Sometimes There's Too Much Honesty

Thistle

I ordered the dress below to try. I regularly struggle with dresses as I am a different size on top than bottom.

But, I liked it and thought the looser fit might be forgiving.

So, I ordered it and tried it on. I wasn't in love with it. It was too sack-like.

But then I made a cardinal mistake and asked my husband what he thought. He looked at the dress, then told me it looked like what a cult leader would dress one of his nine wives in.

When I asked him how he knew this, he was strangely silent.

Be careful when you ask your spouse their opinion. They may just give it to you!

So, the dress is going back, and my husband has some explaining to do!

Nordstrom

UNIVERSAL STANDARD Geneva Dress

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Top Pick

6 years ago

Shopping

30 replies

Latest reply was from CocoLion

delurked

Veteran

HA. you know how you ask for their opinion and then are annoyed when they actually give it to you? I understand. But he was confirming your initial thought anyway. Except the cult part was an add on.

6 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

Lololol! ...unless, god forbid, he grew up in a cult...

6 years ago

Anonymous

I really like the look of the dress, but those shapes can be tricky.

6 years ago

cindysmith

Veteran

Your husband sounds like mine!

6 years ago

Anonymous

I think it's kind of sweet actually. I mean, you asked him, because you weren't sure and he confirmed that you could do better.

As for the cult thing, my husband's phone feeds him crazy stuff all the time. He asked me if it was true women are turned off by chest hair.

Because I'm the official spokesperson for "women"

6 years ago

JAileen

Veteran

Hahahahaha! That sounds like something my husband would say.

6 years ago

Toban

Veteran

Ha! Love your response. I am also a different size on top than bottom (an inverted triangle). Dresses can be difficult. I find I often don’t fill the hips out enough to drape right and what is shapely on some ends up looking like a sack on me when I have the right size to fit my chest. Sorry this dress didn’t work, lovely color and shape on the model.

6 years ago

DonnaF

Veteran

It looks like a really difficult dress to wear if one wants reasonable flattery. I guess I'm thinking of your fit'n'flare dresses which look fabulous on you.

I am also amazed by the difference the correct size can make in how a garment looks, particularly dresses since there are both horizontal and vertical fits.

Next!!!

6 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oh dear.

My husband is similarly blunt and I don't even have to *ask* him. When he saw me trying on that J. Crew tiered silk dress, he said, "Ugh!!! That's a return, right?"

But he's also the type who needs time to get used to a new style so I try not to let it influence me too much except with clothing I might be choosing for outings especially with him.

I was nodding with Donna -- this dress looks great for an IT or rectangle. Fit and flare or two piece looks might be better on you. I would see what Kari buys from this maker. Your shapes are not identical but you're both curvy with waist definition. That colour would be gorgeous on you in another item.

Next!!

6 years ago

ChrisM

Veteran

What Suz said: takes my mister time to get used to a different silhouette , although I don’t think he’ll ever really like dresses without waist definition on me. (“Are you going to wear a belt with that?”) My waist has been MIA for several years now -

I’m jealous of so many dress successes here on the forum!! Dresses are not big players in my closet - that may need to change.

The color is magnificent, although even a rectangle might struggle with that draping. Agreed - NEXT!

6 years ago

unfrumped

Veteran

Hahaha!
Yes, perhaps too imaginative an opinion, but I agree, sounds like he was well- meaning in the camp of, “ don’t settle “.
I think the color was a big draw, appropriately, and as I’ve said before, I have to be really careful not to bite on something based on color alone.

“Next”!

6 years ago

Barbara Diane

Veteran

I have to drag opinions out of my husband but he has a good eye. LOVE the color but would have to see it on you to have an opinion,

6 years ago

Christina F.

Veteran

Haha! My husband is more tactful than this. He usually just says he has no opinion, or occasionally that something doesn’t seem like me if it’s too plain and not in a kind of crazy pattern.

6 years ago

Anonymous

That made me laugh. The colour *is* what the wives on the Handmaid's Tale wear, so maybe that's where he got his information . I don't ask my husband's opinion, nor does he offer it . It's proven an unsatisfactory and unnecessary exchange so we don't get into it anymore. I also don't care what he thinks anyways

6 years ago

bj1111

Veteran

At least he has a sense of humor with his honesty. And he won’t let you dress like a sister wife.

6 years ago

Becky

Veteran

I am still trying to teach DH to say things like, "It's not the most flattering look on you." He would totally have said what your husband did.

6 years ago

Joyce B

Veteran

Husbands can be helpful with fashion once you figure out what their strengths are. My husband does not follow fashion at all but he is the one who tells me when a blazer does not fit me right or when pants crease like crazy in the back of my thighs. He has saved me from having a lot of orphan pieces in my closet.
Buying dresses is hard but you will find something good if you keep on looking.

6 years ago

3style

Veteran

I try to only ask my DH opinion questionsquestions with yes or no answers, like asking if something is too big or too worn out. Open ended questions just end up with him trying to figure out how to agree with me.

6 years ago

Katerina

Veteran

This is a fun and interesting thread, thank you for sharing this Thistle!

6 years ago

Cardiff girl

Veteran

Ah yes you gotta love them really haven’t you. I ask my husbands opinion on clothing just for fun,It amuses me to see the panic in his eyes .

6 years ago

Jane

Veteran

I feel disappointment for you because I think you were hoping the dress would be a hit. As Suz says. Next.

The colour of the dress is super though. How was the colour - good?

6 years ago

danskogirl

Active Member

Ha! That's too funny.

As for the Geneva dress -- if you're willing to give it another try, maybe try one size down? I tried the Geneva in what is ostensibly my size at the Universal Standard showroom -- but that size looked like a sack on me. Then I tried one size down -- and voila! -- it looked fantastic. Night and day difference.

(Also I find interesting the comments about it looking like it might fit better on an IT/rectangle shape. I am an IT and it does fit well on me -- so maybe there's something to that. But I was initially concerned because some of the reviews -- and photos I saw for it --said it worked better on pear-shaped and curvy women.)

6 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

The dress is a pretty color, but that style looks difficult to wear, IMHO, unless you have a very IT or rectangle shape and a small chest.

I’m laughing at your husband’s remark because I’ve definitely seen some dresses/skirts lately that look a little “escapee from the compound” but this didn’t strike me that way. Usually those are stiff and shapeless woven cotton or denim.

6 years ago

Thea

Active Member

I love his response!
I actually bought the Geneva dress (and posted in here about it). Haven't worn it yet but am taking it on vacation this week to steamy hot NJ. It's a different shape than I am used too, but with my recent weight gain nothing looks right, and I wanted something that did not wrap my waist/stomach area..
From what I recall of your past posts, you looked great in separates. Maybe look at styles that have a waist, and are more structured?

6 years ago

Jenni NZ

Veteran

A bit too much honesty from him, n'est ce pas? I now ask my husband very specific questions like "are these earrings OK with this outfit?". Your response was awesome, very quick. I'm sorry you will be disappointed as I know you thought you were all done summer shopping.
Sometimes we should stick to our guns if WE like something on us even if other halves or friends don't. Depends how strong our own opinion is. Best wishes.

6 years ago

Peri

Veteran

Well, it goes both ways. This week I told my husband something he wanted to wear looked like a hospital orderly uniform or the ice cream truck man. We don't have to just take it, ladies!

6 years ago

Beth Ann

Veteran

Buahaha! Perhaps husband eyes need some time to adjust?

6 years ago

3style

Veteran

Thistle, I’m seconding giving consideration to what Thea just said. I’m trying to imagine how a dress with rouching which goes above the kneecap on one side in a sexy deep teal color can end up looking matronly. Perhaps it’s too long or baggy. I just bought a couple varieties of slips for dresses, and I found an old dress that I’d started to hate for that baggy feeling suddenly looked right again. What I’m trying to say is that in some cases the right shapewear shapes the dress (adds structure to the fabric) rather than aims to shape your body in a modern conventional way. For example, one of the slips which I bought has a minimizer on top which layers over a regular bra, and makes it look like a minimizing bra. This does wonders for dresses where the sleeve ends at mid bust height, and also for helping empire waist dresses to be looking more streamlined. A minimizer on top could give this types of dress more of a 1920’s slim chest and dropped waist feeling, which I think is somewhat what this dress is trying to evoke, and I think it’s also what Janet was trying to describe.

6 years ago

Anonymous

I'm laughing so hard at these posts! I wonder how men formulate their fashion opinions? On second thought, there is probably no formulation at all, just gut reactions.

Mr. Xtabay minces no words when delivering his fashion edicts, whether they be thumbs-up or -down. He does have a good eye, and his opinion does matter to me, but sometimes I just have to go with what I like, and hope he'll get on board eventually. He always asks my opinion on things he buys, and never shops without me, so I guess we're even-steven on the fashion input. So we're good.

6 years ago

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