Dress fit question

No idea why dress 3's link isn't working, but here are a couple of pictures.

Dress 1 is a winner for sure. Love the sparkle in the skirt. Are you dead-set on strapless or would you consider adding some straps for support? That might pull the dress up in the chest area a bit and then you don't have to worry about it all day.

View Quoted Comment The strapless is definitely not why I picked it in the first place (it was actually the cape I liked the most). It comes with removable straps but they offer no support at all really. I think my main concern is the cost of getting straps added onto it, but if I were going to do straps I'd want it to be a light material, kind of like tulle or something, so it won't show under the cape.

Based on daughter's experience, I'd guess the "bunching" on dress one is because the dress doesn't currently have enough structure (e.g., boning, etc.) in the bodice to support your chest. Daughter's dress had a lot of built in support, but it still wrinkled across her midriff. To fix it, the seamstress had to keep making small adjustments until the dress was very tight on her midriff -- and even then, she had to stand with perfect posture or it would still wrinkle a little. Her dress also had straps (mostly decorative), and they added in two sets up cups into the bust of the dress to get everything to fit perfectly. Basically, the top of her dress supported itself whether she was inside it or not -- lol! Before you make a decision, I'd show the dresses, or at least photos, to an experienced seamstress to see what they think. Based on daughter's BMs' dresses, Azazie dresses have some built in structure, but probably not enough for your needs. A seamstress can probably add it, but it might be expensive. Just daughter's "minor adjustments" to a bodice that came with a lot of build in structure were about $300.

View Quoted Comment Jeez, that's the cost of the dress. O.O But I definitely felt more supported in Dress 3, probably because of the corseted back. It's not so much the wrinkles on Dress 1 that I hate, it's whatever, I can just feel it gathering under my chest and it makes me want to just pull on it repeatedly. We could get it smooth for a few minutes, then back to my boobs eating the dress. Dress 1 didn't have that problem but the skirt is much less pretty. I'm doing a crystal theme so I'd love a dress that sparkles from head to toe but most dresses seem to lean towards lace appliques in my price range.

I'm not opposed to getting a strapless bra to wear with it, but would that actually help anything do you think?

View Quoted Comment

If you can find a very support corset-type strapless bra (that extends down below your waist), I think it might help a lot. I don't want this to sound indelicate, but it looks like you have a fairly large chest that probably needs a fair amount of support? If the dress doesn't provide that support, you'll need a bra that does. A long-line strapless corset might do exactly what you need -- they typically have a lot of boning and then well constructed cups so your breasts have the support they need. Once you're well supported, the dress should fit nicely -- and, hopefully, more smoothly over you and your undergarments. After you have the right corset, your dress may need to be altered to make sure it's tight enough to stay up on it's own. One of the many good things about Azazie is if you order a custom-sized dress, they'll reimburse you up to a certain amount for minor alterations. If you really like the dress with the sparkle, go buy a corset (you may need to go to David's or a higher-end dept store to find a good quality one), and try the dress on with it. You'll get a much better idea of how the dress might fit you. Good luck!

Thanks for the input. I'm going to talk it over with my mother before making any purchases (if we go with Dress 3 it wouldn't need the corset so it'd be wasted money) since she's the one paying for my dress. She was really pulling for Dress 1 herself (and a ton of my irl friends voted for Dress 3 which makes this really hard since everyone here said Dress 1 lol) so she might be willing to get the alterations done, but on the other side a glittery chapel veil would liven up the back of Dress 3 more easily and probably more cheaply than both alterations and a corset. Good to know it is possible to fix though, even if it's probably a lot more money to do it that way.