Dresses from China

I wrote in an earlier entry that I've ordered some custom made dresses from China with varied results. I was very lucky with my wedding dress, but not as lucky with some of my cocktail dresses. Here are photos of some of the outfits I've bought. I've added both the sale photo and the reality shot, which sometimes differ quite a bit :). I apologize that some of the dresses pictured are not ironed, but hopefully you'll get the point. 

I bought this dress from Sinobay for $40 as a party dress for our first wedding. I couldn't find their website anymore, so maybe they're out of business. Anyways, this was not a custom dress, but a ready-made one. I'm usually size S, but I checked out the measurements and ordered a size L (!) It was just the right size and I was happy with the dress, although it made me look really bottom heavy haha. 

The rest of the dresses are custom made from Dino Direct. DD sells everything under the sky for a price, which varies every day. The dress you find today might be less or more expensive tomorrow. They also always have some sort of coupon code available, so I wouldn't buy anything for a full price from DinoDirect. Their dresses can be very affordable, but buyer be aware, the quality varies a lot. Also, their shipping fees can be outrageous, so I have only ordered free shipping items.  Here are some examples:

This strapless dress is my favorite of all my DinoDirect dresses. It was $50 and originally had a rhinestone brooch attached, but I purchased the flower, also from DD, to replace it. I think the flower was about $5. It was a bit longer than I expected and despite being custom made, it was just a bit too big. My Mom easily fixed to fit me. The color I ordered it in is silver satin.

This was also a custom made dress from DD and it was $34. Pretty much what I expected, the dress color is champagne. The sash was really low quality, but otherwise I was really happy with the dress.

Another custom made dress from DD. This one was $45 and the color is brown. It was a very tight fit, even though I have always ordered with the same measurements, but I did manage to squeeze into it. There were less rhinestones than in the sales photo and the sash part is narrower, otherwise I was happy with this one, despite it making me look like I have no curves...

Here's the first dress from DD that I was not happy with. It is way too big and my Mom thinks she won't be able to fix it and make it look good. So I'm going to have to take it a seamstress if I want to use it. The dress was $44 and the color is lilac.

Here's another one I've never used. It just looks so bulky on me. It was also way too revealing, so I've fixed it with a butterfly brooch. I might take this to a seamstress at some point and see if anything can be done about it. It was $31 and the taffeta color is chocolate.

And last, the biggest disaster. Not only does it look very little like the dress pictured, it was so big that I could've almost fit twice in it. I had planned to wear it as my second dress for our wedding, but quickly gave up on that idea when it arrived. Luckily I was able to resale it and got my money back. It was $40 and the color was supposed to be ivory, but it was white. Also I was told it would have a lace-up back, but it ended up having a zipper.

When purchasing a dress, wedding or other, online from China, one should always keep in mind that what you get is not the dress pictured, but a copy of it. And it is most likely made very cheaply, but you might also be surprised and get an amazing dress! It's kind of a gamble, you never know what you get. But I think it's fair to say, you get what you pay for :) Don't expect a $400 dress, if you only pay $40.

Has anyone else ordered a dress from China? Were you happy with your purchase?