I hope your Monday wasn’t as crazy as mine. I discovered that my doctor’s appointment was an hour earlier than I’d put in my calendar, another appointment was canceled, and on the way home, I missed my subway stop. However, one upside to my strange day was that I took a different path to the subway and passed this mannequin in the Caché store window at 1144 Third Avenue.
I was about to keep walking when these bust-friendly elements registered in my subconscious: stretchy fabric + princess seams. Combined with a great color, V-neck, and the fact that this was a shirt dress and not your typical ruched or wrap dress, I had to try it on.
Here is the size 14 dress on the hanger in the dressing room. The description of this dress on their website states that it has a “faux snap front”, which makes for gap-free fabulousness. Actually, the very first snap fastens, but the others are only there for decoration and happen to create a nice vertical line.
Here is my first time trying on the dress. It fit perfectly, but I wasn’t sure about the cleavage. This kind of Y-neck makes it pretty obvious when you’re trying to pin something.
I was walking the dress back out to the rack when I discovered that Caché has created camis in some of the same colors as their dresses. How brilliant! Here I am wearing their blue cami beneath it.
For the sake of full disclosure, in the time I spent deliberating about whether to buy this dress, a small tug showed itself at the top snap. However, this isn’t the reason I’ve decided to wait to buy it. I write about those reasons below.
The main reason I haven’t bought this dress yet: I’m not certain that it fits my current lifestyle. For a GREAT discussion on this subject, check out Imogen Lamport’s recent post, What Every Woman Should Have in Her Wardrobe, which also reminds me of Filling the Gaps in a Large Bust Wardrobe from May. (Your comments to that post were extremely helpful.)
Last May, I wrote that I need more dresses, and this is a dress that fits in a color that looks good on me. If I were still a middle and high school English teacher, I would buy it in a heartbeat because it looks professional and allows for great mobility (do teachers still write on chalk boards?). However, the dress I most need right now is what Imogen calls a sweatsuit alternative that I’d “want to be caught in by an ex-lover”. For me, the belt on this dress tends to remove it from the sweatsuit category, but I may reconsider because of how comfortable it is–and versatile. I like how the necklace and sandals that I wore into the store worked so well with it! The price of $168 may seem high for a sweatsuit alternative, but the cost per wear may make up for it.
Another reason I’m not sure about this dress is the cap sleeves. In the survey I posted yesterday (please complete it if you haven’t already!), I asked if your large bust paired with another feature of your body poses one of your greatest challenges. At the time, I was thinking about my short waist, but I forgot my large upper arms! I’m not like one woman I know who hates her upper arms so much that she will never expose them, but I do wonder if I’ll see myself in photos someday and wonder, “What was I thinking wearing that dress?”
Other than showing off the widest part of my arms, cap sleeves can act like arrows pointing to my bust. For an example of this, see the third top in this post. However, I don’t think that’s happening here. And as I study these photos, I realize that there is one more giant benefit of this dress: It disguises my belly bulge! (I realize that it doesn’t disguise my back bulge, but because of my past posts in which I discovered the limits of shapewear, I’ve started weight training, aerobic exercise and watching what I eat, so I’m doing all I can about that.)
So here’s the dilemma that anyone with a fit issue faces when they find something that fits well but isn’t what they need: Do I buy it or let it pass? I am not foolish enough to think that just because I know the combination of style elements that work for my big bust, I will actually be able to find them when I need or want a dress like this! On the other hand, I have gotten rid of enough items in my closet that I never wore but purchased with an attitude of “I must buy it now or I will never find it again!”
I’d be interested in hearing how you handle this. For this dress, I seem to be weighing the pros and cons, but I also need to finish that list I began writing about in May. It wouldn’t hurt to inject a little more discipline into my wardrobe.
Ohh, I should have put big arms as my “other features” as well! For short sleeves, I prefer something longer than cap-sleeves too, but they seem to be so in style – I can hardly find a T-shirt without them! I love that dress though, looks amazing! Might just get it myself! I can’t always fit size 14, but since you say it is stretchy enough for a bust (#1 feature that makes me climb up the size chart), and it has a fuller skirt (#2 feature), it could work, as my waist is quite comfortable in size 14 or smaller. I have this dress in size 10: http://www.promod.eu/dresses/smart-dresses/printed-dress-black-print-R4200020501.html , and with some adjustment for the bust (Non stretchy, so I opened the buttons and sowed on a faux cami), it is now a favorite!
Regarding getting clothes you don’t need: I am in a constant clothing crisis, so if I ever find something that a) fits (or even almost) and b) I can stand seeing myself in, I get it! I have 2 pairs of trousers for example, can’t find more, so I just wear my party dresses with T-shirt on top if I need it!
I think the dress looks great on you! If you are not sure about the belt , why dont you try a different one? Might give it a new look. http://www.retailmenot.com/view/cache.com—this is a coupon for $25 off $125—always check for coupons!!!
I just bought a white dress a Banana Republic-did I need it or have a place to wear it-NO! but was reduced to $45 and it fit me perfectly and at some point I will wear it if it is only next yr at my son’s graduation-
I think this dress looks really good on you, but I’m also not keen on the belt. A complementary colour belt would really set it off. It’s such a rare style of dress to find a large-bust-friendly version of that I think I would have bought it. I don’t tend to think so much about when I’d wear clothes (unless they’re completely unacceptable for daytime – like a ball gown or something), as the combination of something fitting well and me liking it happens so rarely that I’d have no clothes if I considered occasion as well!
The dress really does look amazing on you! I think I sort of have a threshold on fit-but-not-really-needed-clothes, and $100+ definitely exceeds my budget for that. 🙁 However, my ideas have changed a bit now since BiuBiu works so well for me. I don’t feel the NEED to buy just anything that fits anymore because I know that I can probably pick something up at BiuBiu in a similar style, clothing need area down the road.
In the past? I probably would have snatched up that dress in a second just becuase anything that actually fit was amazing! Now I don’t have that overwhelming drive to find well-fitting clothes anymore.
That being said, if you sincerely can think of a use for it, it’s always a very gorgeous dress! But for that tag I figure I can also get something custom-made at Ureshii Designs or buy a lot of bras. 😉
I love that dress! That color is great on you. I also have the wide arms/cap sleeves issue, but I also find it hard to dig up non-cap sleeve dresses! If they look great everywhere else I’m generally willing to live with feeling like my arms are huge.
The dress fits well and is a very good colour for you. It is a dress that work for different seasons – plus a cardigan, white jacket, darker jacket according to the time of year. It is also a good dress, say for a wedding or semi formal event and would work well for business – as long as it is not dry clean only and you can afford it then I would buy it
Looooooove the color and the princess seams and the baby pleats in the skirt. But I agree that the cap sleeves aren’t so great. I think with the flowing skirt, looser and slightly longer sleeves would have made more sense on this particular dress. $168 seems like a lot of money for a casual dress too, unless you REALLY love it. It’s always hard to say “no” to garments that fit really well, but are impractical.
That was a great find! I love the Summery color, the knee length skirt, and the skirt pleating that drapes so nicely.
I’m disappointed that they didn’t carry one size larger for you to try because my initial reaction was that one size up may have eliminated the pull at the top snap. The sleeves look fine to me, and they don’t appear to be digging into your arms. However, I don’t understand the wide-spread hatred of cap sleeves in general. I find the upwards slant they create toward the outside of the arm visually broadens the shoulders, which helps to balance out a full bust line.
And I think that if the dress is comfortable enough to make you reach for it again and again, the price is reasonable.
I think the dress looks beautiful on you; the colour, the design, the way it fits your body, I think it’d be worth the purchase. I think it looks fine with the cap sleeves as well, it looks so good on you. As much as you may feel like you don’t need it at the moment I’m sure you’ll end up wearing it on many occasions, especially if it is comfortable and considering the price isn’t that bad it’s definitely worth the money I’d say.