At first sight, it was total infatuation. It was the second look that made me say "nah ..." to this expensive-ish ($295) dress from Neiman Marcus. It certainly makes an excellent first impression. The garnet color, the way it aggressively outlines (and most likely creates) an hourglass shape ... on the model, it's a beautiful dress.
However ... on me, or on a lot of women like me (ha! we are LEGION) those gathers over the hip wouldn't lie down and behave. They cooperate nicely on this angular example of modern femininity, but on us old-school examples, I'm not so sure they would. I'm thinking the ruching under the arms would be irritating and bunchy. And as lovely as wide necklines as these are to contemplate, the undergarment-wrangling they require make them not worth the effort (for me, at least--your undergarment-wrangling-tolerance levels may vary).
Besides -- it's 50% rayon 40% polyester! My polyester tolerance is LOW.
So. I won't be ruching (hey, it's my blog and I'll pun if I want to) to buy this dress. But don't let me talk you out of it. I think that if you are leanish and want curves, this is the dress for you. If you have a pre-existing curves condition, maybe ... not so much.
I have a Belly Problem; this is so not the dress for me.
Posted by: Jonquil | 10/03/2005 at 11:37 AM
I have made a personal vow to avoid dresses (or blouses, or -ick- jackets) with ruching. When you are very, very curvy (and have a belly of any size), ruching looks sloppy and ill-fitted, instead of an interesting design choice.
Posted by: Jilli | 10/03/2005 at 12:48 PM
I think rouching actually helps hide fat. However this dress has too much of an opening in the middle of the belly area (without the rouching) for the effect to be good - if you are not under a size 10. JMO
Posted by: Anonymous | 12/26/2006 at 10:24 AM