Online dress shopping

 You can buy a dress without trying it on?  WOW good for you! 

As others post in this thread, it will be an interesting and fun read through!

Denise, as someone who doesn't do much clothes shopping, I wouldn't normally have anything useful to share.  However, I just happened to buy 2 dresses last month and am pleased with them, so I'll pass on this link:

http://www.cache.com/dresses

My job NEVER requires dressy clothes, and my social life rarely requires anything dressier than a pair of cotton or wool pants (this is Oregon:  fleece and jean country).  However, I had an event to go to a couple weeks ago and I wanted to wear something other than my usual "uniform."  I was in a big mall with my friend, looking for sale racks (the only kind of shopping I do), and we stumbled into this store.  I'd never heard of it, and initially thought it was too stylish or trendy for me.  But, I tried on 4 dresses and ended up buying a couple since they were so marked down. 

They're fairly good quality -- not something you'll have for years if you wear them super often, but better made than what you'd find at Walmart, for example.  They don't have petite sizes (I'm barely 5 feet tall), but I found the sizes worked for me.  You'll see in the photos that many dresses appear a bit short (on the 6 foot tall models), but they hit me just at the knee and fit well at the waist, arms, etc.

I'm with Sandie -- I need to go to a physical store and try things on, but if you've got time to order and return by mail, then you can shop anywhere you want!  :-) 

Edited to add:  you can sort that link I posted by price so the sale items appear first.  The full price dresses are a bit expensive, but the $70 sale dresses are reasonable, I think!

ETA - Tracy - that site has some really cute dresses!!!

 Thanks guys for the websites. The more I looked, the more I realized I should be trying the dresses on. I guess I'll have to do the mall crawl. Hate, hate, hate shopping!

 when I needed dresses last summer the best success I had was at Marshalls and TJMaxx. Prices were great too.

I despise shopping but I always need to try stuff on as I seem to have an awkward build LOL

 Well I ventured into the mall today. I got a $200 gift card at Tallbots for Christmas so I thought I would check it out. I am a few weeks early for the summer line. The lady said it was all still in boxes in the back.  I went on line and they do have a few dresses that caught my eye. So I'll go back. One good thing about the store is their dressing room have mirrors. I think that is one of the reasons I hate shopping. Having to walk out of the change room to see yourself is so frustrating.PS Forgive any spelling mistakes. I'm not wearing my glasses.

Denise I hate shopping too.  I am even shorter than you and sadly also not a teen, lol.   I have found that if I purchase 1 or 2 skirts (I like mid calf or long flowing kinda material) one solid and one pattern or floral then a few blouses or cami's that can match both.  A nice neutral pair of sandles and your set for the spring summer season.

ETA: Spelling and I do have my glasses on, lol

There is nothing on this planet I hate worse than clothes shopping.  (yes, I'd rather have a root canal) -- partly it's because I'm a big lady and extremely big busted. 

I shop online ALL the time - in fact it's the only way I buy clothes.  But it is NOT NOT NOT for something super special and a one time purchase.  There is a huge learning curve -- figuring out where to shop, how their sizes run, how TO return and how to minimize the cost.

The place I use, OneStopPlus.com has a deal where I pay $19 once a year for $2.99 shipping.  So no matter how large an order is I never pay more than $2.99.  In the tons of stuff I've bought I've only returned two things I believe -- and one of those was because it was flawed and they comp'd shipping cos it was their fault. 

They have sales and deals and you have to watch out.  My tendency is to order too fast and I've learned to "save" my order and go back to it tomorrow  to see if I really DO like that and will it really go with something else. 

Bottom line -- online clothese buying can be great -- but you need to teach yourself HOW to do it.  I know at this point not to bother with X, Y or Z brands because they don't fit well on me.  I avoid Q and P brands because I think they are crap & don't wear well. 

But the upshot is I can order two tops and then a couple pair of slacks (which I know I like the style because I have others) and if I stick within a range of brands I know even the colors will match.  I just got myself an Easter outfit and something dressy I wore for my anniversary last week and got BOTH outfits hugely reduced.  But it took me a couple of hours just pouring over a zillion pages to do that.

 Make sense??  It's like anything else -- you've gotta get past the learning curve, but honestly Denise I think it's probably really risky for you to try to get just ONE thing for a special occasion and not have to do any returns.

For something like that -- Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Burlington .... those kinds of places can net you something really nice and very inexpensive if you think you will **need** to try it on. 

calliecritturs

There is nothing on this planet I hate worse than clothes shopping.  (yes, I'd rather have a root canal) --  

Me too, Callie.  Shopping and cooking.  Give me a root canal, please. The thing that bugs me the most is the fact that there doesn't seem to be any standards for sizing women's clothing. Everything is labeled "S, M, L or XL" but every company can decide for itself  what those letters mean.  Men, OTOH, don't even have to try anything on.  They just go in and grab a pair of pants with the right waist and inseam size and they're good to go.

I've had good  luck with shirts and tops from the Blair catalog but I don't like their pants because I don't like them with elastic waists, which all their pants have.  So for pants I just snag jeans from the local thrift and consignment stores and I seem to do OK there. I don't do "formal" or "super dressy" but I can dress up a pair of jeans just by changing my shoes and top. My neighbor tells me that's an art form.

Joyce