Do these types of dresses work on hourglass shapes?

[Piccolomaforte]

I keep looking at this style of dress, which I think looks really comfortable, but not sure if they would work on my body shape. I only ever see them (including toast dresses) modelled by smaller-chested women.
I’m 5’2 and hourglass 10-12, about 34D and concerned about looking ‘matronly’. What do you think? www.marksandspencer.com/cotton-rich-notch-neck-midi-waisted-dress/p/clp23086665?color=RED

@Piccolomaforte
Sorry it'll make you look frumpy
I've an hourglass figure myself and most of my dresses have a totally rounded neck with slightly puffed to the elbow sleeves and are gently gathered from just above the waist (empire type line?) then come down to cocktail length and I always wear either pretty pointed flats or pretty kitten heels
I also have a trophy collar dress which is cut straight downwards and in a longer length with sleeves just above my elbows
That dress is in a nice colour though!
Try Dorothy Perkins?

Horrible dress. It looks matronly.

I don't know where you're getting that from cos when I was a size 12 I could barely fasten a 34 band. And my tits are tiny so if I go up a cupsize and down a band size I just end up cut to bits and a bra full of air

What size cups did you have on your 34 band? Were the bras actually 34” stretched fully? Where were your bras from? Were you wearing moulded t-shirt bras? There’s so many variables as to why you couldn’t fasten those 34 bands! It’s very rare that people need a band size bigger than dress size plus 20 if the bra is true to size and they cups are right.

I measure 32/33 using that method under my bust but on the old fashioned method I am a 36E or F depending on brand. There is no way at all a 34 or a 32 would do up around my ribs. I have tried these new methods and they are wildly wrong.

Anyway , I am size 14 on top (12 occasionally in stretchy fabrics like this dress) and a 36E/F. (34F suffocates me).

The thing that would put me off about this dress (I am similar dimension to you OP) would be the v looks bit low on the neck for my comfort. I often find this.

If your rib cage is 32/33” why won’t a 34” elasticated band do up? That’s not logical. You don’t wear jeans with a waist size 4” bigger than your waist and they don’t stretch! If you wear a 36 F then a 34 F would be too small, you would need a 34 FF at least. If you go down a band size you need to go up in cup sizes.

You need more than just a rib cage measurement to find a bra size though so the other size needs to be taken into account along with shape and style.

Yup, tried all those new methods and they dont fit. A 34 does do up but it suffocates me. If I put the measurements in as instructed only the old school method gives me a bra that fits. Honest. I wonder if height is a factor sometimes.

Absolutely agree with this. I tried a fitting at Rigby and Peller having been a 34B for years, they very confidently gave me all the stuff about being in the wrong size then decided that I was a 30G. I was a bit surprised but tried one on as they were so confident, it was insanely tight on the band and my poor boobs were flapping around in the cups. It felt terrible and looked even worse under clothing with a massive back fat roll and half-empty cups. I went back to figuring it out myself at M&S by trying lots on and seeing what works.

The band size now is just a number to help you locate the correct size within a make and model of bra, same as a dress size is. I take a dress 14 in most (not all) brands but no part of my clothing is 14" big.

The origin of the band size number was "overbust minus four inches", with the underbust assumed to be 4" less than the overbust for all women. There were no cup sizes back then, the letters came later on. What we now call "A cup" was the only cup size available.

Variations in bra cuts, improvements to construction methods, and changes to fabric used (in particular how stretchy the wing fabric is) have eroded the link between underbust measurement and band size. Even so, as a measured 27" underbust, I cannot fasten a 26" or 28" band, but can fasten a 30" painfully, find a 34" will ride up, and am comfortable in a 32" at Marksies.

Bra band sizes have always been based on rib cage measurement from the early days of manufacturing but the +4” for a band was because early bras were not elasticated and breathing is useful. The UK adopted it from the US I believe. Modern bra band sizes are more than just a number to help you, a stretched bra should measure the inch number of the band and we don’t need to plus 4” anymore because of elasticated fabric.

There is absolutely still a link between rib cage measurement and band size or modern measuring methods starting with an underbust measurement wouldn’t work. The issue of bands not fitting is because cups and style are wrong or the bra isn’t true to size not because of underbust not matching band size.

Bra band sizes have always been based on rib cage measurement from the early days of manufacturing but the +4” for a band was because early bras were not elasticated and breathing is useful.

Wrong.

There is absolutely still a link between rib cage measurement and band size or modern measuring methods starting with an underbust measurement wouldn’t work.

is in complete contradiction to:

The issue of bands not fitting is because cups and style are wrong or the bra isn’t true to size not because of underbust not matching band size.

Garments not being true to size is literally what the erosion of the link between stated size and real size looks like. I have a Freya sports bra 34F and am wearing an M&S t-shirt bra 32E. Both fit.

If the tape measure can't reliably give you a bra band that fits, that's proof that the tape measure doesn't work as a fitting method.

I had a fitting in my early 20s. Thought I was a 32C but was a 30DD. I felt like I was a freak because back in those days you were:
32/34AA - flat as a pancake
32/34A - fried eggs
32/34B - perfect
32/34C - busty
32/34D - comedy boobs

If you were a 36 or 38 you were 'fat'.
We're talking days when 'page 3 stunnas' has 'massive 38D breasts'.
Most women had badly fitting bras.

Anyway, the new bra was great.

Well, plenty of us are saying the modern methods dont work for us though. So, who knows! I use the same size for bikinis and they also fit fine. I am possibly wearing a bra a smidge too big for me in the cup but I can breathe and don't have bits of flesh protruding.

It might work for you, or not. Wear what you're happy in.
I'm in a Primark bralette right now and I'm going to buy more of them.

I don't do the leaning forward and scooping and things I've read about on MN, and I wear M&S bras normally.

I am large of nork and I would look like I’m wearing a tent if I wore that dress. The best style for me is where there is some fitting under bust or a skater style which is semi fitted to the waist(e.g. a shirtwaist style) then flares out.

Something like this would probably work well.

www.marksandspencer.com/cotton-rich-textured-midaxi-skater-dress/p/clp23080407?color=Black&intid=mobile_app_pdp_share