On the six things I insisted on when I designed our rose-cuff mini dress, how it compares to the dresses flooding your feed, and why it's clearing as we simplify the collection.
The Rosalie, in the ivory I still reach for first.
I'm Monroe, and I started Wells & Monroe here in Charleston twelve years ago, above a little tailor's shop that smelled like starch and orange blossom. In that time I've sewn, sourced, and second-guessed a great many dresses. The Rosalie is the one I reach for when I actually want to be looked at.
It's the dress I put on when brunch matters, the one a stranger stops me about at the farmers market. And of everything in the closet clearance as we pare the collection down to what's truly worth keeping, it's the piece I most wanted to write to you about.
For years I watched the same thing happen to the women who came into my fitting room. The "romantic" mini dresses were all the same two disappointments. The first looked beautiful in the photo and felt like a paper bag the moment you sat down in it — stiff, static, cheap to the touch. The second was soft and easy, but plain enough that nobody at the table noticed you'd made an effort. I never accepted that a woman had to choose between feeling elegant and feeling like herself. The Rosalie is my answer, and I fought for six things when I made it — usually with a factory that wanted to do the cheaper version instead.
Most dresses look great walking out the door and turn stifling the moment you sit down. The Rosalie is built to keep you comfortable through a long lunch, a warm afternoon, and everything after — no fanning yourself, no peeling it off the second you're home.
"I wore it to an outdoor wedding in July and never once felt like I needed to change."
Every rose is folded and set into the cuff itself — dimensional, soft to the touch, unmistakably not a pattern. It's the detail that makes someone stop you mid-sentence to ask where the dress is from.
"Three separate women asked about the sleeves before I even sat down. I've never had a dress do that."
Real buttons, shaped like small blooms, running from the collar to the hem. It's the sort of detail that used to be reserved for dresses three times the price, on a dress you can wear to the office and to dinner.
"The buttons look hand finished. It doesn't look like a fast-fashion dress at all, and I've had it complimented at work twice already."
Relaxed through the middle, shaped where it should be, and cut to fall just above the knee — room to sit, walk, and move all day without once tugging at the hem or the waist.
"It skims right over the parts I'm self-conscious about instead of clinging to them. I didn't think a mini dress could do that for me."
Soft and full through the arm, gathered at the rose-knot cuff, so the tops of your arms are covered without a single extra degree of warmth trapped inside.
"Finally a sleeve that covers my arms and still feels cool. I've worn it in ninety-degree heat and never overheated."
From crisp white to deep burgundy, sage mist to mushroom taupe — each shade chosen to sit quietly with what's already in your closet, so the Rosalie earns its place from the very first wear.
"I started with white and went back for burgundy within the week. They photograph beautifully and they go with everything I own."
I refuse to make a dress that asks a woman to choose between looking elegant and feeling like herself. That's the whole reason the Rosalie exists.
We're simplifying the Wells & Monroe collection down to the pieces our customers actually reach for, and the Rosalie is being cleared with it. It's now $69.95, down from $202.95, and when you take more than one the discount stacks further — up to 70% on top.
I'll be plain about it. At this price we're barely covering the craftsmanship and the hand-set cuffs. I'm telling you because it's true, and because once this clearance run sells through, this price goes with it. There's no promise it comes back at $69.95.
If twelve years running this little label have taught me anything, it's that a woman who tries the Rosalie once usually orders a second color. That's the quiet bet I'm placing by writing you this letter today.
"I now own the white and the burgundy. Between the two I've barely reached for anything else since June. Elegant, comfortable, and I always get asked about it."
It's the mini dress I'm proudest of in twelve years of doing this. I'd rather it go to women who will actually wear it than sit folded in a stockroom.
The reviews say the same things I do, over and over. 4.8 stars across 1,100+ women. If you've ever wanted a dress that turns heads without asking you to be uncomfortable in it, this is the one I'd put in your hands myself — while the colors are still in stock.
— Monroe
About the writer. Monroe is the founder of Wells & Monroe, started in Charleston, South Carolina. Twelve years in, she still signs off on every detail and every cuff before it ships.
This is a personal letter from the founder of Wells & Monroe. Prices and availability are accurate while stock lasts during the clearance.