I’ve been eyeing the Katerina dress from Carissa Rose ever since I introduced it to you last August, but I couldn’t make the financial commitment.  Carissa took pity and sent me one in size 14RE to review here, and I’m going to send her one of my shirts.  I hope she likes it as much as I love this dress.

There are so many things that are right about it.  The biggest is that there is absolutely no puckering at the apex.  If you’ve read my other Carissa Rose reviews, you know the puckering apex has been my one lingering complaint.  In this dress, she’s done away with the top stitching along the princess seams, which I think was the main culprit.

Although I rolled up the sleeves in the picture above, the sleeve and hem length were perfect for me.  Also, just as I hoped, the neckline is the perfect depth:  no cleavage, but no looking uptight, either.  There’s a lot of room to play with scarves and necklaces, as I did above.

In fact, this dress is a perfect canvas for playing with all sorts of accessories.  Inspired by watching Silfath Pinto at our workshop and with “Gina” on Monday night, I’ve just finished putting together ten different looks for this dress.  I’m going to see if Carissa would like to use them in a guest post on her blog next week.

You can see what the dress looked like out of the box after the jump.  At the very end, I write my wish list for future versions of it.

  1. After taking these photographs, I snipped off the self belt. In place of the belt, I would love for Carissa to add hidden pockets. My hands were yearning for a place to put themselves.
  2. I’d also like to see it in lilac with short sleeves, although I’ll be happy to wear my graphite dress with sandals and rolled-up sleeves in the summer. Besides, in a darker color, I don’t have to worry about a slip. What colors would you like to see?
  3. This is way out there, but now that the fit is perfect (for me, at least!), she could put a zipper in the side and really play with the front without having to worry about the hooks.  Perhaps a different neckline and something drape-y, like a faux wrap.  Or even a zipper in the front from top to bottom, and khaki fabric.  (I can just see Carissa rolling her eyes at me now.  Don’t worry, Carissa!  I know how hard it is to develop just one design, and this one’s a winner.)