Looking for a wedding guest dress? Rat & Boa dresses do it all

If you've been a wedding guest in the past few years or spend your summers at a festival (or two), chances are you've come across a Rat & Boa design in the wild.

Few dresses nail the brief for both events and yet, Rat & Boa dresses do it with ease. A favourite amongst fashion girls – the Cosmo Fashion Team included – the brand has reached fever pitch, aligning itself with the likes of Reformation and Meshki dresses in terms of cult buys.

Its must-have status is in large part down to its celebrity fan base. As well as including Gigi Hadid and Kendall and Kylie Jenner, most recently it was Lila Moss stomping through Glastonbury in the royal purple ruffled chiffon flirty Beatriz mini dress paired with beat-up biker boots that caught our attention. Just a few months earlier, Olivia Dean wowed in the now sold-out Santino dress, a dreamy blue sheer design printed with an XL red tulip and featuring a thigh-high leg slit, that she wore for her Coachella set.

IRL, Instagram It girls are wearing the slinky slip dresses to weddings, on date nights and while on summer holidays, swishing around the sandy shores of Italy or Greece. And you bet we're following suit.

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“I think that's the beauty of summer, isn't it? The rules go out the window a little bit more. You can be a lot more eclectic with your style and wear a sequin dress with flats if you want to. It doesn't have to be, ‘Oh, it's a sequin dress so you've got to pair it with sky-high platforms.’ You can put it with a gladiator sandal and style it your way,” the brand's founders, Valentina Muntoni and Stephanie Bennett, tell Cosmopolitan UK.

Whether embellished head-to-toe or decorated with a ruffle trim, Rat & Boa dresses imbue a bohemian feel that has been present in the brand's DNA since its beginning. No doubt pulled from the brand's nomadic roots.

“We met at university in Manchester, nearly 15 years ago. We were both studying fashion courses and we just clicked. After that, I moved to Thailand and Steph followed me out there,” Muntoni says, causing the pair to burst into laughter. “That's where we created the concept for Rat & Boa.”

“It was a really natural, organic thing that happened – born out of friendship, I guess,” adds Bennett. “It was a bit of a search for freedom as well, in a way.”

The sense of reverie in the designs is emphasised by the different exotic locations each collection is shot in. From Mexico to Italy to the most recent drop's Brazil setting. And despite having no occasion to wear Rat & Boa dresses during the Covid pandemic apart from at home, the brand reports it saw its biggest growth during the UK lockdowns.

“The lifestyle that we've communicated is of a bold woman who's the star of the show and travels the world. I think it gives people a little bit of an escapism,” they say.

As for what's next for the brand? “I think our next step will be handbags to go with the dresses and give the finishing touch. We'd love to do accessories and shoes, but I think that will take a longer time, maybe over the next few years.”