The Merkel One Shoulder Dress by ForPlay is available in sizes XS-XL. The dress is also available in the colours purple, red, and white. I purchased the size XL purple dress because purple is my favourite colour. I had a hard time choosing between the red and purple but I figured if I really like the dress, I could eventually get the red as well. Typically I save the packaging to items I purchase for reviewing purposes but my partner tidied up our room and tossed the packaging. There was nothing very significant about it though. The dress was inside of a plastic bag with a few texts on it (company name, etc) and I believe there was a hanger. The dress is best stored on a hanger in the closet.

The dress is 95% polyester and 5% spandex. There is a lot of stretch to the material. The material is thin but it is not sheer. The only part of the dress where I was able to see through the material a bit was where my thighs were. I was only able to see a bit through the material if I were to stand with my legs shoulder width apart. The more I stretched this area with my legs, the more sheer it became.

I’ve taken measurements of the dress laying flat, unstretched. If you need additional measurements, please send me a message and I can get them for you.

Rhinestone piece: 1 6/8 inches x 1 3/8 inches
Chest (armpit to armpit): 15 ½ inches
Cups padding: 5 inches x 5 ¾ inches
Length of dress (armpit to bottom): 27 inches
Width at bottom of dress: 15 inches

Beneath the draping material of the dress, there is a thin shoulder strap. The rhinestone piece that sits at the shoulder of the dress is actually secured to both the draping material and the thin strap. Being attached to the thin strap ensures that the draping material doesn’t fall off your shoulder while you are wearing it.



The rhinestone piece has 8 rows and 9 columns of individual rhinestones. The rhinestones sit on a flexible track so the piece can be bent and flexed. The thin shoulder strap runs through the back of the rhinestone piece so where the piece sits while wearing the dress can be adjusted. In the stock photo, the model has the rhinestone piece near her shoulder. I prefer to lower the piece so it’s near the cup. Lowering the piece makes the draping material a bit baggier, covering more of the belly area. Being an XL, I’d like to cover the belly as much as I can. You can see in the photos below how the rhinestone piece can be placed at different areas.



You can see that the first photo that having the rhinestone sit closer to the cup covers a bit more tummy area compared to the second photo where I have the rhinestone piece sitting near my shoulder. The only thing I like about the rhinestone piece being up higher is that the draping material covers the ridiculous amount of boob and cleavage showing. Once I purchase double sided tape, I won’t have this issue anymore.

If this dress didn’t have the draping material, I probably would not like it. Beneath the draping material, the dress is tight. It’s not an uncomfortable tight; it’s more of a ‘reveal all chub skin-tight’ type of way. When I had first tried the dress on when I had received it, I was like, “okay, no.” My stomach chub was flopping around everywhere, and my underwear lines looked atrocious. I seriously thought that I hated it.

I decided to give the dress another shot recently but this time I wore control top pantyhose. This made a world of a difference! My chub was no longer bulging every which way. The dress looked smooth against my body. If you’re like me and are insecure about your tummy area in tight clothing, I highly suggest you get a pair of control top pantyhose. If you’ve got insecurities, you’re not going to enjoy this dress without them.

The cups to the outfit have a thin padding in them so you don’t need to wear a bra with the dress. The only problem with this is that instead of having your chest lifted up, they just sort of sit there and weight the cups down. I wear a C cup and the cups to the dress fit me fine but I did not like how the cups were weighed down by my chest. If you’re my cup size or larger, you’re going to experience this as well.

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To avoid the weighted cups, you could wear a strapless bra beneath the dress or use double sided tape to keep the cups in place. I’m actually thinking of getting the double-sided tape because I think it would work better than just having a strapless bra on. The one cup that does not have a shoulder strap likes to fall down with the weight of my chest. With no shoulder strap holding the cup up, it’s a potential nip-slip waiting to happen.

I’m 5’6 and the length of the dress was good for me. I kept the dress sitting at the centre of my thighs but I was able to pull it all the way down to my knees if I wanted to. I do like lengthier dresses but when I pulled the material down to my knees, it looked tighter on my body, revealing the flawed areas I didn’t want exposed. You can see the difference in the photos below.



As you can see, in both photos you can see my belly outline. In the first photo where I have the dress pulled up a bit, you can’t see the waistband line of the pantyhose as much as you can in the second photo. In the second photo, you can see exactly where the waistband is and it’s way above my belly button. If I’m wearing control top pantyhose, I don’t want everyone to know.

The material the dress is really comfortable and soft against the skin. I don’t have any complaints about skin irritation while wearing it. One thing I would like to note though is that if you wear this dress out to dance or whatever, the sweat marks show through the material and don’t look lovely. The care tag states that the dress should be hand washed in cold water and hung to dry. The piece should not be bleached and if ironing, set the iron to cool. Below are a few additional views of the dress while I was wearing it. The back view photo of the dress makes my bum look dirty or as if there is discoloration to the dress but it’s just my mirror (it needs to be cleaned).



Overall, I’m happy with the outfit though I do think that a thin shoulder strap on the other side of the dress would have been nice. I’ve given the dress a 4 out of 5 because in order for me to wear it comfortably, I need double-sided bra tape and control top pantyhose. Once I get the tape and know that it works, I’ll probably invest in the red dress as well.