I have spent the better part of the last decade avoiding maxi dresses because every single one I tried on made me look either like I was going to a music festival I was thirty years too old for, or like I had wandered out of the house in a nightgown by mistake. My friend Helen kept telling me I was being ridiculous and that I had good shoulders and I should stop dressing like I was apologising for existing. She sent me the link to this one on a Sunday afternoon and I ordered it before I could talk myself out of it. When it arrived I put it on straight away with a pair of flat sandals I had not worn since our holiday in Corfu, and my husband looked up from his crossword and asked me where I was going. When I told him nowhere, I just wanted to see how it looked, he told me I should wear it more often. I have worn it three times in the last fortnight, including to a lunch with my sister who does not compliment anyone easily and who told me I looked lovely before I had even sat down.

My nephew got married in a country hotel outside York in early May and I had left it far too late to find something to wear. I am the sort of person who leaves everything until the last minute and then panics, and I had already returned two dresses from other websites because one was see-through in a way the photos absolutely did not suggest and the other arrived looking nothing like the picture. I ordered this one on a Tuesday evening, fully expecting to have to send it back as well, and told my husband I would just wear something old from the wardrobe if it did not work out. It arrived on the Thursday, I tried it on in the kitchen while the kettle was boiling, and I actually laughed out loud because it fit properly. The fabric hangs beautifully, the neckline is flattering without being too low for a family wedding, and it did not need a single alteration. My sister-in-law asked me twice during the reception where I had got it and made me write it down for her on a napkin.

I turned sixty in February and I decided somewhere between Christmas and New Year that I was going to stop saving my nice things for occasions that never seemed to arrive. I have a jewellery box full of pieces my mother left me that I have barely worn because they always felt too formal for a Tuesday, and I have got to the age where I know perfectly well that Tuesdays are all we really have. I ordered this necklace as a small present to myself the week after my birthday and it arrived in a proper little box, not just thrown in a padded envelope like some of the other places I have bought from. It sits perfectly at the collarbone, it goes with a jumper and jeans just as easily as it goes with a proper blouse, and I have had it on almost every day since. My granddaughter told me last Sunday that it was pretty and asked if she could try it on, which I think is the highest compliment a nine year old can offer.

My old handbag finally gave up on me last month after nearly eight years of daily use. The strap had been slowly coming apart at the top for most of the winter and I had been walking around with my hand permanently underneath it as a sort of emergency support, which is not a way to live. I went into three different shops on the high street looking for a replacement and either the bags were the size of small suitcases and would have swallowed everything I owned, or they were so tiny I could barely fit my phone and my reading glasses in at the same time. I ordered this one after seeing it on your website late one evening and I had genuinely low expectations because I have been let down so many times before. It arrived beautifully packaged, the leather feels proper, the size is exactly right for everyday, and it has enough compartments that I can actually find my keys without emptying the whole thing onto the kitchen counter. My daughter borrowed it for a job interview last week and now wants one of her own.

My husband and I booked a fortnight in Puglia for our fortieth wedding anniversary and I spent the six weeks leading up to it stressing about shoes more than anything else. I have arthritis in my left foot that flares up if I walk too much in the wrong footwear, and I have wasted a small fortune over the years on shoes that looked lovely in the shop and left me limping by lunchtime. I ordered these about a month before we flew out and wore them around the house for a fortnight to break them in, fully expecting to find something wrong with them. There was nothing wrong with them. I walked miles across Ostuni and Alberobello and Lecce, up and down cobbled streets that would have destroyed any other pair I owned, and I came home without a single blister. My friend Susan is going to Rome in September and I have already told her she needs to order a pair before she goes.

My daughter got married in June and I had been dreading the dress hunt for months. Every high street shop I walked into either had things cut for girls half my age or the sort of matronly mother-of-the-bride outfits that made me feel about ninety. I ordered this dress almost as a last resort at half past eleven one night, fully expecting to send it back. When it arrived and I tried it on in front of the mirror, I actually stood there for a moment not quite sure what to do with myself. It fit properly across the shoulders, the length was right without any alterations, and the colour was exactly what I had been trying to describe to shop assistants for weeks. I wore it to the wedding, danced in it until nearly one in the morning, and my sister has already asked to borrow it for a christening in September.

My husband passed away almost three years ago and I had put away most of my jewellery because none of it felt right anymore. My best friend Judith kept telling me I needed to start wearing pretty things again, that Peter would have wanted it. She sent me the link to this necklace on a Tuesday afternoon and I ordered it on the Wednesday, mostly to stop her nagging me if I am being honest. It came in the loveliest little box, and when I put it on I understood exactly what she had been trying to say. It is delicate without being fussy, it sits just right at the collarbone, and it has made me want to actually get dressed properly in the mornings again. I have worn it every single day since it arrived, including to my grandson's school play last Friday, where three different mothers stopped to ask me where I got it.

I retired from teaching in April after thirty-four years in the same primary school and I suddenly realised that almost every item of clothing I owned was chosen to survive a classroom of six year olds. Sensible, machine washable, and utterly forgettable. My daughter took me shopping in Meadowhall for my birthday and I came home with nothing because everything either felt too young or too much like a school uniform for a different job. I found this dress online about a fortnight later and I nearly did not order it because I was so tired of being disappointed. It has completely changed how I feel about getting dressed in the morning. The fabric is soft, it does not need ironing which is frankly a small miracle, and I have worn it to lunches, to a garden centre trip with my grandchildren, and to a book club evening. My husband told me last week that I look happier lately. I think he might be right.