A wonderful change came at the beginning of last year—Colleen agreed to join as a partner in the business! We were childhood friends and had recently volunteered together for a non-profit where we discovered we worked well together. She was the missing piece for VDDCo! With the help of her and Hanna (and then … Continue reading Our Origin Story-Part 3
Lucketts Market
Recently, we took part in the 2023 Spring Lucketts Antique Market in Berryville, Virginia. It’s a 3-day market inspired by everything vintage, with hundreds of vendors and thousands of attendees. his was our second year being there, and it was such a lovely weekend. We had so many kindreds stop by and met lots of … Continue reading Lucketts Market
Our Origin Story-Part 2
Continuing our story ... Virginia Dare Dress Co. has always been about finding the beauty in the everyday. Beauty was not without its struggles, though. When the company launched, my mom had just been diagnosed with advanced cancer, and then a few years later my dad also had serious cancer and complications. I also found … Continue reading Our Origin Story-Part 2
Our Origin Story – Part 1
In May we announced some really big news on social media and we want to share it with all of our readers here as well. It marks a new step in our adventure. but first we wanted to share a bit of our history and who we are. 8 years ago, I (Rebekah) was a … Continue reading Our Origin Story – Part 1
Style Tips: The Chloe
We love the Chloe for how versatile she is! But sometimes inspiration can be hard to come by, so we want to share a few of our favorite ways to style the Chloe. Look 1: Leather Belt, Heeled sandals, Gold Jewelry Add a belt to accentuate your waist more and change things up a bit. … Continue reading Style Tips: The Chloe
Meet the Team: Spring 2023
One of our favorite parts of this business journey is getting to meet so many kindreds along the way! We love seeing all the exciting places you wear your dresses too, and being a part of so many of the gifts you send, special occasions, and memories! It's been a while since the last time … Continue reading Meet the Team: Spring 2023
Recipes: Chai Tea Latte
Sometimes, on the cold blustery days, nothing else seems quite right like a cup of tea. It's warm and comforting and makes everything just a little bit better. We want to share a chai latte recipe that will be your best friend on the cold days when you need something just a little extra special. … Continue reading Recipes: Chai Tea Latte
Style: Transitioning Winter Dresses for Spring
It's barely March, which usually means another few weeks of cold winter-like weather here in Northern Virginia. But it's been a mild winter for us, and we even saw some blooming daffodils the other day, which leads us to hope, although cautiously, that spring might be just around the corner. So, we want to share … Continue reading Style: Transitioning Winter Dresses for Spring
Dress Adventures: Maman
For Dress Adventure #24 (if you're new, that's our weekly adventure where we wear our VDDCo and take an adventure or do something a bit out of the ordinary) Rebekah and her mom took a girl's day out shopping and made a visit to their favorite bakery, Maman. Maman is a cafe that brings a … Continue reading Dress Adventures: Maman
Dress Adventure: Color Analysis
For Dress Adventure #23 we tried something completely new! Rebekah and Colleen met with consultant Christine Swartz from House of Colour in Loudoun and had a color consultation! We spent an entire afternoon learning about which colors suit our skin tones best and which seasons we are. Rebekah is a winter (not what we thought!) … Continue reading Dress Adventure: Color Analysis
Travel: Kindred European Recommendations
We asked for your best recommendations in each location that Colleen and Rebekah are planning to visit during our European adventure. You shared so many, and although we won't have time to visit them all, we can't wait to try some of them out. But we also wanted to share the collection of your recommendations … Continue reading Travel: Kindred European Recommendations
Travel: How To Be a Good Companion
If you haven't already heard, we're going on a European Adventure! Colleen and Rebekah are taking a two-week break and traveling around Europe in a whirlwind of a trip. Like many things in life, even if the activity or environment is absolutely lovely, who you are spending it with matters most of all. A difficult … Continue reading Travel: How To Be a Good Companion
Lifestyle: We’re in a Movie!
If you haven’t heard…We were in a movie! Rebekah and her mom had the chance to be extras in a Christmas movie her brother starred in, while wearing our VDDCo! The movie is called “Christmas at the Greenbrier,” (and takes place at the beautiful resort!) and it’s finally released. You can watch it for free … Continue reading Lifestyle: We’re in a Movie!
Style Tips: Three Ways to Wear the Amelia this Season
It's almost Christmas! We can't believe how fast the year and especially this month is flying by. The time for Christmas parties, caroling, shopping, and festive dinners is upon us, and we've designed the perfect winter dress for each of these activities! She arrived from our factory in Texas this week, and we shipped her … Continue reading Style Tips: Three Ways to Wear the Amelia this Season
Maker Spotlight: Nectar Republic
We love choosing the products we include in our gift boxes. Each one is handpicked by us with thought and intention. One of our favorite companies source items from is Nectar Republic. We stock their candles, and you might recognize their tins and glass jars from several boxes in our holiday collection. Nectar Republic (formerly … Continue reading Maker Spotlight: Nectar Republic
Style Tips: Staying Warm and Stylish
We've officially said goodbye to fall and hello to winter and the Christmas season (even if the calendar says winter isn't till the 21st). This can be a tough time of year to wear winter dress outfits because the cold makes wanting to wear stylish clothes way harder. But we believe there are ways to … Continue reading Style Tips: Staying Warm and Stylish
Holiday Gift Guide 2022
If you've been looking for the perfect Christmas gift ideas, we're here to help. We make beautiful gifting easy for friends, grandparents, your mom, sister, co-workers, and more. Gifts for your Mom: Gifts for your Grandparents: Gifts under $20: Gifts for a dear friend: Gifts for the homebody: Gifts for your sister: Gifts for a … Continue reading Holiday Gift Guide 2022
Lifestyle: A Day in Historic Leesburg
If you've followed us for a while, you may know that we do a weekly "Dress Adventure" where we wear our VDDCo and take an adventure or do something out of the ordinary. This week we took a little time off from work and explored some of our favorite spots in Historic Leesburg where we … Continue reading Lifestyle: A Day in Historic Leesburg
Gift Boxes: Gifting for Realtors
Recently, we wrote about corporate gifting and shared how we came to add it to our business during COVID in 2020. Lately, we've been expanding our corporate gifting to really specialize it for realtors. One of our favorite parts about the gifting process is how we can specialize it for each specific client. Our standard … Continue reading Gift Boxes: Gifting for Realtors
Meet the Dress: Amelia
This week we launched a new dress just in time for the holidays. We hesitated earlier this year on whether or not to make her, but ultimately decided to and we are so glad we did! Say hello to Amelia: she's a long sleeve ponte knit with a sweetheart neckline, pockets, and a wide waist … Continue reading Meet the Dress: Amelia
Style Tips: Freebird Boots
This spring we discovered Freebird Boots. Colleen bought a pair of leather sandals and loved them! Since then we've come across a few more of their shoes that pair wonderfully with our dresses. Colleen wore their "Claw" sandals during spring and summer and absolutely loved them. She's wearing them here with our June and Chloe … Continue reading Style Tips: Freebird Boots
Recipes: Chai Spice Apple Cider
In a strange turn of events, last week was surprisingly warm here in Northern Virginia. We're talking 80 degrees in the first week of November! But, just as soon as it came, it passed, and now we're back to the usual 40-degree weather we expect this time of year. The recurrence of cold weather has … Continue reading Recipes: Chai Spice Apple Cider
Gift Boxes: 2022 Holiday Launch
Our holiday gift collection is here! We’re excited to share the newest combinations of our products with seasonal themes like peppermint taffy, "Silent Night" tea, and our cedar and cinnamon candle. Whether you’re sending a small Cheery Hello or our extravagant Winter Delight, we are thrilled to be a part of it! Cookie Hello Classic … Continue reading Gift Boxes: 2022 Holiday Launch
Small Businesses: Sela Designs
As a small business, we know the hard work and resilience it takes to run and grow a business, and we love supporting others especially when they create beautiful products that give back to the community. Meet Ashleigh Becker with Sela Designs. She creates handmade jewelry with each piece packed with love and filled with … Continue reading Small Businesses: Sela Designs
Gift Boxes: Intro to Corporate Gifting
When COVID-19 hit early in 2020, it impacted the whole world. One of the ways it affected us as a business was by shutting down our factories for a long time. While that was difficult and discouraging to go through, something wonderful came out of it. Rebekah had been toying with the idea of offering … Continue reading Gift Boxes: Intro to Corporate Gifting
Recipes: Pumpkin Spice Donuts
Donuts are treat any time of year, but somehow they just seem better in Autumn. Maybe it's because they go with fall spices so well, or because they taste better with apple cider, but whatever the reason, we won't pass up a good opportunity to try them. Recently, one of our kindreds, Rebecca Neidhart, of … Continue reading Recipes: Pumpkin Spice Donuts
Dress Adventure: Bethany Beach
Dress Adventure #14: Colleen and her family took a weekend trip to Bethany Beach, Delaware to celebrate her mom's birthday! They spent part of their time enjoying the beach itself, watching the waves roll in, flying kites, and picnicking in the sand. They visited miniature golf courses, and Colleen stopped by an incredible coffee shop … Continue reading Dress Adventure: Bethany Beach
Dress Adventures: Road Trip To Georgia
For this dress adventure, (where we wear our VDDCo and find an adventure or do something a little out of the ordinary) Rebekah and Colleen, along with a group of friends, took a road trip to a wedding in Georgia. They decided to make the long drive down an adventure in itself. The first stop … Continue reading Dress Adventures: Road Trip To Georgia
Meet the Team: Northern Virginia
One of our very favorite things to do is meet new kindreds. We love getting together over a cup of coffee, like we did recently for our JuneCup dress adventure. But many of you are not local to us, and while we would love to travel and meet you all, in the meantime we'd love … Continue reading Meet the Team: Northern Virginia
Dress Adventures: JuneCup Coffee
Recently, for Dress Adventure #9 (our weekly series where we wear a dress and find an adventure or do something a little out of the ordinary), we visited the JuneCup coffee pop-up at Fort Bacon Farm. It’s a darling mobile coffee bar owned by a husband and wife team! It was an extra special adventure … Continue reading Dress Adventures: JuneCup Coffee
Meet the Dress: Audrey
Today we launched our newest dress and we are so excited to introduce her to you! Meet Audrey. She's a classic silhouette with a full skirt and a darling feminine neckline. Lizzy wearing XS Carly wearing XXL Colleen wearing M We are absolutely in love with the tiny floral print and other small details (like … Continue reading Meet the Dress: Audrey
Dress Adventures: Sunrise at Oatlands
Dress Adventures are our weekly series where we wear our VDDCo and find an adventure or do something a little out of the ordinary. For adventure #12 we took homemade pumpkin bread and coffee and went to watch the sunrise at Oatlands historic house and gardens. The early morning light gave the grounds a lovely … Continue reading Dress Adventures: Sunrise at Oatlands
Style Tips: 5 Best Boots to Wear with your VDDCo This Fall
Finding accessories that you gravitate to again and again is one of the best feelings when it comes to your style. One of the most important accessories to your outfit is your shoes. And my favorite shoes to wear in the fall are boots. Here are five of our favorite boots to style with your … Continue reading Style Tips: 5 Best Boots to Wear with your VDDCo This Fall
Production: Patternmaking & Production
It has been important to us from the beginning that the factories we work with are ones that we can trust; both in their quality of sewing and in their labor practices. Finding factories that will work with us to produce not only beautiful but sustainable clothes can be a difficult part of our production … Continue reading Production: Patternmaking & Production
Dress Adventures: Butlers Orchard
This summer, we decided to take some time each week to purposefully step back from the busyness of work and do something fun. Hence, we have started a series of "Dress Adventures", where every week, we wear our VDDCo and find an adventure or do something a little out of the ordinary. For this one, … Continue reading Dress Adventures: Butlers Orchard
Style Tips: Transition the Emma/Chloe for Autumn
As the weather starts to get just a little bit chillier, our thoughts move to all of our favorite parts of autumn: hot cider, apple picking, warm blankets, sweaters, and fall styles. One of the most exciting parts of the weather turning colder is the chance to switch up our wardrobes again. Hats, jackets, tights, … Continue reading Style Tips: Transition the Emma/Chloe for Autumn
Meet the Dress: June
The June's claim to fame (and our very favorite part about her) is the beautiful floral pattern on her light crepe-like fabric. It was hand painted by an artist in France and adds just the right amount of elegance to make her the ideal special occasion dress. The floral design was hand painted by an … Continue reading Meet the Dress: June
Our Story
We're glad you're here! We've started this blog to share more about our community, how we make our dresses, our adventures, and whatever else belongs on the Virginia Dare Dress Co blog. So we’d love to know, what kinds of posts would you find valuable here? Comment below for a chance to win a $50 … Continue reading Our Story
Meet the Dress: Chloe
By now, most of you have seen our 2022 Summer Collection. But we want to tell you a little bit more about them, and how they came to be. Chloe is a cousin to our very popular Emma dress, but how exactly are they different? The most noticeable distinction is the sleeve length. Emma has … Continue reading Meet the Dress: Chloe
Meet the Dress: Samantha
Samantha was one of our first dresses, released during the company's Kickstarter years ago. She was the most whimsical of the original collection, inspiring thoughts of Scottish countrysides and Irish coasts. She was such a favorite that this year we decided to recreate her with some changes we are so excited to share with you. … Continue reading Meet the Dress: Samantha
A New Chapter…
Join us in celebrating Dare & Co's 7th anniversary and the start of a new chapter with us! We will be having a Warehouse Sale starting September 30th. All dresses & blouses will be 50% off! Yes, it's true. Dresses are taking a pause. (Indefinitely? To be honest, we're not sure.) This decision has been so … Continue reading A New Chapter…