Affordable summer dress with Greek holiday vibes + Lunch at Japanese Fusion Restaurant Sokyo

St Frock dress (wearing sz 8), H&M foldable straw hat

Hi guys! Welcome back to another post. I've been meaning to do another wedding topic but got asked a few questions about this dress in my Instagram stories this week so I thought I'd do a quick share and review here. The dress is from St Frock and it is the Amira Shirt Dress. For those of you unfamiliar with St Frock, they are an Australian online retailer with a store in Pyrmont, Sydney. They stock a huge range of gorgeous dresses as well as tops, bottoms and accessories, all budget friendly around $50 to $100 (with sale items often under $50!). I got this dress as part of a mini haul to update some autumn looks before leaving for a trip to Europe last month. You can see what other items I got from St Frock in this post here. As usual, all clickable links in this post are highlighted in pink. 

Dress (I didn't realise how wrinkled it was on my first wear, oops!), flat leather sandals great for walking

I wore this dress to a weekend lunch with friends at Sokyo Restaurant at Star Casino. The weather was gorgeous, warm and sunny (though a little windy!). Lunch was a semi-special occasion and this dress was perfect for wanting to be a little dressed up without being over the top. Because it's a bit of a walk from Town Hall station to Pyrmont (about 20 minutes), I opted for flat tan sandals rather than dressy heels. Later in the post, I share a few ways I might style this dress for different occasions and hopefully provide some inspiration for getting more wear out of one dress.  

Love the paisley print and dramatic balloon sleeves

What do I like about the dress?

It's a lightweight summery dress in white with a blue paisley print. It has these voluminous balloon sleeves that pass my elbows. I generally don't suit balloon sleeves (particularly big ones, despite loving this trend). Sometimes they can overwhelm my petite frame, but this was not the case here. The dress length is suitable for both petites and non-petites, not too short ending at my knees. Despite the windy day I never had a Marilyn Monroe situation with the skirt blowing up. The dress is fully lined and not see through. It has an elasticated waist and adjustable belt which is removable. 

The dress totally gives me holiday vibes with a Greek inspiration. Overall the dress is just beautiful and like I mentioned earlier, it's a versatile piece that could be worn dressed down for casual looks or dressed up for more special occasions. 

Oh, and it has pockets! 

Minor cons:

The material is polyester, rather than cotton or linen, and you guys know I tend to gravitate towards natural fibres where possible. However, the material still feels very nice but one downside to polyester material is that it is less breathable and I worked up a slight sweat during the 20 minute power walk to the restaurant in the middle of the day. The dress is easy to get into despite not having a zipper, but the row of buttons down the centre is a little fiddly to loop through with my butter fingers. You might also need to iron out the creases in the sleeves before wearing. The smallest size stocked by St Frock site wide is AU 8. I normally wear AU 6 but found this dress fits me well with some room to spare so should be TTS for those who are a true size 8. 

From top left: Kmart espadrilles, Witchery white sneakers (old), Jimmy Choo Romy 85 pumps, 
Windsor Smith flat sandals, Sandler Marilyn strappy sandals in black patent

Other ways to style:

Up above are some shoes that I think could be worn with the dress to style for different occasions. Now that I look at it, these might be the staple shoe styles you might pack for travelling for a summer holiday (probably narrow it down to three of the five above depending on what activities you have planned for your trip, such as flat sandals, sneakers and one pair of heels). 

Beach vacation outfit or exploring local markets: Espadrilles and round picnic bag 

Casual day outfit for sightseeing and exploring: White sneakers for easy walking on cobblestones
with Loewe small basket bag (similar in larger size from St Frock here)

Date night outfit for cocktail hour: Black strappy sandals and Prada black clutch on chain 
(mine is a few years old before the significant price increase! Similar YSL WOC for less)

Could this outfit work for a day at the office? Leave me a comment below!
Tory Burch tote (my exact colour on sale here) and white heels

Accessories to pair with:

• This white and blue outfit would pair well with brown, black and white colours. 
• You could switch the shoes for metallic gold or silver sandals.
• Pops of yellow would really stand out, such as tassle earrings or a little clutch to make a statement.
• I also like straw raffia bags for summer styles.

Shopping tips and discounts:

St Frock offers free delivery within Australia for purchases over $50 and the last couple of times my parcel arrived pretty much the next one or two business days which was an amazing surprise (especially when I had a change of heart on my bridesmaid dresses one week before the wedding!). They also offer worldwide shipping, including New Zealand, USA and pretty much anywhere around the world. 

If you are new to St Frock, you can get 20% off your first purchase when you sign up to their newsletter (it's free to subscribe). With Black Friday and Boxing Day sales coming up, it would be worth waiting to see if there is 20 to 30% off site wide, which was the case last year. You can also use the Shopback App to get additional cash back on your purchase and it's even better when you tee it up during a promo period when there could be additional bonus cash back up to 15-20% . If you are new to Shopback, you can get additional $20 cashback on your first eligible purchase when you sign up for free with referral code 8RWIDn.

Prada Odette bag in caramel brown - colour currently sold out (available in other colours including this beautiful baby blue and also at Costco US!?!)

One important thing to note about St Frock though is the returns policy. Items can be returned for free within 60 days of purchase for a full refund but only in store credit. But with such a vast range of items to choose from, that shouldn't be a problem to exchange for something else. So, in case you're unsure of an item, I would suggest to purchase that one first and if it doesn't suit, then exchange it for something else you know might be a safer bet to avoid being stuck with store credit that you're not sure what to do with.

Sokyo review:

On a side note, the food at Sokyo was delightful! The restaurant had been on my radar after reading a few excellent reviews a few years ago. It's Japanese and contemporary western fusion. We ordered the five course seasonal lunch menu and my favourite dish of the day would be the sashimi platter and fresh oysters with plum wine, lime granita and and spicy ponzu from the a la carte menu. 

First course: Assorted sashimi and best oysters I've ever had

The restaurant is a little on the fancier side (google review rating of $$$$) but not exuberantly over-expensive compared to some places in Sydney. You could consider this joint if you're looking for a 'nice' lunch or dinner or even a business lunch that you are charging to the account *wink*. Street parking is surprisingly easy, even on a weekend. Do make sure you pay for parking as my friend had a close encounter with the parking inspector. We accidentally lost track of time with our chattiness and spotted him approaching her car just as we were crossing the road!

Sokyo restaurant at Star Casino, Pyrmont

Pattern on the back of the dress

Okay well, this is the end of this post! Hope you guys enjoyed it and had a great weekend as well. Thanks so much for reading as always and if you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave one down below or DM me on my Instagram account @choco_petitestyle. 

Choco

All photos in this post are my own and are not be used without permission. 

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