Vivien of Holloway Dress Sizing

Georgiegirl256

Ive seen a dress that I absolutely love on the VOH site for my wedding dress, but am abit confused with the sizing.

In day to day clothes I am a 10-12. When I measure up for their dress, my bust and waist measurements don't seem to match up with what they have listed?

For example, my bust measures 34", but they have B34 and W (waist), 26", but my waist is 30" and the 30" waist they have listed has the bust as 38, iykwim?

I know it says to go off the waist size, but wouldn't that make it too big up top, there's no way I'm a 38 bust size.

minerva_windsong

Can you not get it taken in? I admit I don't know the first thing about sizing but presumably it would be relatively easy to take the dress to a tailor and get it altered. Or if you're anywhere near the shop maybe nip in if you can and have a word with the staff or try the dress on to get an idea of how it would fit.

Georgiegirl256

I know someone who if needs be could take it in, but ideally I'd like to get the right size straight away without any added cost or hassle. Their sizing is just very confusing to me, I might phone up to to tomorrow and see what they say.

I wish I lived near a shop, it would be good to be able to actually go and try them on, but I live miles away.

heartbreak_star

Give them a call and plan a trip to have it fitted, I think that's what they advise their sizing is from vintage patterns.

HBS x

Georgiegirl256

I live in Cumbria and they're in London, and I need the dress for the 24th June :eek: If I had longer, I probably would pop down to London (any excuse for a shopping/theatre trip lol!) but I don't, so I'll give them a ring this morning, and keep my fingers crossed!

RainbowDrops

See if they know of any simila shops closer to where you are.
With vintage style clothing, it's always best to check.
Plus a friend of mine who is a dress maker said that VoH aren't great quality...

heartbreak_star

RD, that's the only bad review I've heard of VoH, all my burlesquey friends use and love them! Sorry to hear your friend wasn't happy with them (I make dresses too but have never worn a VoH one!).

HBS x

Georgiegirl256

heartbreak_star wrote: »

RD, that's the only bad review I've heard of VoH, all my burlesquey friends use and love them! Sorry to hear your friend wasn't happy with them (I make dresses too but have never worn a VoH one!).

HBS x

I know, I was starting to worry when I read that lol!

I've ordered one of the luxury wedding dresses in the bigger size, because the size that I 'think' I need was out of stock, and one of the satin ones in the smaller size, and then send back the one that doesn't fit.

Does anyone know what the difference is between Duchess Ivory and just plain Ivory? I'm inking because the Duchess one was more expensive, it's a better quality material? Dresses are an alien concept to me! :rotfl:

Georgiegirl256

RainbowDrops wrote: »

See if they know of any simila shops closer to where you are.
With vintage style clothing, it's always best to check.
Plus a friend of mine who is a dress maker said that VoH aren't great quality...

Yeah, vintage sizing is strange. I tried my Mam's wedding dress on which is a size 14 (from the 70's) and it fit me perfectly, and I'm a size 10-12.

heartbreak_star

Mum reckons it's because we've all got fatter since the 50's.

It's not strictly true, but we're more curvy - our waist-to-hip ratio is a little larger than it used to be so where an old size might have, say, a 30" waist and 34" hips, it might now have a 30" waist and 36" hips. The average bra size has gone up too.

HBS x

RainbowDrops

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

Does anyone know what the difference is between Duchess Ivory and just plain Ivory? I'm inking because the Duchess one was more expensive, it's a better quality material? Dresses are an alien concept to me! :rotfl:

I know duchess can refer to satin, which is shinyer than silk - not sure if that's what they mean here.