The Third Date Dress

You know you’ve hit a certain low when you’ve swiped through every single man on Tinder in your 6 mile radius setting in London. 6 miles might not stretch far out of the capital, but in London, where you’ve got four people cramped into each flat in each three story building, well, it certainly increases your odds of finding Mr Right. Or Mr Wrong wrong wrong wrong. It’s the phenomenon of modern dating!

But dating is fun, and even though I’ve found my Mr. Right (I switched to Bumble – then randomly bumped into him in the gym one day, if you really want to know how we met!), I’ll happily stand by the fact that getting dressed up, going for drinks, and getting to know someone can be the best part of being in your twenties. I love when I get the tube on a Friday evening and I can see girls all dolled up – and I can usually work out who’s on what date based on their outfit.

First date – it’s all casual drinks after work at a local bar, so jeans and a nice top with mid heels/ ankle boots always fits the bill.

Second date – you up your ante a little bit (only if you like them enough, ofc) and wear maybe a semi-casual dress and a duster jacket. Still pretty cool and casual.

But the third date. Why is it so important about dressing well for the third date? Why have I written a whole post about it? No, it’s not because of any pop culture rules on what people do after a third date, it’s more that a third date is a bit of a deal breaker. It’s when you decide whether you actually really quite fancy someone and can see it going further, or if you don’t want to see them anymore. Stops are usually pulled out – you go somewhere fancy and impressive for dinner instead of a bar which is in between either where both of you live or your work places, with an excellent cocktail menu and probably some nice views of the city! So of course, you want to feel your sassiest self. And that calls for the third date dress.

Truth is, if he really is the right guy and your chemistry is fizzing faster than your prosecco, he probably won’t mind if you turn up in a plastic bag. But, it’s nice to bring your A-game in style to blow his mind with your babeness (as well as your personality, but I know you’ve already got that covered.) Topshop has long been my go-to for date outfits – or any outfit in fact – because it’s just the perfect representation of Brit-girl style and has practically every occasion covered. First date uniform of jeans and tops are aplenty, you’ll never run out of second date choices, and third date dresses are there to be styled up with chunky block heels by evening and a pair of beat-up converse for brunch in the AM. Plus, with Topshop having a place on basically every single high street, it’s there like a big sister to dress you in her coolest sassiest outfits when you need it most.

This sentiment is something that was literally put into action when, en route to a date via the oh-so-fashionable transportation method of le London Underground, I sat in god knows what and ruined my jeans. Luckily, the St Pauls branch of Topshop was on hand nearby to take a quick detour and get something else, quite literally saving my ass. And this poor bloke was none the wiser (albeit probably a little annoyed at my tardiness, but better late than never!)

My choice for the ultimate third date dress? Pink – what else! But this sugar sweet dress is lent an air of ultra femininity and high-fashion edge all at once with its fluttering asymmetric hemline. In true Brit-girl style, I threw on the quintessential biker jacket (can you believe this faux one is only £55?) to rough up the look, ever so slightly. I’m a sucker for the high-voltage fem vibes mixed with something a little more rock ‘n’ roll.