I ordered this dress on Thursday. On the plus side it arrived by special delivery the following morning (shame I was away). On the minus, it was not very well packaged: in a plastic bag then shoved in a jiffy bag so it was extremely creased. The dress is as shown, a heavy knit jersey. It fell very well but there was cling, around the stomach. It like no cling there at all. I also felt that the v of the neck was a little wide and low as shown above. The big disappointment is that it wasn't the colour I wanted,; I was looking for a dark navy, a few shades under black. I would call this French navy. It looked good on, but my overall feeling was, not special enough for the price and not the right colour, so back it goes.
Monday, 12 May 2008
Karen Cole dress report
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19 comments:
Disappointing that you have to send it back, after we were all hoping we'd found a new great site.
A lot of dresses are too low in the neck these days. I tried a Phase 8 one on like that. For the age they're aimed at I don't know why they do it. Also clingy. Even if you're a small size, once you get over a certain age you have lumps and bumps.
Geri
PS French navy - is that a brighter navy? If so it's the navy I prefer as the other is too dark for me.
I always screw up clothes in the shop, if the fabric creases it's a no no, becuse clothes need to look good after the journey as well as before.
Gaping neck lines are the bane of my life and all other A and B cups out there, even today I have a camisole on under my top to maintain a modicom of modesty.
Your continued optimism with mail order is an inspiration to us all!
I'd say it's paler and colder rather than brighter. Tneding in the direction of green
From my art and design links, the colourlovers.com site: http://tinyurl.com/58jb8l - French Navy. Indeed it is rather lighter than the ink blue in the picture, but the picture does show the slight greenish cast of French Navy (though less than Dark Teal).
Indigo, I'm very busty and couldn't wear that neckline either (though I do like a bit of décolleté); I'd look like a middle-aged stripper. My best friend is like you and couldn't wear it either - wonder whom their target customer is?
Too bad - it is so hard to find nice, simple clothes.
The colour in the picture is fairly true. So I'm not sure what it's called but it does have that greenish tinge.
Have you looked at the Talbot's website for dresses? Their clothes are along the lines of Boden, but less cutesy -- good basics, and very nice quality for the price point. I wouldn't call them fashion-forward, but they do have nice things. It's an American company, but if you found something you loved you could have it shipped to an American (say, me) and have them send it on. (I do this all the time for my London friends.) With the pound as strong as it is, even paying shipping twice is still a bargain.
Ah, so the great dress hunt continues.
I've just ordered this Stewart&Brown one
http://www.adili.com/dresses/banded_kimono_dress-c36803p79200.html
from Adili but I'm now a bit concerned by the neckline - think it may be unwearable by someone with my cleavage without a cami underneath. Am also not sure how flattering the sleeves will be.
But worth a try - the quality of S&B's jersey is just so fantastic.
It really is risky buying clothes via net. Bags are so much easier. I have several YSL handbags and all of them are bought by me never seen them in person. And I am totally satisfied,actually they look better than in the pictures.
Linda, from your photos, I'm guessing at your wishes, but have you looked at the Rous Iland web site? Specifically the hero dress, the Fro floral (grey), the Drew Slinky- among many others- some on sale.
Very interesting. I'd never heard of Rous Iland
Shame the Karen Cole dress didn't work out. My dressmaker is currently making me something relatively similar, in a truer navy, faux-wrap, but in a fine navy suiting wool. Great for us pears. The truly weird thing is, the Karen Cole site says the dress is made in NZ, i'm in NZ and we certainly don't get Karen Cole here. i was also under the impression that we had virtually no textile manufacturing left.
What do you think of wrap dresses, Linda?
-- desertwind
They aren't flattering, on me.
Linda,
Take a look at Nordstrom.com and NeimanMarcus.com. I've found some great dresses at reasonable prices that give me a flattering fit, 3/4 sleeves that I prefer at my age and knee length that hides the bad and accentuates the good.
Both stores package and ship with care and don't disappoint on a price versus value score.
It's always a risk ordering from abroad, as you have to pay international shipping costs, customs duties and then return shipping. Even if I get someone to bring it over, you often miss the return date.
Neiman Marcus is known as 'Needless Mark-up' over here - just so you know....
I empathize with you,Linda. What a heck of a mess to get just one simple dress,while there are so many to choose from.How about trying to find something else for a change. Maybe not desperately seeking for Susan,you might by chance find the desired dress you are searching for!
Many years ago when I was doing my work placement year on my BA fashion degree, I worked for a company that designed jersey clothing for chains (mainly C&A) and mail order companies. Depending on the retail outlet certain criteria were taken into consideration when designing the garments. For mail order the most important consideration was 2D impact which meant that printed stripes were allowed, less fabric was necessary in flared skirts, etc - all to keep the price of manufacture down.
Be warned!
Basic T shirts, sweatpants, anything by Lands End - OK. Anything deserving aesthetic judgement - don't raise your hopes! I sympathise with your disappointment.
Interesting info from Greying Pixie. I have a problem with slinky jersey + curves (ie convex tummies). They don't go. Unless it's very heavy, expensive jersey it just clings horribly to tummies and bums. Yuck!
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