WIW: Dress, Short-waisted? Long-waisted?

I wore this dress (Rachel by Rachel Roy) and sandals (Nine West) last night to go to a wine bar/restaurant with several couples to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I love the dress, the mesh, cut, color and accent lines appeal to my sporty side. The dress fits me pretty well, I think, BUT the back view has issues as you can see. It does this when I stand up after sitting. I can adjust it after getting up by tugging the shoulder seams forward and pulling down the rear discreetly – it gets fixed and it stays looking good.

Does this mean I’m short-waisted – at least for this dress? Is the long zipper the problem? Maybe this is more of a “standing” dress

I *almost* bought a pewter pair of chunky sandals to go with this dress but decided to shop my closet instead – I wore a matching yellow bag – does this yellow “go with” the grays?

Thanks for your comments.

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12 years ago

Gigi

Veteran

Nice dress!

My guess is that the dress is too long waisted for you. I guess that because the zipper does seem to be quite long; it's probably intended to start higher up on the back than it does. Also, the shoulder seam tugging sounds like what I have to do to make long-waisted clothing work on me (I'm short-waisted).

As far as the shoes, I think they are OK, but you could probably find something that goes a little better. They kind of blend in with your leg, so I didn't notice them at first, but when I took a closer look, I thought they were maybe a *bit* too warm for the gray. But I'm being nitpicky. I really don't know if anyone would notice unless asked. :^)

You do look really good in that dress. Is it washable? I wonder if you washed and dried it if it would shrink enough to fix the problem.

unfrumped

It seems like the dress wants to taper in or continue close fitting at your hip level. Sort of its wanting to be x hourglass where you are 8 hourglass. So then if it rides up it can't slide down again. I guess that is like its being too long-waisted but may also be the behavior of some fitted knits- dynamic fit vs. static fit. It is a pretty dress, though and I Iike the yellow shoes fine, especially for a spring look- a classic
color combo.
I have similar problems with tops riding up if not cut with enough flair or ease to " flow" back down after raising arms, etc.

Jules

I think the zipper is too long. Looking at the seam detail, it seems to start where it should at your waist. I think anyone with nice curves like yourself would have the same issue - it's the design.

Gracie

Thank you for the feedback. I feel better knowing I'm mot alone in these fit conundrums. Gigi, thank you for your opinion on the color of the sandals. I'll experiment with different colors to try and get more impact.

Echo

I am quite long waisted and this issue happens with me all the time. It often happens simply because a dress isn't designed to accommodate curves on the back/bum or because it is poorly designed in that the zipper is either too long, too stiff or otherwise incompatible with the dress while being worn. That issue aside, though, I quite like the dress on you!

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

I get these folds all the time too in dresses. Sometimes it is that the back bodice is too long, but sometimes it's that it's too wide, or there's not enough room for the rear end so the fabric hangs up just above the hip in the back. I suspect that you might have a bit of both length and width issues happening.

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