Throughout the year, I’ve picked up some great bust-friendly clothes and never got around to writing about them, so unless something more pressing pops up in the next few weeks, I’ll be catching up on some reviews. This week it’s the Hell Bunny Alexa cardigan and the Pinup Girl Clothing Luscious dress.
I’ve been on a bit of a nautical kick lately. I own several garments that have sailor collars or anchors on them. Recently I picked up the Hell Bunny Alexa cardigan, which has an actual collar that flaps around on the back instead of simply being embroidered on.
So cute! I was a little unsure of sizing since cardigans can be tricky for big-bust ladies. But after searching the internet for reviews and photos of Hell Bunny cardigans, I decided to go with my usual medium instead of sizing up to a large for the sake of potential button gaping.
The fabric (81% viscose and 19% nylon) is super stretchy and the medium is definitely appropriate for my 29″ waist. There is some pulling on my 37″ bust, but luckily there’s a nice, thick strip of grosgrain ribbon lining the inside of the button placket and the button holes, so the potential for button gaping is minimal. You can see that the line isn’t quite perfectly straight, but I think the only way to achieve that would be to size up and I really wanted it to be figure-hugging, so this is fine.
I love the bow at the neck. It’s so precious. And obviously the sailor collar round back is perfect. The anchors are embroidered around their edges and then there’s polka dot fabric inside the anchor providing those little spots.
I do think the arm length is rather odd. It just covers my elbows and it feels weird. I keep wanting to push it above my elbows or pull it down to be true three-quarters length. I think it looks perfectly fine, but it feels strange to have all this fabric bunched up in my elbow, especially since it’s cuffed here so it’s really two layers.
I bought this sweater from a UK-based store on Amazon.com, but it can also be found on several US websites such as SourpussClothing.com and Unique-Vintage.com, among others.
As for the Luscious dress (also size medium), I actually bought this lovely two years ago! I never reviewed it for some reason—yet it’s my favorite item I’ve ever ordered from PUG. I even own it in another color, the navy with red trim.
This dress is so comfortable! It’s a rather thick 97% cotton and 3% spandex blend that feels like light, stretchy sweatshirt material. It pulls on over the head so there are no scratchy fasteners. It’s also got the “double-dip” neckline that is ever so flattering on busty women.
Even though I adore it, there are some issues. For one thing, even though that lack of fasteners makes it very cozy once on, it’s difficult to get over your head and boobs since the waist doesn’t open up—and even harder to get off! I have to bend way over and pull it by the skirt and shimmy out of it. Make sure you take your glasses or hair accessories off first too, or else they’ll be pulled off with the dress.
Additionally, the sizing is a little inconsistent. The navy version of this dress that I have is significantly tighter. It’s not visible to other people, but I can feel a real difference. As such, the navy is even more of a struggle to get on and off. I know black dye tends to make fabric less stretchy, so perhaps the dark blue color is to blame. I wouldn’t really know for sure unless I tried other colors to compare.
The worst thing about this dress, though, is that the first time I washed it, the black trim bled all over the skirt. I even washed it in cold water! When I pulled it out of the machine, I was shocked to see all these dark blue blotches. I threw it back in with Oxy-Clean (a non-chlorine color-safe stain lifter)—twice!—but the blotches wouldn’t go anywhere.
These photos were taken with no flash and no filter. The blotches are color accurate. This also happened with the light pink Natalie dress (with black trim) I used to own. So I guess I should have known better, but usually cold water staves off bleeding! PUG really needs to start pre-washing their dark trims. I’ve since read that a vinegar-water soak should set fabric dye so it doesn’t bleed, so I would definitely recommend trying that before washing the first time.
PUG offers these dresses in six colors now, each with a different item embroidered on the shoulders: mint with black trim (mermaid embroidery), navy with red (pirate octopus), black with baby pink (drunk elephant), red with black (pinup girl), sky blue with black (Neverland pirate skull), and bubblegum pink with black (swans).
While I love the two I own, I’m really not into any of the other colors or embroideries. I hope they make more in darker colors like teal, plum, or rust, and I really want one with tattoo-style swallows embroidered on it. There’s a leopard print coming soon as well, but I’m so not a fan of the weird two-tone print.
