and I matched my doll! Such glee, such happiness, such pure joy. I am smiling as I write this! That dress was the most loved. I wanted to wear it every day and I never tired of it.

My best dress? Of course, and the one most appreciated.

Carol MacNichol, Toronto, Ontario

I bought my favourite dress in a small, exclusive boutique in a village in England. It had a lightly boned bodice of black crêpe, shot through with gold thread. The neckline was made of pleated black satin worn off the shoulders with a large, black satin flower in the centre. It had a two-tiered satin flounced skirt which fell to just below my knees.

At the time, 1990, it was extremely fashionable and worn with a pair of high-heeled black suede shoes with diamante bows and a chiffon stole. I felt very elegant.

The reason this dress is so special to me is because it marked a profound turning point in my life. On my return from England I was greeted at the Toronto airport by John. At this time, our relationship was in its tentative early stages and we were spending two days together to get to know one another better.

As a surprise, John had bought tickets to see “Phantom of the Opera” at the Pantages Theatre. That evening we both dressed to the nines and rode down the elevator to the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel. As we proceeded through the lobby a sudden hush descended and all eyes to turned to us as the crowds fell back, rather like the parting of the Red Sea.

Now, I already knew how distinguished John looked when formally attired, so I assumed the admiring glances were aimed at him. Apparently though, John said he had fallen a pace behind and all eyes were upon me in my stunning dress.

From there, we took a cab to Centro. Unknown to us, this restaurant was frequented by actors, movie stars and the like, and the staff were accustomed to all sorts of glamorous personalities dining there.

As we entered the restaurant, the maître d’ came to greet us. Her reaction was quite spontaneous. “Oh my,” she exclaimed, “don’t you look beautiful this evening!” We were treated like VIPs the whole time and you could see the waiters trying to work out who we were. From the restaurant we went to the theatre where we received the same reaction as people made way for us wherever we went.

That evening was the most exciting, magical and glamorous that I have ever spent. I truly felt like a princess, something I had never before experienced.

From then on, that dress has held a special place in my heart as my “Cinderella dress,” the one I wore when I found my prince!

Elizabeth Illingworth, Thunder Bay, Ontario

It took some time for me to decide on ‘my favourite dress’ – there were many!

But the one that meant the most to me was the one that I found at Creeds for my daughter’s wedding. It was a two-piece self-patterned knee-length light silk dress in a champagne colour.

The wedding and the reception were held in our garden on a very hot and humid day in June 1983. I felt so elegant and was so comfortable that I wore that dress on many special occasions thereafter.  

Mary Mingie, Toronto, Ontario

Mid-holiday in St. Tropez, France, when I was 22, I bought a petal-like layered chiffon evening dress at a tiny little boutique. Each large petal had its own colour which ranged from a muted but lovely yellow through a soft peach to a watermelon pink. The dress was neither long nor short because of the uneven petal shapes. It floated when I walked and danced because of its light weight. And it felt as if I had nothing on!

The bodice was simple and curved up towards the shoulders. It had a bias seam binding in one of the contrasting colours which split in two at the shoulders and became two ropes of chiffon which crisscrossed over my back and tied in two little bows at the sides.

I unearthed this dreamy dress for a party a few years ago and felt so wonderful in it again. It was every bit as much in fashion as it had been so long ago. It reminded me once again of that gorgeous holiday I had with a great friend from Montreal visiting a French family with a lovely house high up in the hills overlooking St. Tropez. Oh, to be 22 again!

Cathy Fauquier, Toronto, Ontario