Miracle Dress
By lb50 on April 5, 2012
Drop two sizes, add curves and firm up your tummy. How?
It’s not another diet; it’s a dress….the Miracle Dress to be precise. No Spanx or Wonder Bra required; the magical fibers are already woven into the fabric itself. If there was such a dress, would you buy it? Well, there is and you can’t…at least for the moment. The dress is from Stella McCartney’s 2011 Winter Collection and is called the Octavia quickly renamed the Miracle Dress because of its magical powers. The unique stretch material and the panels of color that create an optical illusion are the “secret sauce.” It sold out immediately everywhere and at $1600 a pop a lot of us may not have been in line to begin with.
But the fashion industry is known for its knock offs and there’s a range to choose from with this design. Starting with Forever21, H&M and BeBe, each has their own take on the dress and at prices ranging from $23 to $69 to$125. DKNY has the color block idea down but not the svelte silhouette. There are a number of internet sites, mostly from the UK, that feature some interesting replicas, like Dorothy Perkins for less than $40 and their version has some elasticity. ASOS, another fashion website, has a close copy of a polyester dress marked down now to $52 but it appears to have no stretch. You get what you pay for though. You must be willing to sacrifice some of the look in exchange for the lower price. However, the one knock off that most agree comes closest to the real thing is at Celeb Boutique. It’s got the color panels down right and enough elastane to tame most of your bulges and one-tenth the price of the original.
And the Miracle Dress isn’t just a fleeting trend as was seen in several Fall/Winter 2012 collections during New York Fashion Week:
Over and above the miracle aspects of this dress, I wonder if it is the right look for after 50? Does it only belong on the Red Carpet or at music venues and nightclubs? Interesting enough when I looked for the knockoffs and the Stella McCartney dress online at upscale department stores, there were only smaller sizes available. So does that mean that larger-sized women are really looking great in this dress and buying them up? Or is the dress just cut too small?
Well, I’m here to tell you that the Celeb Boutique knock-off I purchased fits like a dream. For those that might be interested, here’s my up-close and personal assessment based on three criteria and scoring of 1 to 5 with 5 being highest:
1) Fabric: 3
Both dresses are made of synthetic fabric but the original has a softer and more substantial feel to it.
2) Body Shaping: 2
There’s no miracle fiber included in the CB copy. (The good news is that a Spanx bodysuit can make up the void and is much cheaper than the price difference between the McCartney and CB dresses.)
3) Design: 5
Maryl wearing Celeb Boutique “Miracle Dress”
The dress looks exactly the same complete with the bustline and side seamlines.
And I’ll give it another 5 for just being fun to wear. For me believing in the miracle dress was worth the gamble and not fantasy at all. So what do you think?
I’m no Kate Winslet but miracle or not?
Originally posted on Second Lives Club.
Related Posts
