Pink Sky Midi (Dupe) Dress

Ok, lovelies, it is time once again to talk about the dupe dress, because not everyone can afford the designer labels let alone each gorgeous style released by their favorite designer.  And that's why I'm here.  Once again, the dupe site had ZERO photos of the dress they were selling, only stock photos stolen from Matoshi's website.  I felt like I was taking quite a risk buying it unseen, but for $20 I was willing to chance it. 

You may remember my post on Lirika Matoshi's strawberry dress last year.  It was so stunning that I decided to save up until I could afford it.  At the time, her Pink Sky Midi dress was out of stock.  I would have saved up for it but, since that wasn't an option, but the inexpensive dupe was, I decided to buy it for a mere $20.  I signed up to be notified if Matoshi's came back and eventually it did.  More scrimping and saving followed, but now I can do a side by side which I really love to see when I'm shopping around.

One look at this imposter dress and you'll notice the obvious problem:  It fits so awkwardly in the bodice!  It varies from horrifically bunched up to noticeably/awkwardly bunched up depending on how you adjust the straps, and the cups have to sit way above my chest to achieve that less bunchy look.  Blech! I was so disappointed but not terribly surprised.

I nearly tossed it in the giveaway bag, but I decided to think about a way to fix this dress' issues for a few days before just giving up.  The fact is that for $20 this dress does have some really nice features and I have some experience with altering my clothing.  At such a low price, I figured it was no great loss if my attempts at correcting its issues didn't work out.

The main issue I noticed with the dress is that the straps were practically under my arms.  I felt certain that if I could just properly position them the dress would look just fine.  Since this dress has a bustier/balconette style bodice, I got a balconette bra and held it up to the dress to see just how far off the mark the straps were.

As you can see they are a good three to four inches from the place they should be and I admit that I'm incredibly disappointed in this design flaw.  I have to question whether this design was ever tried on a real person to see if it would actually work.

I pinned the center of the bra to the dress and proceeded to cut off the straps at the front since it wasn't possible to open the seam and remove them.  I then folded each strap up a couple of times so that the end wouldn't fray and sewed it back to the dress in the same position as the bra straps making sure to sew along the seamline to hide the stitches.  The result of this one small alteration?

Turns out that was really all it took to fix the dress!  And, I'm glad that I  was able to practice working out the strap issue on an inexpensive dress first because it gave me the confidence to address the same issue on my more expensive pieces.  I can't fix everything in the exact same way, as I noted yesterday, but it was a starting point.  Now, let's talk about the Pros of this dress.

This dress actually does have some really great things going for it.  1.  The straps are not a cheap, slick ribbon.  They're a very nice velvety ribbon that stays tied.  2.  It fits quite well, after that adjustment.  I ordered one size up from my usual and the fit is practically perfect.

3.  The color is a very pretty pale pink and the sequined stars are nice as well.  4.  The bodice is lined with opaque fabric instead of layers of mesh.  Without the corset and bust boning and now that I've adjusted the strap placement I can easily wear a bra with it.  Huzzah!  

On that note, while this dress is definitely inspired by the designer, let's do a quick side by side comparison and talk about the main differences.

Right away you'll notice there's substantially less dress to the dress on the right --less length, less fullness, less decoration, less ribbon.  But it also cost less and this is how manufacturers save money.

The designer has corset boning in the bodice and the cups; the dupe has piping in its place, which achieves a similar look but offers no support.  Also, note the difference in the color of the ribbon straps. The dress on the right has lighter color ribbon straps and less of it.

There are at least six layers of mesh and fabric to the designer dress.  The top layer is a crinkle texture and the inner three layers are a deeper pink.

The inexpensive dress has a mere two layers of mesh and a lightweight lining layer.

And, lastly, there are far more stars on the designer dress than on the cheap one.  These are all ways that manufacturers save money to offer the dress at a cheaper price, and it shows.

Now, as always,  pieces that are inspired by another will never measure up to the original and this dress is no exception.  However, it does have some great things going for it and all on it's own, I think it's a very nice dress and definitely worth the $20 and the little bit of elbow grease that went into fixing it.

Shopping Info:  Pink Star Midi Dress from Aliexpress