Four years as a bellydancer left me with an attraction to all things sparkly, so I was instantly drawn to this pretty, shimmery sequined dress by DreamGirl. Sadly, this one didn't live up to my expectations.

I knew when I pulled this out of its pretty pink tissue paper wrapping that it wasn't at all what I had hoped for. I knew this would be a mini dress (especially on me since I'm tall), but it was REALLY short. What surprised me more, though, was how little there was to it. The front of the dress is made of a layer of sequins attached to sheer mesh over a layer of stretchy, super thin black fabric, while the back of the dress is just the one layer of black, no sequins or adornments. The black material is REALLY thin. I tried to come up with something to compare it to- it's stretchy like swimsuit material, but thinner. The only thing that came to mind is the generic black thong that comes with so many lingerie items (and hey, you get one with this, too!) The back of the dress is basically the same thickness as that thong we all have dozens of.

The dress itself is basically an oversized tube-top, a simple tube shape with a little dip sewn in to designate the bust area. For some reason, you can't see that dip at all in the photos on the product info for the blue one, but if you look at the gold one, it's much easier to see. I can tell this was added to give some kind of shape to the dress, which I appreciate the effort of, but it doesn't really work with my body.

Another thing I was surprised to discover is that this doesn't come with removable straps. I guess I would have known that if I'd read the product info more thoroughly, but removable straps are practically omnipresent in lingerie these days, so I actually poked around in the box for a second looking for the bag with straps before realizing it wasn't there. Gravity has decided that I am totally not cut out for strapless bras, so I would have appreciated the inclusion of straps on this design so that wearing a bra with the dress would have been a little less awkward. This is obviously just a personal preference thing and not really something the designers did wrong, but adding loops to hook straps onto would have taken so little extra effort, ya know?

I hate to say it, because I already feel like a total whiner in this review, but I don't like the belt, either. I noticed some people in the comments on the product page asking if it is removeable, and yes, it is. However, the dress looks MUCH better with it on, since the dress itself is pretty shapeless. Unfortunately, the belt isn't very good quality, and the belt loops attached to the dress really suck. The loops are basically thick pieces of thread on either side that you can slip the belt through. There are a couple of problems here: First, the loops are too small. While most of the belt is made of a stretchy elastic, about 6" on one side and 10" on the other end have a patent leather appearance (the model in the product photos seems to have a small enough waist that you don't see much of the elastic on the photo, but you're a medium or large, it's going to look quite different), and are fairly rigid compared to the elastic part, so you have to fold the end of the belt a little to fit it through the loop. The fact that the patent leathery material isn't very good quality means it gets kind of creased up from the bending to get it in the loop, ick!



I was amazed that neither loop broke as I was putting the belt in, it was definitely a struggle and I felt like they were going to snap any second. If these had been made of a stretchy thread or ribbon, slipping the belt in and out would have been way easier. The second problem with the belt loops is that if you choose NOT to wear the belt with the dress, you have these two stringy things hanging from your sides that make it look like your dress is falling apart. Just to top off the Glory of the Belt (except not), it is designed with no holes or a real buckle, it's just a circle with a center bar to tuck the belt through. With nothing to hold the setting of your belt in place, your only option is a fairly loose fit and hoping it doesnt slip.

The back is fairly see-through, and the belt gives you lumpyness that's not so flattering.

To DreamGirl's credit, the sequins are sewn on straight and well, and they look really pretty. If they had applied this color and pattern to a better dress design, it would have been awesome. (Not really sure why the properties section of the product info says rhinestones, btw. No rhinestones, just sequins.) Another positive is that the black material that makes up most of the dress is really soft and smooth.

One last annoying thing (Sorry!), the little straps sewn into the top of the dress that are made to hang it on a hanger are attached so that they stick straight up, so you may find yourself continuously tucking them back down. I have no idea why they sewed them this direction!



The dress does fit pretty true to the size chart, and I was happy to find that it even fit my bust fine, since that's where usually clothes/lingerie are too small on me. For comparison, the DreamGirl size chart suggests Large (the size I'm reviewing) for size 10-14, C-D cup, 36-38" bust, 28-32" waist, 38-40" hips, 140-150 pounds. I'm size 10/12, 36/38D (although thanks to eating my way through December, I think I may have officially crossed to DD), 33" waist, 39" hips, 155-160 lbs, 5'11". I alternate between L and XL in DreamGirl items, but since this doesn't come in XL, L was my obvious choice.

The dress is just over 24" long from the dip at the center of the bust down to the hem, and about 23" long down the center of the back. The top hem measures about 14.5" across unstretched, and will stretch to about
20" across. The bottom hem is 17" unstretched and 23" stretched.

This dress has a seriously confusing care tag. Check it out:


Math fail?

The strap of the belt is 33" unstretched and stretches up to over 50".

I haven't really mentioned the thong, since it's just a basic black thong, but it's actually a little nicer than most, even though it isn't anything fancy.



If you're looking for a sparkly dress that's way better quality and almost $20 cheaper, I'd suggest DreamGirl's Sapphire Sequin Dress, or its ruby or silver counterparts. (I've reviewed the ruby one, click here for more info.)

Oh! Just realized that I left out that this is (pretty obviously) hand wash and hang to dry.