Duchess Sophie's dark floral tea dress is the perfect piece for chic day-to-night dressing ahead of party season

Duchess Sophie's dark floral tea dress is the perfect piece for chic day-to-night dressing ahead of party season.

With the festive season virtually here many of us will be carefully considering Christmas party dress ideas but not everyone will be sold on sequins or bold patterns. For others outfits that work day-to-night are much more important and if you only want a touch of something stand-out this winter, Duchess Sophie’s dark floral tea-dress is stunning.

Stepping out solo in Colombia for several important and poignant engagements on 28th November, the Duchess of Edinburgh wore a gorgeous black Aria Pearl Dots dress by Suzannah London. Priced at £1,150 this is a luxury piece although there are plenty of ways to get a similarly understated day-to-night outfit for a lot less.

Duchess Sophie’s dress features a new pattern which was developed from an archive artwork. The beautiful white dots come together to form a super subtle daisy motif over the black of the dress. The contrast is eye-catching and yet keeping to the paired-back black and white colour palette makes this an incredibly sophisticated way to wear florals. It has ¾ length sleeves ending in a shirred cuff and has a classic empire line cut. 

The Duchess of Edinburgh’s outfit is the perfect day-to-night piece as the tea dress design is very wearable during the day styled with flat shoes like the ones she wore in Colombia. Duchess Sophie opted for a pair of cream leather loafer-style pumps from Nicola Sexton and added a stretch-twill blazer by Helmut Lang.

The blazer’s structured design added formality to the look, whilst the cream of the shoes echoed the daisy pattern and were a little more contemporary and casual. You can also easily style a black tea dress with trainers or your best black boots and to dress up this silk crepe de chine dress, a pair of black heels would look stunning.

Duchess Sophie’s tea dress was so elegant and she wore her blonde tresses in a low bun, allowing the key-hole design of the Aria dress to be seen. Her dress also had to be comfortable and versatile for a day full of incredibly significant engagements.

In Bogotá, the senior royal had a meeting with the Vice President of Colombia, Francia Márquez, who is also Minister of Equality and Equity and the first Afro-Colombian Vice President. Later on she joined women who have been impacted by the armed conflict there, including those who are survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, at the Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación. They viewed an exhibition of artwork, “Spinning with patience to weave hopes for peace”.

She also attended a roundtable discussion, hosted by both the UK and Canadian Embassies, with women from the Colombian Armed Forces. Here they heard about their work in support of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

The Duchess of Edinburgh is in Colombia until 1st December and her visit is in support of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda and part of her continuing work with survivors of conflict related sexual violence, and the rights of girls and women.