This summer I’ve spent a lot of time searching for the perfect maxi dress. I’ve hit up the high street and poked my head into haute couture, I’ve gone in-store and online, and I’ve shopped as far afield as Amsterdam and Paris, but no joy… until now.

Just the other week, on perhaps my hundredth try-on, I finally hit pay dirt, and at the most unlikely of places. This is a tale of shopping redemption, dear reader, and if you happen to be on the hunt for a maxi dress, may my tips and travails redeem you, too.

Maxi dresses look really easy to wear – just throw it on and out you go. But they’re a lot trickier to fit than you’d think. A few gathers in the wrong place and you look utterly tank-like; a slightly busy pattern and you’re all the eye can see for miles; a little extra fabric and you’re being offered a seat on the tube.

The hunt begins

I started my search at Topshop, where I tried on a gorgeous silk maxi dress by Rare, now £45 down from £85. Beautiful fabric, but the cut and pattern were all wrong for me.

I refuse to trawl the high street for hours on end when the fabulous ShopStyle fashion tracker can do it for me. Just key in what you’re looking for and behold, all sorts of results from all sorts of shops, all in one place. ShopStyle is one of my favourite sites out there – I can’t recommend it enough. Alas, though, this time it didn’t return anything I liked at a price I could handle. Was I getting too picky?

Next up was Asos… and to my utter surprise I was as unsuccessful here as I had been everywhere else. Again, lots of options but no keepers. I found a really cute – and affordable – strapless maxi, but I was fairly certain I wanted a more daytime, casual look… so strapless was out.

I knew I wanted something fitted in the body (all the better to avoid the mum-to-be look), and while I found a few possibilities, like this Milly Moy print and crochet trim dress, I balked at spending £240 in one go (note: the dress has recently been reduced to £110).

Resigned to failure

After the Asos failure I felt a bit demoralised about the whole thing. Maybe, I thought, like being a prima ballerina and winning a Nobel Prize before my twenty-first birthday, wearing a maxi dress is just not something I’m destined to do.

Found at last, my perfect maxi dress

I continued to try on the odd maxi dress here and there, but I had largely given up hope of finding one that fit. But then, several weeks ago whilst walking through the Roman Road market in East London – while on my eyebrow threading mission, in fact – I clapped eyes on a striped maxi dress hanging in a market stall. I tried it on then and there, over my jeans and vest, and astoundingly, it fit. Perfectly, in fact! And for £5, it fit my budget too.

Success!

Like a lot of market stall finds, my dress had had its tag clipped, so I couldn’t readily identify its make. But the tag near the hem was intact and identified the dress as George, the Asda brand. After failing to find a winner at Topshop, Monsoon, House of Fraser and about a million other clothing stores, I was stunned to find my Holy Grail at Asda via a market stall… but I’m not complaining!

Moral of the story: if you’re looking for something in particular, and you don’t want to spend a fortune on it… have faith and keep looking! It’s out there.

Spent: £5! (And, erm, a LOT of time.)

Saved: £35, assuming an average price of £40.