Shopping online for dresses is a great thing to do, because it means you can sit in your PJ’s, avoid the Saturday crowds and order plenty of great fashion from the comfort of your own home. You also get bargain prices, and often cutting edge designs not yet on the high street. However, a big worry for women when shopping online is how to ensure the clothes will fit properly when they arrive.
Here are some tips to help you get dresses that fit when you buy online:
Know Your Body
It’s important to know your dress size before you make an order. Maybe you think you’re a certain size and you’re in fact smaller or bigger in certain styles of dress. For example, if the dress is fitted at the top but drops past the waist, and you have narrow shoulders and small bust, you may be a smaller size in that kind of dress. Take some measurements of your body to check against the sizes listed on the site – if the measurements aren’t listed, drop the company an email and they will be more than happy to let you know the garment measurements.
Choose The Best Online Retailers
Try to choose retailers you can trust to list accurate measurements, who actively help their customers select the right sized garments. Some online womens fashion retailers will have a sizing chart, which is really helpful. It’s good to understand that an item listed as a UK large may be a medium in American sizes, so it’s really important to compare sizing listings and again, if in doubt, check measurements.
Return To Retailers You’ve Bought From Before
If you find an online retailer you love, go back to them! Often with so many options and sites available online, it can be easy to want to try new stores and swap and change between them. However, this can be risky, especially when sizes change so much between stores. You may also get rewarded with special offers and discounts for return customers when you keep going back to them. In relation to getting the perfect size, knowing a certain company sells your size in measurements that fit you can be extremely comforting, and knowing they constantly have new styles in means shopping will never get boring. It’s also worth remembering if a certain cut or style of dress suited you and worked in a particular size – this may well be the case across the different online retailers but take care to consider the elasticity of the material as some may not have as much ‘give’ as others.
Buy The Dress You Love And Get It Adjusted
We’ve all been there, you see a dress you love online but it’s not available in your size. Or you order it, receive it and it doesn’t fit, but by the time you go to return it and replace it your size has sold out. Fear not! This is what seamstresses are for. You can get a dress adjusted for as little as £20.00. If you love the dress that much, it’s worth paying for it to be adjusted. Just remember it’s easier for them to adjust dresses that are too big rather than too small as they only need to take material away.
Don’t Compare Yourself To The Model
It can be really easy to choose a dress online based on how it looks on the model. If the model is tall, athletic and has a small chest and you’re curvy, petite and have a large chest – remember that the dress will not look the same on you.
Go On A Research Based Shopping Trip
A really good thing to do when you’re planning on spending some money online, is to go on a trip into town and try on different styles of dresses. Some styles won’t suit you no matter how well they fit, others will suit you whether they’re a bit tight or loose. Take pictures of yourself in different dresses good and bad and use them as an index when you’re shopping to know which cuts tend to fit your shape well and which ones don’t.
