Washington – My ongoing hunt for The Perfect Dress recently took a new turn. I found out about Dressbydesign.com, a website on which you can build your own dress from scratch, much as you would, say, a burrito. (But instead of black beans and guacamole, you can pick a bateau neckline and cap sleeves.) I mentioned the site to my editors. Captivated by the idea of a custom-
made dress for just $189 (compared with the thousands that couture garments usually fetch), they insisted I order one. And I never say no to clothes.
The idea of ordering a dress off a computer screen is certainly nothing new to me. But that’s looking at a finished product – this was staring at a one-dimensional sketch and trying to imagine it three dimensional. On me.
I was also a little apprehensive when I read the word “classic” on the site. It’s not a word I would use to describe my style: I’m more Anthropologie, less Ann Taylor. But I saw it as a challenge. Dressbydesign.com offers five basic styles to choose from, including “Grace” (an empire waist), “Marikate” (a sheath) and “Christine” (an A-line dress with belt).
I selected “Kathleen” – a two-piece frock with “gently curved princess lines in the top and a gently flowing bias-cut skirt with an easy-fit waist.” (Easy-fit equals elastic.) Next, I had to choose my dress’ neckline, sleeve length and overall length. I opted for a mandarin collar (which I hoped would be quasi-mod); three-quarter sleeves (they’re relatively seasonless) and a mid-length skirt (ditto).
Time to choose the fabric – which, given that the site has about 300 options, was the hardest part. There’s everything from silk to cotton, dupioni to wool, taffeta to polyester. It was pretty easy for me to cross a few off my list. (I’m not the denim dress sort, and a number of the prints screamed pediatric nurse – or my mom.)
Other fabrics proved more difficult to eliminate. I had to remind myself that, cute as toile may look in a small swatch, an entire dress’ worth might be a little curtain-y. And while I really dug the seersucker, I was looking for something that said spring and fall. I ended up choosing a sky blue polyester with a retro circle pattern. It reminded me of a fabric my grandmother would have worn in her prime: spunky but not silly.
The site offers two sizing options: standard or custom. Standard is just like regular shopping. You pick whatever size best approximates yours from a chart that runs from zero to 24.
I went with custom, for which you submit individual bust, waist and hip measurements. You can do this yourself with a tape measure, but I ran across the street to my local seamstress and had her take my measurements (best chance of success, right?). It took all of 10 minutes – simpler than a bridesmaid dress order. I filled out all my information and hit send.
Less than three weeks later, a pretty box showed up at my house with my dress and a handwritten note: “Janelle, We hope you love your dress!” I hoped so too.
My first impressions? The color was great: a bit less turquoise than it had appeared online, but I liked it. The cut, on the other hand, was disappointing. The skirt was too big and too long; the top hung on me like the proverbial potato sack. The result? Lifeless and more than slightly church-lady-like.
Once I talked to one of the owners of the company, I understood a little more. “My sister and I always had trouble finding dresses that fit people our age,” Christine McNamara told me. And what age is that? I asked. “In our early 50s,” she said.
In a nod to younger shoppers, McNamara plans to add two more styles of dress this spring: a strapless and a halter. In the more-distant future, she hopes to offer fabric swatches.
