Of all the prairie dresses I have seen this is one of the most gorgeous, as it has that 1970s does 1930s look with the short puff angel sleeve, as well as having the rustic charm of the prairie dress.
 
Be aware I am 5ft 5 ins height and having to wear very high heels, so if you aren't much taller you will need heels or to get it altered. 
It is suitable for a UK size 8 to 10, and is a lovely light weight cotton, with empire line tie belt and brown velvet decorative ribbon tie little bow at the neck. 
 
It is pale beige with a brown repeat small berries and leaf pattern, with greater pattern density on the yoke & sleeves, with dark brown olive green brown and tan brown colours. The dress has darts over the bust and the let is just below ie high waisted almost empire. There are frills at the medium high neck and the sleeve edge, and te big frill at the bottom. 
 
While Gunne Sax & Jessica McClintock, Dollyrockers, Laura Ashley, and others were famed for prairire dresses, they had actually started to appear in the mid 1960s , though the trend continued right up until the mid 1980s off and on, with the likes of Ralph Lauren also getting involved. The enduring and endearing appeal has seen a recent revival with modern brands creating them again. But back in the 1970s was the heyday, and so it is nice to have an original 70s one. What fewer people know, is while at the same time c early to mid 1970s brands like Biba & Bus Stop were doing a revival of 1930s styles, it was a UK high street brand, Richard Shops, that were famed for combining them both, and this is a classic example and rare such a fine one.
 
Richard Shops had started in the 1930s but gone bust by 1941, and the brand had to be built up again until achieving huge popularity in the early 1960s to 1980s. Later of course they would join the race to the bottom of fast fashion, but back in the 1970s they did some very lovely pieces. Their jingle was 'where the pretty things are' and for sure this is one of 'the prettiest prairie dresses I ever did see honest a goodness and ain't that the gospel truth'.
 
While many are very frilly cottage core Victoriana, or veer to the peasant colonial or 19th century pioneer,, this definitely has the 1970s does 1930s take on it. And that was all the rage too. So this is special. Perhaps more Waltons than Little House on the Prairie but both tv shows of the early to mid 1970s were popular perhaps because they harked back to a simpler time, less tech and plastic oriented. For sure, people were fed up of crimplene and sweaty armpits, and natural cotton had the rustic charm of old especially in this prairie style. Laura Ashley was doing entire lifestyle based around the look from Victorian nightdresses pine furniture to borderie anglaise and gingham, and people queued round the block at acid bath facilities to have their doors , furniture and bannisters and spindles stripped back to the natural pine. And when your home had all that rustic charm, you needed the dress to go with it! And from hippies to country & western inspired, it seemed everyone anted the look in some shape or form. 
 
So if this is your cup of tea, don't hesitate as it is lovely! All ready for that country picnic, pop festival, a hoedown or a barn dance, that special date with a cowboy or a crop duster aviator, or bringing in the sheaves at church!
 
My spirit of the age and garment song, is from 1974, and is Roxy Music's 'Prairie Rose' from the Country Life album 
"Lonesome star, shine on
The big country (Texas)
With open skies, and you
For company (Texas)
Oh, prairie rose
How happy I should be"