A letter from a reader

At 67, I noticed I had spent fifteen years hiding at the back of every photograph

Judith KerrToowoomba, QLD · 26 October 2026

I have never written one of these before, and I nearly didn’t, because it feels a funny thing to admit in public. But I have told the story to enough friends now that writing it down seemed easier than saying it again.

Last month my son put together a slideshow for his dad’s retirement do. Forty years of photographs, all up on the wall. And there I was in nearly every one, half behind somebody, or holding a drink, or a cardigan, or a handbag in front of my middle. Always something held in front of me.

I had not decided to do that. I just slowly started dressing to hide.

Nobody tells you it is coming. The body changes after a certain age, the middle softens, the tops of your arms are not what they were, and without ever quite meaning to you start reaching for the loose dark top, the cardigan in January, anything that skims over the bits you would rather not think about.

Then my sister turned up in a floral dress

It was at a garden party, and I could not stop looking at it. Not at her middle. At the dress.

She told me it was the Lara-Elise, from a small online boutique called Sydney Boutique, and that the trick is the gathered pleats down the front. They fall away from your stomach instead of clinging to it, so they skim the exact part you are conscious of. It has proper little sleeves that cover the tops of your arms, a soft A-line shape, and it comes down to mid-calf. Nothing complicated. Just a dress that somebody had clearly thought about.

The Lara-Elise pleated midi dress — The morning mine arrived. The print is even prettier in person.

I ordered the white and red one that evening, before I could talk myself out of it. It is soft and pretty, a print on a light background. Nothing loud. Just pretty.

See the Lara-Elise Dress

What happened at the christening

I wore it for the first time to my great-niece’s christening.

Two people asked me where it was from before we had even sat down. But that was not the part that stayed with me.

The part that stayed with me was that when my daughter lifted her phone to take a photo, I did not reach for anything to hold in front of me. I did not step behind anyone. I just stood there, in the photograph, at the front, in a dress I liked.

The Lara-Elise pleated midi dress being worn

I have worn it more times than I can count since. To the christening, round the garden, down to the shops, out to lunch. It has quietly become the thing I reach for.

Three things I have learned since

One. The pleats do the work. They gather at the front and float away from the body over the middle, so the fabric never clings where you do not want it to. You feel covered without feeling wrapped in a tent.

Two. The sleeves matter more than I expected. They are short, but they cover the tops of the arms, which for a lot of us is the difference between wearing a dress and not. And there are two side pockets, which I now cannot imagine a dress without.

Three. The sizing is sensible. It runs from an AU 6 to a 20 and comes in five different prints, florals and a polka dot among them, so there is a version of it for most people. I have my eye on the blue flowers one next.

About the price

I will be honest, the price made me more suspicious than anything.

The Lara-Elise is AU$44.95. It was AU$89.95.

My first thought was that there had to be a catch, because you can pay a great deal more than that at the shopping centre for something that looks lovely on the hanger and awful on you.

There is no catch that I have found. It is a small boutique selling directly online, they are running a summer sale, and shipping is free anywhere in Australia. That was what finally decided it for me.

See the Lara-Elise Dress

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you and I were having a cuppa and you asked me, this is what I would say.

If you have spent the last few years quietly stepping to the back of photographs, holding something in front of you, dressing so as not to be seen, it is worth ten minutes of an evening to have a look.

Not because a dress fixes anything. It doesn’t. But there is a small, quiet thing in being willing to be in the picture again, and I had forgotten what it felt like.

The sale is on now, so if yours is there I would not sit on it.