Dresses don't suit everyone

[ThisIsAPun]

My friend says that there's a dress for everyone, but I disagree.

There is no dress on earth that suits me.

I'm 5'1, size 10-12, shockingly shit figure due to big weight loss years ago (loose skin). I've tried every single fabric, style and colour dress-wise but NOTHING looks remotely nice or flattering on me.

I'd love to wear casual dresses in the day, and thought once I lost weight I would be able to, but I think I actually have less confidence now.

Some people just don't suit dresses, right?

I’m 5’7” very Apple shaped with narrow shoulders, and dresses are my saviour. So I’m really surprised to hear that they don’t work for other apples.
Separates inevitably have to touch my non existent waist, so seldom work.
I lost weight with SW once and looked so ridiculous. Longskinny legs and a massive fat torso . So I tried blood sugar diet/ fast 800 and lost loads from my middle. I look much better, but I still have no waist and silly narrow shoulders that make every thing hang wrong.
Ido look better with a shoulder frill or a puffed sleeve to offset the no shoulder situation, but it looks too eye catching and I don’t want that.

I just looked on the Lagenlook website mentioned above and I honestly might as well stick a huge sign on my head saying “ I have an overweight and difficult to dress body” , I would look horrendous in those ( no offence to the pp who left the link) , and I think I’d have to be tall thin and elegant to get away with them.

Oh for some flattering understated clothes...

I'm a 5'2" apple and I probably look better in dresses than other clothes although I rarely wear them. I find dresses that are unstructured or sack shaped actually give me shape. Cos and H&M stock a lot of dresses that suit me.

I gave up on dresses because I'm odd shaped but love a skirt and matching top combination. Looks like a dress but can be chosen in different sizes, tops in/belted or out and loose depending on mood. And you can mix them up with other stuff. Bloody revelation!

Like this from Cos
www.cosstores.com/en_gbp/women/womenswear/tops/product.woven-jersey-sleeveless-top-beige.0770073002.html

I’d say that about jeans, I look awful in all jeans ( as do many others) so always wear dresses

Popsy sells the same ugly dress in 100 different prints and it is hideous. Might suit a toddler at a stretch. Lagenlook works for exactly one type of woman: middle aged, asymmetrical haircut, weird arty spectacles, works in academia or museum. Aka my plan for retirement.

Of course there exist a million dresses in which you look fine, you just have a bit of dysmorphia that won’t let you recognise It.

I only wear dresses, my favourites were the sleeveless skater style from select...but they just aren’t doing them anymore
I’m a 16 ( I know, what happened to the 14 I used to be) big boobs , now big waist belly, bum and hips but always feel nice in their dresses

I’ve got to have a waisted dress in a material with stretch
Shift dresses are not flattering for my figure
Going to look at popsy

Ooh yes, they are nice..especially the bright ones
Sludge colours do nothing for me
I do like sleeveless though

This is my style and with the black panel I team with black boots and black jacket in the winter and don’t feel too dreary
I actually have that dress

Lagenlook..oh dear
Whatever size you are, celebrate your shape, don’t hide it under a shapeless tent

The problem with all (high st).dresses is that the fabrics are so awful nowadays.
I have dresses from way back that look ok because they are made of decent thick cotton or sonething other nice material so they hang right.
My other problem with dresses, apart from the shit fabrics, is that for some reason the armholes are always massive. I will try a 12/14 and it's always squashing my bust flat but with armholes that show an acre if side-boob. I dont have massive boobs either just averagely big.
Vintage dresses fit me but not modern ones.
Pinafores work too for the boobs/belly situation so maybe give that a try OP?

I'm 5ft 9 and generally a size 14 but find the only dress I look half decent in is a tailored shift dress - or bodycon shift dress but only M & S ones! They always have to be lined or my c section pouch shows through.

Up until a few years ago I hated dresses and would prefer skirt and top but as I've got older I prefer dresses for work. However casual dresses just dont suit me at all - I have a very short waist but long legs and a chunky tum. Wrap dresses make me look like a barrrel, tunic dresses make me look shapeless, and the skimpy fabric of most dresses just make me look lumpy.

OP you have my sympathies

You’re spot on there if not about the poir quality of high st dress fabric
I despair and feel for the people making them in such shoddy material
I got some nice skater dresses from Dorothy Perkins. In a stretch cotton. Probably cotton with elastase. Felt lovely to the touch when new but first cool wash and they were never quite the same..darker colours started to fade or bleed quite quickly
I know my select slater dresses won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but they are not so shiny as the quiz dresses, although I have a few of those...they tend to fluff up a bit after a few wearings, the fabric seems a bit more durable and with a slip under I can wear them through the winter..unless it’s horrendous and then it’s thick skirts

I love a slip. The best are the old school knee length ones with the proper cups. So much better than shape wear which just squishes the fat to another (often surprising) location!

I think that’s clothing styles in general.
I’m 5foot on the dot and overweight. I wear nothing but dresses and look fabulous. Put me in trousers and I look like this guy with more of a camel toe

Oh I hate dresses, I have found one or two that look nice when I look in the mirror, but I just feel like a fraud in them. I just don't look or feel like me in them. I'm the same with skirts too.

YANBU. I feel vulnerable/idiotic in a dress. I feel confident in a trouser suit. Cannot define why but as a result dresses wear me but I wear the trouser suits.

I’m a wee fatty (5’2 and size 16/18) and live in dresses. But I agree that not everyone suits them (I don’t suit trousers due to my apron) x

@RavenLG I think you are me lol

I haven’t RTFT. I’m sure others have already said this:

First step, reject the central tenet in the tyranny of fashion - you do not need to be the ideal in order to wear what you love. You have no obligation to be as close to perfect as you can get. You can wear a lovely dress just because you love it, whether or not it ‘suits’, ‘makes the best of you’ or enhances your approved attributes/disguises supposed flaws.

Second, get yourself a good bit of shapewear. It shouldn’t be the ridiculously tight stuff nor should it be a size down to help you get into a supposedly better size. I got mine from M&S. Not too expensive.

You just need a bit more of a streamlined silhouette. Then buy whatever dress you like the look of and wear it with pride.

I love a dress, but as a PP said, what the hell is with the arm holes? You do not need to see an acre of the side of my bra thank you very much!

I am a pear shape with swimmers shoulders and there is no shapewear on the face of this planet that will make me look svelt. If I wore a white dress then from the side I would look like a sheet hanging on a washing line.

Whereas a well cut 2 piece makes me look and feel smart.

I have the exact polar problem - I cannot find trousers that fit well, so I appreciate your pain.

And I actually think a lot is due to poor quality rather than item of clothing.

So for me, jeans have to be a particular Levi Jean in a particular sizing. But now I know this, I can just order and not think about it (apart from ouch at £80 a pop).

Dresses/skirts cannot be knee length or below unless they're floor length. Etc etc

Have you tried a personal shopper?

According to Popsy sizing I'm an 8 on my hips, a 10 waist and a 12 bust so maybe that's why nothing looks good, my shape is all...odd

My narrow hips, big bust, short legs and saggy tummy doth not maketh a good dress shape

This is me . I’m not odd, I’m an Apple shape and I wear lots of dresses, summer and winter. Mostly trapeze or cocoon shape.

My rules are

1. Never a high neck , has to be boat, scoop, v or low / wide crew neck . High necklines make my boobs look like a shelf.

1. Never short sleeves, either sleeveless or elbow length or lower. Short sleeves cut a kind a cross my body at boob height

1. Length must be about the knees or nearly at the ankles. I’m too old for micro mini and mid calf is aging on me ( very cool on young women )

1. The shape and fabric MUST have movement and not be completely fitted. Especially not at the waist, as I don’t have one.

1. Never strappy dresses as I always wear a bra and hate the straps showing . Bra style dresses don’t give enough support for GG boobs

1. Never showing bra at armholes

Shift dresses and wrap dresses put about 20 years on me.
Skater dresses look like I’ve stolen my daughters clothes.
But this is probably due to my style type and not my shape.

I have the opposite issue with arm holes and sleeves. They're always tiny. At no point in my life have my arms felt comfortable in the kind of arm holes provided. I've got an inverted triangle shape so my shoulders are the widest part of me and my upper arms are not small (not 'bingo wings' either) just not really slight. And they gain muscle mass easily.

I do prefer to be able to move in clothes.

Trying to Find clothes that fit my body shape is the reason i started sewing my own clothes. It’s not hard, so many good courses, tutorials etc available in person and online.

But of course no one has to wear dresses. Wearing/preferring trousers doesn’t make you any less feminine than if you were dresses or skirts. If you are happy with what you wear that’s all that matters.