Son de Flor Dress Review: Quality, Sustainability, Measurements

Son de Flor is perhaps one of the best-known cottagecore and vintage-style clothing brands. Think flowy dresses, pinafores, full-length circle skirts, and the classic peter pan collar.

Their beautiful and timeless pieces come at a steep price, however. If you’re eyeing Son de Flor’s Classic Dress and wondering whether it’s worth the $200+, here’s my in-depth review, including sustainability measures, quality, measurements, care instructions, and more.

This post is not sponsored. I was gifted the Classic Dress with no obligation to share, and I am a Son de Flor affiliate, meaning I may earn a small commission from any purchases through the links in this post, at no extra cost to you.

Is Son de Flor Ethical and Sustainable?

Son de Flor is a Lithuanian brand known for its fairytale-esque and vintage-style pieces made out of linen. Their clothing is not only in the cottagecore aesthetic, but they also stay true to the cottagecore values of caring for the earth and its people.

Son de Flor traces their entire supply chain, with the linen being fairly produced in the EU. The fabric is also Oeko-Tex certified, meaning it’s free from harmful substances. The garments are then made in-house, or by local sewists who work in safe conditions and are paid fair wages. Finally, the clothing is stone-washed and softened by a small, family-owned company.

When you’re ready to rehome your Son de Flor clothing, they offer a take-back program where they give you a 50 euro voucher to use on the site, and they pay for the shipping fees for you to send the item back. The clothing is then sold on the pre-loved section of their site.

Overall, Son de Flor is doing some pretty awesome stuff as a brand. Some potential areas of improvement are:

• Switching to a made-to-order model to reduce potential waste
• Featuring more diverse models (Lithuania is mostly white, but Son de Flor has a global presence on Instagram, and people of color aren’t as often represented in the cottagecore/vintage fashion space)

With that, let’s get into the review!

Son de Flor Classic Dress Review

Unboxing

The dress came in a cardboard box that was plastic-free, other than the clear envelope glued on top to hold the shipping label and customs form. The dress was wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with a piece of twine.

One sweet detail was that there was a small poem rolled into a scroll and placed in a pocket of the dress.

Appearance + Feel

I could tell right away that the dress was well-made. The stitching is straight and neat (there were a couple places where a little bit of extra thread wasn’t cut, but that was no big deal). The linen is thicker and the dress has a surprising weight to it, likely because of the full circle skirt. The interior of the dress hem is lined with white fabric, which creates the appearance of depth, as you can see the white hem peek out when you walk around or twirl.

This was my first 100% linen piece, so I was surprised at the texture, which feels relatively stiff compared to cotton or linen blends. It’s comfortable to wear though, and isn’t scratchy.

The buttons on the dress are dainty and made of natural materials, and they stay secure. The hidden zipper on the side glides easily. One of my favorite parts of the dress, however, are the pockets. They’re generous and can easily hold a phone.

The dress feels perfect for prancing through meadows and wandering through forests, though I’ve mostly worn it to special events and for apple picking.

My brother has joked that the dress makes me look like a nun (thanks bro), and I can see where he’s coming from since it is modest, and does seem like something a sister or the Amish would wear. I try to mitigate that by wearing my thrifted Doc Martens or a cardigan with the dress.

Sizing

Son de Flor’s sizing runs from XXS-XXL, though they also have a handful of pieces in 3XS and up to 4XL. They also offer custom sizing and changes for an extra 50 euros.

Son de Flor has a size calculator that will help you choose your size based on your measurements (and they take both metric and imperial measurements). I was recommended XXS due to my small bust size, but the calculator said that the waist would be slightly tight for both the XXS and XS. So, I opted for the S, which was said to be loose in the bust and slightly loose in the waist.

For reference, I’m 5’4″, 125-130lbs, 32″ bust, and 28.5″ waist. That’s 1.63m, 57-59kg, 81cm bust, and 72.4cm waist for my non-US readers.

The size small fits well, though it is slightly loose in the torso as predicted. I don’t mind since I can easily add a base layer for the winter months. The dress is almost full-length for me, hitting mid-calf.

If you’re interested in the measurements of the dress, here they are:

• 18.5″ (47cm) pit to pit
• 15.5″ (39.4cm) waist
• 45″ (114.3cm) length

Care

Linen is prone to wrinkles and shrinking, so you’ll want to be extra careful. Son de Flor has their own care guide. They recommend turning the dress inside out, buttoning and zipping it up, and machine washing on low temperatures with mild detergent.

They recommend air drying since it reduces wrinkles, and linen dries quickly. To get out the wrinkles, iron the dress while slightly damp. Son de Flor says dark linens should only be ironed on the reverse side, while lighter ones looks best ironed on both sides.

I’ve only washed the dress once (despite wearing it several of times over the 8 months I’ve had it), and it was extremely wrinkly afterwards, even after air drying. I ended up ironing just the bottom of the skirt since that’s where the wrinkles were most noticeable. I didn’t realize I was supposed to iron the reverse side and just ironed regularly, and the dress still looks great.

Cost

Is the Son de For Classic Dress worth the $240 price tag? Given the quality of the fabric, workmanship of the piece, and fair working conditions, I’d say the price is justified. After foraying into sewing myself a bit this year, I can see how a dress like this could easily take hours to make.

Does that make the dress worth it for you, though? If you think you’ll wear it over and over for many years, then perhaps yes. Son de Flor’s pieces are timeless classics meant to be kept for years and passed down. If you’re not sure, then I’d recommend thinking about it a bit more.

Where to Buy Son de Flor Clothing

If this review was helpful and you’re ready to buy a Son de Flor dress, it would mean a ton if you used my affiliate link. You can also use my code imperfectidealist10 for 10% off until December 31st, 2022.

You can also find Son de Flor clothing secondhand apps like Mercari and Poshmark (both are $10 off referral links if you haven’t signed up yet).

Let us know what you think in the comments if you end up buying from Son de Flor! For more ethical brand suggestions, check out my sustainable brand directory or my guide to sustainable cottagecore brands.