A Letter From Ruby · Co-Founder of Ruby & Rose
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina · September 2026
A Letter From The Founder
My Sister and I Have Dressed Women Here for 20 Years. The Rosalie Is the One I Am Proudest Of, and the One I Hand People Myself.
On the six things I insisted on when we made the Rosalie, why I chose a textured slub weave instead of linen, and why it is $64.95 while the summer sale runs.
The Rosalie in white, the dress I reach for when I want to look put together without thinking about it.
I am Ruby, and my sister Rose and I opened our first little shop in Myrtle Beach twenty years ago, a few streets back from the boardwalk. In all that time we have put a great many dresses on a great many women. The Rosalie is the one I am proudest of.
It is the one women send me photographs of. It is the one that gets stopped in the middle of a sentence at brunch, which is exactly what I was hoping for when I asked for those cuffs. And of everything we have on sale this summer, it is the piece I most wanted to write to you about.
I should tell you why it exists at all. For years I watched the same two piles come across our counter. The first pile looked beautiful on the hanger and then clung to every part of you the moment the humidity found you. The second pile was comfortable and made you look like you had stopped trying. I never accepted that a woman had to choose between the two. The Rosalie is my answer, and there were six things I argued about when we made it, usually with a supplier who wanted me to do the cheaper thing instead.
1Rose-knot cuffs that actually hold their shape.
The cuffs are the whole dress. Soft, sculptural, tied into a rose at the wrist, and large enough to be seen from across a room. Three times the factory sent them back flat and limp, and three times I sent them back again. They are the reason a stranger asks you where your dress is from, and I was not going to soften them to save a dollar.
★★★★★
"Three people asked about the sleeves the first day I wore it. Three."
Carol R., Conway2A textured slub weave, and why I did not use linen.
Women assume a dress that looks like this has to be linen. I tried linen first. Pure linen is beautiful for about two hours, and then it creases into a paper bag, the cuffs go soft and sad by lunchtime, and it fades in the deep shades. Half of this collection is deep shades.
So I chose a textured slub weave instead. The slub is the fine irregular grain you can see when the light catches it, the part that reads as expensive. The weight behind it is the only reason those rose cuffs are still standing up at six in the evening. It breathes, it moves when you walk, it stays crisp through a lunch and a long drive, and it holds a burgundy or a navy without washing out. Hand wash it cold, lay it flat, and it keeps that texture for years.
★★★★★
"I wore it on a four hour drive and walked into dinner with no creases."
Diane M., Surfside Beach3Sleeves that cover the tops of your arms.
Three-quarter, with volume through the arm, so nothing is pressed against you and nothing is on display that you would rather keep to yourself. It is the thing women my age thank me for most. It also takes more fabric, which is exactly why most dresses at this price will not do it.
★★★★★
"Finally, sleeves. I have it in two colors and I am going back for a third."
Patricia L., Murrells Inlet4A shift cut that skims, and never clings.
A relaxed A-line that falls just above the knee, loose where it should be loose so the air moves underneath, instead of grabbing the one part of you that you would rather it left alone. I had the waist let out twice before I signed it off.
★★★★★
"It skims straight over my middle instead of hugging it. The first dress in years that does."
Linda K., North Myrtle Beach5Floral buttons down the front, all the way down.
A full row of soft floral-shaped buttons, not the three decorative ones at the collar that most makers get away with. It means you can open the collar on a hot afternoon and close it again for dinner, and it means the dress looks like something rather than a plain shift with a print on it.
★★★★★
"The little flower buttons are what sold me. Such a small thing, and it makes it."
Janet S., Pawleys Island6Ten colors that go with what you already own.
White, beige, mushroom taupe, mocha, olive, sage mist, navy, burgundy, pink and black. I chose every one of them to sit beside the shoes and the cardigans already in your closet, so the Rosalie earns its place from the first day instead of waiting for an occasion.
★★★★★
"I started with the beige and went back for the burgundy and the sage."
Maureen T., FlorenceThe Rosalie, against the dresses you have been buying
You can find a floral dress for two hundred dollars almost anywhere. I know, because before the Rosalie I bought a great many of them, looking for the one that did not let me down by the afternoon. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Most $200 Floral Dresses
- Flat, stitched-down cuffs
- Creases by noon, or clings in the humidity
- Bare arms, or sleeves that pinch
- Three decorative buttons at the collar
- Deep shades fade after a few washes
- Two or three safe colors
The Rosalie
- Sculptural rose-knot cuffs that hold
- Slub weave that stays crisp and breathes
- Three-quarter sleeves with room to move
- A full row of floral buttons
- Color that holds, wash after wash
- Ten colors, chosen for your closet
I refuse to sell a summer dress that asks a woman to choose between being comfortable and looking like herself. That is the whole reason the Rosalie exists.
Why the Rosalie is $64.95 right now
Our summer sale is on and the whole collection is clearing, the Rosalie with it. It is now $64.95, down from $210, and when you take more than one color the discount stacks further, up to an extra 25 percent on top.
I will be plain about it. At this price we are barely covering what the dress costs us to make, cuffs and all. I am telling you because it is true, and because when the sale ends this price goes with it.
If twenty years behind that counter has taught me anything, it is that a woman who tries the Rosalie once usually comes back for another color. That is the quiet bet Rose and I are placing by writing you this letter at $64.95.
“
★★★★★
I now own the beige, the navy and the burgundy. Between the three of them I have barely reached for anything else since June. My summer closet has never been simpler.
Eleanor M., Georgetown
The Rosalie in mocha. Every order still leaves here wrapped by hand, the way it has for twenty years.
It is the dress I am proudest of in twenty years of doing this. I would rather it go to women who will actually wear it than sit folded in a box waiting for full price.
The reviews say the same things I have, over and over. 4.7 stars across 2,756 women. If you have ever wanted a summer dress that people ask you about and that you can still breathe in, this is the one I would put in your hands myself, while the colors are still there.
— Ruby
Rosalie Button-Down Mini Dress
$210.00$64.95
- Textured slub weave, breathable and never clinging
- Sculptural rose-knot cuffs and floral buttons
- Ten colors, XS to 2XL
- Free shipping & 30 day money back guarantee
Stack and save: buy 2 save an extra 10%, buy more and save up to 25% extra.
See if your size is still in stockSizes sell out by color during the sale.
About the writer. Ruby is the co-founder of Ruby & Rose, which she started with her sister Rose in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina twenty years ago. She still checks every color sample herself.
This is a personal letter from the co-founder of Ruby & Rose. Prices and availability are accurate while the summer sale stock lasts.