A letter
The dragonfly dress you pull on and go.
In a red brick townhouse on a quiet New York street, two friends keep the tea warm and the door open — and the long dress every woman asks about hangs in the bay window of the front room.
Somewhere after fifty, a lot of women quietly start dressing to disappear. Getting dressed stops being a pleasure and turns into arithmetic: what will not pull, what will not need a second outfit laid out just in case, what nobody will look at twice. Nobody tells us to do this. We simply stop expecting our clothes to feel like ours, and after a while we stop asking them to.
I have written about women and what they wear for a long time, and I have heard that story more often than I can count. So when women kept telling me about a small house in New York where they felt at home again — in the room itself, and in their own clothes — I wanted to understand what happens behind that door.
It starts at the door. Parker & Hayes lives in a red brick townhouse on a quiet street, behind a blue-gray bay window and a small brass plaque, with a blue-gray front door that is nearly always left open. “Our door is always open,” Margaret says, and she means it literally. The women who visit all describe the same greeting: “Come in, make yourself at home.”
Inside it is not a store. It is a home. The front room has warm wood floors, an old wooden table piled with folded knits, and daylight falling through the bay window. There is a cup of tea if you want one, nobody rushes you, and you can take your time. Every so often Eleanor comes down the stairs with an armful of knits, past the rail of coats in the hall, and the two friends tease each other about whose taste is better. Women do not come here as customers. They come as guests.
Margaret loves a graceful neckline and a touch of polish; Eleanor will always reach for the softest thing in the room. Their house rule settles every argument: nothing comes in unless it is elegant and comfortable. When I asked which piece women ask about most, they both turned to the bay window, where a sleeveless maxi dress hangs in the daylight with three dragonflies embroidered down the front — the Helen. “It is the one you put on when you have no idea what to wear and no time to decide,” Eleanor said. So I asked them why, and I am going to let their words carry it.
1Dressed for the whole day, in one move
“This is the reason it hangs in the bay window where everyone can see it. It is one piece — you pull it on and you are ready for the whole day, no skirt to match, no jacket to find, nothing laid out the night before. We keep ours by the stairs for exactly that: the mornings when the door has to be open in ten minutes and we have not thought about clothes at all.”
2Three dragonflies that draw the eye up
“Margaret fell for the front first. Three dragonflies are embroidered down the center front, one above the other, so the eye travels upward instead of settling anywhere. It is stitched rather than printed, which is what keeps a long, simple dress from reading as plain — and it is the detail women ask about before they have even touched it.”
3It skims from the shoulder down
“Eleanor would not have it in the house otherwise. The round neckline sits high, the armholes are cut wide and open, and the body falls straight from the shoulder — so it skims past the waist and the hip instead of gripping them, and nothing pulls across the middle when you sit down to a long lunch. If a straight dress usually sits too close through the middle for your liking, this one does not.”
4A tier that swings all the way to the ankle
“Below the hip it drops into a gathered tier that swings as you walk, and the hem falls to the ankle. All it asks for is flat sandals, a woven tote and a long beaded necklace, and a cardigan over the shoulders carries it into a cool evening. From the kitchen table to a morning at the market to lunch with friends — in pink, blue or white, S through 3XL. Pack it for a winter escape somewhere warm, then bring it out again when spring returns.”
The Helen, next to the usual maxi dress
| The usual maxi dress | The Helen | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting dressed | Layers, a plan, a second outfit just in case | One piece, over your head, and you are ready |
| The fit | Grips the waist and the hip | Skims from the shoulder down, never pulls across the middle |
| The front | Plain, or a print you have seen before | Three embroidered dragonflies, one above the other |
| The hem | Straight and heavy to the ankle | Drops into a gathered tier that swings as you walk |
| The colors | One safe navy | Pink, blue and white · sizes S to 3XL |
Every order leaves the house the way a guest would: wrapped with care, with a little card on which Margaret writes two words. Welcome home. It sounds like a small thing. Reading what women write back, I am not sure it is.
Because not every woman can walk through that blue-gray door herself, Margaret and Eleanor have now opened it online as well. And to celebrate, they are holding their very first Open House, with the door wide open for a little while.
The Helen Maxi Dress
P|H - Dragonfly Embroidered Maxi Dress for Women Helen
$119.95$59.95Save 50%
- Three dragonflies embroidered down the center front
- Sleeveless, with a high round neckline and wide, open armholes
- Skims from the shoulder down, never pulls across the middle
- Gathered tier below the hip, falling to the ankle · pink, blue and white · S to 3XL
- Free shipping · 30-day returns
Open House prices, for a little while only
What I would tell you if we were friends
So many of us spent years not feeling at home in what we wear, and mornings are where that shows first. What struck me about Parker & Hayes is how simply they undo it: an open door, a warm front room, and one long dress you can pull on in a single move and still be the woman someone asks about.
If you have been laying out three things to decide between, come in and have a look at the Helen in the bay window. Take your time. Pick the shade you would reach for most — pink, blue or white. Their door is always open.
Welcome home.
Warmly,
Elizabeth Carter
- Free ShippingOn every order
- 30-Day ReturnsWithin 30 days of delivery
- Parker & HayesA townhouse shop in New York
Elizabeth Carter writes for Parker & Hayes. · Parker & Hayes, New York · Free shipping · 30-day returns.