As I mentioned previously I have a crush on a specific BCBG dress, the one on the left in the image above. I’ve ordered it from Nordstrom but it’s not scheduled to ship for a while so I’ve been looking online in the hopes of locating one to try on. It hasn’t taken much searching to find lots of old message board posts about this dress, especially during 2008 when the dress became unavailable and women who were hoping to wear it began to panic. I also came across this dress with similar elements (above, on the right), it’s made by John Rocha and it’s sold by the UK department store Debenham’s. I like it but not enough to go ahead and order it considering it would be awfully hard to return.
I’ve found a few helpful posts about the BCBG dress on the Wedding Bee site. The first is a collection of photographs of real sized people wearing the dress. Also is this very recent post from somebody who tried on the dress two weeks ago and found that the applique flowers are droopy. She mentions that she suspects the older versions of this dress were a bit better constructed.
As I talked about in the previous post I’ve ordered the dress from Nordstrom and it’s schedule to arrive way too close for comfort (it might not make it to me in time) so I’m going to push forward with making my own dress as I’d planned. I’m considering borrowing the flower elements, though. We’ll see if they work with the silouette I’m planning.
I do hope Scott isn’t reading this….
How come? The not seeing the dress thing? Our house is far too small for it to be avoided.
i got married two years ago in a BCBG dress, and i’m convinced you can’t go wrong. although, i think a handmade dress is MUCH more lovely!! either way, best wishes!
I actually have that dress, it was my backup dress I didn’t wear. I live in Bellevue. It’s size 10. You can buy it if you want to have it altered.
I got it at Nordstrom Rack last year.
Diana - I’ve just emailed you!
dollycouture.net might have some nice ideas for you.
I’m going to give you the single best wedding advice I was given. For any strapless dress, buy a corset (of some sort, not necessarily the body binding horrors string in back kind) sew velco onto the outside of the corset and onto the inside of the gown. That way, if you lose weight right before the wedding–its not a problem. No pulling the dress up constantly as you dance because it keeps falling down. Seriously, it was TOTALLY worth it.
JC - Thank you. For the dress I’ve been planning on making I first went and bought a heavy duty corset to build the dress on top of (and for future use in Halloween costumes). If the BCBG dress gets here in time and fits over top of it I might just go that route.
Susan O. - Thank you, I have seen the Dolly Couture site, she’s a favorite in the Indiebride forums. I’m in love with the Milan, unfortunately it’s too late for me to order one.
Megan, I’ve followed your Not Martha blog for years now and just wanted to say congrats to you and Scott. My bf and I are planning a wedding as well and I actually tried on that BCBG dress last month. I found that the bottom portion of the dress was a lot poofier than in the picture, and the flowers near the face were droopy. It didn’t look right on me. I’m 5′, about 108 pounds, so probably not right for my body shape. I like your idea of making your own dress w/similar elements, sound really pretty!
Fahm - Thanks. Where did you find it to try on? Nordstrom is reporting that it isn’t in any of the stores. I am glad to hear the skirt is poofier, I would prefer it that way. I’m not too worried about the floppy flowers, I found somebody on a message board that used some spray starch and some tacking stitches.
Megan, I actually ordered it online as well. Ordered about 7 dresses to try on, and I was looking forward to trying this one the most. I’m not creative with clothes so I didn’t even think about making it work. Hope you get yours soon!
I have this dress, in the yellow peach color. It was my rehearsal dinner dress, actually. I LOVED it got an incredible amount of compliments on it.
In fact, I’m trying to figure out when to wear it again.
Oh, and I had the dress drastically altered, and it was great to alter because of all the layers - didn’t show at all.
Bonus, just cause I feel like it: I got the dress 75% off from a random boutique I walked into. I had been stalking it on nordstrom.com, but balked at the price.
Sara - What alterations did you make? Congratulations on finding it cheap, it’s a lovely dress but the price when new stings a bit. And I do like the yellow/peach version, if I looked good in those colors I would try to find that one. Sadly, I’m a winter. I read on a message board that there is a black version of this dress available and I’m trying to pretend that I don’t want to collect all the colors.
Hi Megan - I have the bust brought in about 1″, hips and waist about 4-5″. It actually took 2 times to get it right because of all the roushing (sp?) and layers.
Good luck!
Sara - It’s really good to know that it’s easy to alter and still look good.
Fahm - You’re not the first person I’ve heard from who tried on a smaller sized version of this dress and reported that the skirt was poofier than you expected. I suspect they keep the hem of the skirt the same for all sizes of the dress (to accommodate the flowers) and in the tiny sizes the skirt is somewhat out of proportion.