Sundress lament.... - YouLookFab Forum

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Sundress lament....

nancylee

Veteran

*Sigh* Every summer, I hope to find a couple of sundresses for those days that are unbearably hot here in the Mid-Atlantic....a dress for those days when you don't want a waistband or anything clinging to you...a dress that is not flimsy, spaghetti-strapped, or meant for an 18-year-old body...a dress that skims the body and keeps you cool without looking like a frumpy muu-muu....a dress that lets you wear a normal bra without the straps showing....a dress that is sleeveless and sleek but not too body conscious nor too girly or ruffly.

Does such a dress exist? Hmmm. Every sundress seems to look like this:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/fr.....ltback=778

Sad face. Help me, YLF!

Dressing

37 replies

Latest reply was from velvetychocolate

K. Period.

Veteran

Does it have to be sleeveless? What about very short sleeves? Land's End has a cute, light scoop neck with short sleeves for $55. Or what about this?:
http://www.landsend.com/pp/wom.....038;sku_0=::QK2&CM_MERCH=IDX_women-_-dresses-skirts&origin=index

Also, do you prefer knit or woven?

I'm on the hunt myself....

velvetychocolate

Veteran

While I haven't tried them myself, I keep hearing about Patagonia dresses for summer...

This one's organic cotton, has wider straps:

http://www.patagonia.com/us/pr.....5526-0-892

That said, I do know what you mean. I'm not one for thin spaghetti straps either, and when the weather gets super hot, not so crazy about those synthetic materials.

I'll be watching this thread closely - we need a round-up of "insanely hot weather" suggestions and recommendations, don't you think?

marija

I would love to find something too. Why does EVERYTHING have to be the same. I would also love a longer length, because I am six feet tall. The dresses all come to above my knee and I have a lot of little children, so they are so impractical. The Landsend offerings are somewhat promising in the upper body profiles.

Debora

Veteran

My sentiments exactly, Nancylee! I have also been searching for the perfect summer dress with no luck. I'll be watching this post closely, too.

cinnamon fern

Veteran

I've ordered several different versions of that Patagonia dress and sent them all back. It is super flattering, at least on me. BUT it is impossible to wear a bra with it - the back is just too low.

If anyone has recs for woven dresses that would be extra great! It was 92 here today, I'm thinking along the same lines as Nancy.

Amy

(website)

Veteran

I so totally hear you.

Isabel

Veteran

I am thinking of these when SYC is over !

http://www.jjill.com/jjillonli.....;ac=search

http://www.jjill.com/jjillonli.....;ac=search

I want to shorten the crinkled dress.

I will be watching closely too !

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

It's a bad dress season, unfortunately. I hear your lamenting loudly and clearly. Soooooooo disappointed in the short supply of midi dresses. Although midi skirts are much more available.

Things are either too short, too flimsy, too naked, too casual or too expensive

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Nancylee, I apologize, but I spluttered with laughter when I opened up that link. You are SOOOOO right about this!!

It's very frustrating indeed.

Debbie

Veteran

I too am watching this thread. The first J Jill dress looks interesting.

ironkurtin

Veteran

I probably sound like a maniac on this, but - Eileen Fisher! Wide straps, organic materials, pockets, Easy and flattering cuts. My top go-to summer designer.

rae

(website)

Veteran

LOL at the example you posted! But what do you mean there are no dresses with wider straps? You don't like this style?? o_0
http://www.catwalkqueen.tv/motel_butterfly.jpg

I ordered this one, but I'm almost certain it won't work because of the thin straps you mentioned:
http://www1.macys.com/shop/pro.....50-_-MP450

Not traditional spaghetti straps, but still.

ManidipaM

Veteran

I'm nowhere near any Land's Ends, so can't speak for its appearance in person, but this looks more likely as a candidate: http://www.landsend.com/pp/Sty.....0-_-422524
or this: http://www.landsend.com/pp/Sty.....2-_-415790

IF ONLY they cost half as much...!

I have to agree with IK based only on her photos of Eileen Fisher stuff and the ebay hunt I quickly made --- the lady seems to know what she's about! (Wish I knew what size I'm supposed to be in these things!)

Jjsloane

Veteran

Add me to the list of people searching for the same thing. I refuse to wear a strapless bra and really don't like having to wear something under most dresses due to the low cut fronts. I managed to find a great dress last year by chance (picture below) and would love another, but the search continues.

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Irene

Veteran

so far I only got one summer dress this year. I hear you, especially regarding wider straps or strapless, being myself well endowed they are a real pain. Just keep looking and you will find something, you'll see.

One of my favourite summer dresses I bought it last year at a random shop I entered because they were doing a 30% discount. It's denim blue, long up to the knees with a flattering V-neck that doesn't show too much cleavage, wide straps and a cute bow at the back that makes my waist look tiny. It's breezy too! One of my best finds ever!

Janet

(website)

Veteran

The bummer is, I would actually like that FP dress with just a couple of tweaks -- a longer hemline and real straps rather than strings at the shoulder, and I'd stitch up the neckline a little. Humph. I love the colors and print and the boho-ish vibe for casual summer days.

My frustration kicks in in this department too. There are some sportier options at Athleta and Title Nine, but my success with those has been off and on, since they seem to be cut for straighter body types than mine, and they often insist on including built-in bras, which aren't gonna cut it for a 32DDD.

There seems to be a dearth of options that aren't 1) too girly/cutesy, 2) too hoochie, 3) too dressy, or 4) too boring/conservative for me. I have a fair collection of summer dresses from the last few years, too, but some of them just don't seem right for me anymore. Meanwhile, I have a couple of favorites (a cobalt Rachel Pally dress, a patterned knit dress I bought at Anthro 3 or 4 years ago...) that I'm wearing out!

nancylee

Veteran

Glad to know I'm not the only one frustrated by this! And if Angie is frustrated, too...well, that just legitimizes everything.

Isabel, good luck with the JJill options....in my experience their dresses often look better online than they do on the body, but maybe you'll have a different experience.

Rae, good luck with the dress you ordered.....maybe it will work!

velvetychocolate, the Patagonia one looks like a decent option for a sporty look. I used to have a couple of Athleta dresses with a similar look, but (like Janet said) they often have built-in bras these days and many of them are just to body conscious or casual looking for my taste.

IK and ManidipaM, I will give Eileen Fisher a second look. I used to think her stuff was too shapeless, but lately she's tweaked her style to be a little more fashion forward and figure flattering. It's pricey, but you can often find it on sale....hmm.

Lemonade, your story about stumbling onto the perfect summer dress by accident got me thinking....maybe it's just best to trust serendipity at this point!

Jjsloane and Janet...I hear you on the value of having one or two decent dress options and how we wear them to death. I have a striped sleeveless Ralph Lauren dress that I bought at the end of last summer and I SO appreciate it.

Isabel

Veteran

Thanks Nancy...I will report back !

How is hubby feeling ?

Manidipa, I am finding ( maybe erroneously ) that natural fiber pricing has gone through the roof this year. I remember hearing in the news that this was the case and that the higher prices were coming this year. I find the same thing with leather bags.

velvetychocolate

Veteran

I always forget to look at Dillard's - for some reason, I tend to think of that store as a bit conservative and I don't shop there much.

Just went and looked though, just in case they had more sundresses ...

It truly looks (to me) like they have some good possibilities - and there are only three pages of sundresses to get through, so it's worth looking through them to see if something catches your eye. There are some of the Eileen Fisher dresses at the end (something IK suggested) and there are also quite a few 'sundresses' that aren't cut too low, too spaghetti strap-y etc.

Here's a link to three pages of their sundresses:

http://www.dillards.com/shop/W....._price_low|0/Rpp-3?catalogId=301&langId=-1&storeId=301

There were a few I thought you might like, but I'm not certain what types of style you're after - if you're looking for casual or a bit more dressy etc.

Now granted, some of these are quite simple and conservative-looking, but I'm thinking that there are some good possibilities in here that can be jazzed up with the right accessories.

Take a look.

ETA: I just went and looked at *all* of the dresses on the Dillard's site, and there are a lot of nice summer dresses that aren't too low-cut, and don't have super-thin spaghetti straps. Worth looking, imo.

lynne

Veteran

So glad to know I'm not alone in my seemingly endless hunt. I just ordered an Eileen Fisher dress from Garnet Hill that I've been eyeing.
My only hesitation is the $$$.

http://www.garnethill.com/eile.....istIndex=1

This one looks good, too.

http://www.garnethill.com/eile.....RCHRESULTS

crazyone

Veteran

try Anthropologie!

Anonymous

May I add request item to the wish list? I need my summer dresses to be machine washable!!! The heat index is often over 100 here, and I am a sweaty Betty in the summer. Where are the machine washable, not too flimsy, not too frumpy dresses?

nancylee

Veteran

Alicat, I'm laughing at "sweaty Betty"...especially since I'm one, too! (It's a family curse) I just stumbled across this machine washable dress at WH/BM. It's polyester, but also washable so that compensates for the lack of natural fibers IMO: (arggh...link isn't working but search for "paisley chemise" on the website...see photo below)

http://www.whitehouseblackmark.....=570050040

Isabel, hubby is doing ok. Slow recovery so we're taking one day at a time.

Thanks for the links, velvetychocolate and lynne!

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ManidipaM

Veteran

Isabel, yes, especially in the States I'd expect a bit of a higher price on cotton this year :-/ Thank La Nina and her antics! On the other hand, before that we in India were struggling with the cotton crops. Not sure how Egypt's been doing... but between one set of cotton growers or the other struggling, and the increasing awareness of the environmental cost of traditional cotton growing, don't think prices will come down anytime soon Especially as 'natural' is increasingly seen as 'niche' hence 'premium'.

(Though I have to say in India, I have the opposite issue of often being flummoxed by the price of synthetics!)

And yeah, hear you on leather too. Getting harder and harder to find a decent price on bags and shoes without PU or TPR, especially here, where pleather has --- ironically for our handicrafts industries --- become the norm.

Anonymous

Thanks for the tip on the WHBM dress, Nancylee.

JennyAnne

(website)

Veteran

Amen, sister. The perfect casual semi-modest dress is hard to find.

kmb1

That dress in the link is cute! I feel your pain though. Luckily I can pull off most of the flimsy dress styles out there, but I would love find more that I can wear a regular bra with! I hate strapless bras to begin with, and I find that they are even less comfortable to wear in the heat. That's why I've been building up my collection of cute skirts and tank tops, but that doesn't meet the "nothing on your waist" requirement.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Ross and Beall's Outlet (if you are in the southern region) are great places to find sundresses.
Both of these are all cotton, bra friendly, and were well under $30.

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Anonymous

You can also check out http://www.soma.com for summer weight knit dresses, knee or maxi length, that are super comfortable! I like the Samantha dress in both lengths and have it in several prints. It's flattering to my bustline and I can still wear a bra with it.

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