I picked this star dress up in the sales last summer, and it’s one that, as much as I loved it when I bought it, I never really wear because I always feel a bit too showy in it in that is everyone looking at me? way. But with rooftop bars and dinner out on the cards I thought it was a good opportunity to be a little bit showy and wear the dress!

Dress: ASOS, old | Watch: Casio via ASOS, similar | Necklace: from a local market | Shoes: Kurt Geiger | Bag: Urbancode via ASOS | Sunglasses: Rayban, prescription

For the day at hand, the dress really did the job! I paired it with a pair of gold sandals by Kurt Geiger, which were comfy for walking and helped make the outfit look a bit smarter. Even though the dress is quite a daytime statement piece, I chose to double-up on statements wear a statement necklace in metallic to help take it from day to night with a bit of sparkle. The handbag was small enough to hold the essentials for a day out and about, and it also worked as a clutch (just tuck the straps into the bag!) for night.

Jeff took most of these photos up on the roof of our hotel before we set out for the day, and with the midday sun so strong I couldn’t help but pull my hair up into a bun to help keep cool! The final picture we took at Hotel Room Mate Oscar’s rooftop terrace, where I let my hair down for some cocktail fun before dinner.

As much as I felt like this dress was really showy, I found that wasn’t the case while walking around Madrid and I fell in love with it all over again! I loved that it was comfortable and cool for the day out, and in the evening it felt presentable enough to take me from day to night. At the end of the day I found I felt much more confident in it that I’d expected, and I know I’ll be packing it away for next summer (can you believe I was actually considering getting rid of it?!) and it will certainly make its way into my luggage for my next warm weather holiday.