Help! Empire dress I bought makes me look pregnant - YouLookFab Forum

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Help! Empire dress I bought makes me look pregnant

sapphilor

Hi YLF members!

I signed up to get some help with this dress I bought: http://www.6pm.com/mod-o-doc-c.....ss-mermaid

It looked good on the model, but now that I have it I realised it makes me look pregnant. I was thinking I could belt it somehow, but I've never belted an empire dress (or really, anything) before so I'm unsure about where to start. I ordered some chiffon scarves/sashes I figured maybe with those. But any ideas would be most welcome!

Thanks

Returning it/wearing something else is not an option unfortunately as I need this colour for a casual beach wedding and I wouldn't have time for anything else to arrive.

Dressing

19 replies

Latest reply was from Astrid

Liz

Veteran

Because of the waist on that dress, I would not belt it at your natural waist -- that would like quite odd, I'd think. Maybe you could use one of your scarves and wrap it over the current detail just under the bust, but then continue on wrapping down lower on your body as well -- you'd end up with an empire "band" one and a half or two times the width it is now. That might hold the dress in closer to your body and reduce the feeling it makes you look pregnant.

rachylou

Veteran

Empire waists do do that. I Yahoo'd the terms Historical Napoleonic and Directoire clothing fashion for ideas... I have this idea that women often crisscrossed a shawl over the front.

Regency is another term...

Anonymous

Liz's idea is spot on. If the scarf criss-crossed it would look very flattering and a little Grecian too.

ETA, this photo gives the idea, but obviously scarfs would be a bit thicker.

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rachylou

Veteran

Oh Diane makes me think to ETA: I was thinking about a shawl over the shoulders and crisscrossed in front...

Astrid

Veteran

You could try to add something like a cummerbund to it. To rein those pleats in...

approprio

(website)

Veteran

All good ideas so far. If none of them work, you might also try a piece of statement jewellery in the neckline to pull focus away from your midriff. Hope you enjoy the wedding!

Echo

Veteran

If you are wearing any sort of cover up, you could wrap it tightly in the middle and fasten it with a blingy brooch. This even works with button-up cardigans - just pull the sides toward each other and cross them over, ignoring the buttons. Or, you could pull the back of a buttoned or fastened cover up into a sort of pleat and fasten that with a brooch instead if you don't want a brooch on the front of your outfit.

A belt might also work better over a cover up.

Chiara

Another thing I've done is make two little belt loops in the side seams, below the current waist line on the dress, and then loop a long scarf through these and take the scarf only round the back; this pulls the dress in more across the whole torso, and shapes it, but does not impact the look of the front too much, as the scarf only goes round the back. You need to check this won't make the back look too bunchy, of course (which can happen if there is a lot of material to gather!).

Joy

Veteran

Could you have the dress altered to remove some of the excess fabric. If using the crossed belting idea, how about using satin ribbon the same color as the dress?

sapphilor

Oh wow! Thanks girls! I'm feeling a lot better about this now.
Unfortunately I can't see the attached pictures because I'm a new member but I will check back in 2 days. I am trying to follow what you guys wrote though and it's starting to make sense.

Echo: I was thinking of using a scarf for cover. I don't have anything else that could work. I had ordered something that's more of a cardigan but it's not tailored on the waist so it makes the whole thing look like someone threw it on me from an airplane.

Joy: Altering the dress unfortunately isn't an option, I've spent way too much on everything as is. I couldn't find anything that would match the colour exactly but what I ordered is pretty close - in the same tonal range so it should look ok and keep the bride happy (she insisted on this colour).

Anonymous

I forgot that you may not be able to see photos yet. Here's a couple of links that give a bit of an idea of what I'm getting at.

http://www.wondercostumes.com/.....gwgbo.html

http://www.polyvore.com/vera_w.....=112472445

sapphilor

Thank you! I can't wait for the scarves to arrive so I can try something like that.

sapphilor

Hi Girls!

I'm back, finally got the sashes and this is what I've done with them... Ignore the knots, I will come up with a nicer way of attaching the pieces together. I also have another so I might leave the ends hanging down.

Oh and - another thing I noticed was that the dress was way too open and my breasts/bra were hanging out so I added a bit of the same material there. I think it makes it look more like the "belt" belongs to the dress but I'm not an expert...

Thoughts?

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Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

Brilliant job! I like your belting trick.

Anonymous

It works well. Nice job!

Elizabeth P

Veteran

Well done! The added bit of fabric at the bust makes the belting look more deliberate as well. Post a pic of your final "product"!

sapphilor

Hey, this is the final. Of course, depending on where exactly the *really long* belt falls it will look slightly different but I won't be able to tell that before the day. I will do my best to get that criss-cross look.

I am thinking of adding some sort of belt loop to hold it in place as it seems to slide everywhere but for now, this is it.

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Anonymous

Oh, I'm pleased it's worked out so well! You'll enjoy the day and feel great.

Astrid

Veteran

Great to see it worked out so well! Enjoy the day.