Flirty ruffles top - tee discontinued by Espiral - review by Crystal1

I'm just going to let this picture say it all:



I'm officially convinced the designers from Espiral have never actually seen a human body.

The super high quality (*cough*) cell phone pic above shows the XL size of this shirt. Espiral's website's size chart lists measurements of 40" bust, 31" waist for the XL. I'm a 36/38 D, size 11/12, 32" waist. To put it mildly, I think there might be some small problems with the size chart. I generally wear a size large in tops, sometimes XL if it's a juniors size, sometimes medium depending on the brand. This XL fits like a medium in most standard American sizes, but I have no idea who the neckline is designed to fit. With it dipping so low, smaller breasts would pretty much just stick out the top. (I forgot to put the belt on for the pic because by the time I actually got this pulled down over my chest, I was totally cracking up at the spectacular fit.)

Should you happen to be of Barbie-like proportions, with around a 34 C cup and 26" waist, this might work for you, as long as you don't go smaller than XL. The dress that I tried from the same company was made to fit similar proportions, so unfortunately it doesn't seem to be that they just made a mistake with this top. I'd be really curious to see the proportions on the smaller sizes, maybe it's just the larger ones that they had no idea how to design? Oddly enough, I also have the Black Babydoll and Boyshort set from Espiral in size Large, and it fits fine, so it seems it is only their actual clothing that runs so small.

I'm pretty sad, because this could have been a really cute top if it had fit! Neither the top nor the belt are anything spectacular, but I would have definitely worn them. In terms of quality, this is very similar to something you'd see at Target or Forever 21 (including the belt) for $20. The belt has a very cheap leather feel, but it's fine for general use since people aren't normally going to be paying THAT much attention to the quality of your belt, unless you're at Fashion Week.

A few measurements, just in case you're on the fence about if this might fit you or not:
15" across at the bust (lowest part of the neckline), 16" across at the bottom hem.
24" from the shoulder down, or about 13" from the neckline down.

There is a little bit of stretch to this, but not a ton. The material is thin, so if you have a bit of a belly like I do, you will definitely see every curve. It's made of 65% polyester, 35% rayon, and the tag suggests hand washing.

The belt is designed to be worn below the bust like in the product's official photo, not at your waist or hips. It is made of what appears to be a faux leather and a stretchy band adorned with metallic studs. The actual belt part measures 2" wide, while the widest part of the decorative center is just over 3" wide. Laid flat, it's about 17" across, but will stretch about 2 more inches, so it would probably fit about 38" around at the most. It opens in the front via a snap, which seems to be pretty sturdy and looks like it would hold up over time. The "leather" is really cheap-looking with raw, unfinished edges that you can pull a bit apart (the seams were sewn about 1/4" from the edge) and somewhat unevenly cut. Again, most people probably wouldn't notice the low quality if you were wearing this out at a club or something, but if you look closely it's obvious this was made really cheaply. There is no care tag on the belt, but I would stick to spot cleaning it with a damp cloth, I don't think there's any way it would hold up in the wash.


(Sorry for the cell phone quality pics, my memory card for my camera has given up the will to live.)

This is my 2nd major disappointment from Espiral, so I've taken their other tops and dresses off my wishlist since it seems pretty unlikely that any will fit. I might still buy panties or other lingerie from them, since the boyshorts that came with the set I got from them fit perfectly. I wonder if maybe their clothing and lingerie are made in separate factories, thus the big difference in the fit?