Lycra tube dress - mini dress discontinued by Coquette - review by SMichelle

It is my opinion that a girl can never have too many sexy dresses. As such, I just couldn't resist adding this form fitting number to my collection. I definitely feel sexy when I wear this, but the quality leaves me wanting more.

What's Included? How do you wear it?:
When you purchase the Lycra tube dress, you'll receive the dress, and the two optional shoulder straps.

This dress is great because you can wear it in multiple settings. It's long enough that you can wear it in public. It's dressy enough that you can wear it out on a fancy date, yet somehow it's casual enough to wear for a day out. It's sexy enough that you can use it to seduce your lover in the bedroom. It's even possible to wear this dress during sex!

What's it made out of? How do you care for it?
The tag states that this dress is made out 80% Nylon and 20% Spandex, exclusive of the trim.

The dress is made primarily out of black fabric, with pink ribbon trim.

The black material is very stretchy, and feels almost silky in nature. This makes it extremely comfortable to wear. You should be aware that this material will cling to every curve that you have, even if you size up as I did.

The pink ribbon trim on this dress feels very silky, yet very cheap. The pink trim is not as stretchy as the rest of the dress; in fact, the pink ribbon that goes across the front does not stretch at all.

To care for this item, it's recommended that you only hand wash it, and then hang it to dry. Personally, I would stick with following those instructions for this piece, as I feel that the washing machine would really ruin this dress.

How does it fit?
Coquette has made this dress available in four sizes; small, medium, large, and extra large. I purchased this in XL.

An XL should fit someone with the following measurements:
Cup: D
Bust: 42-44"
Waist: 34"-36"
Hips: 44-46"

I wear a large C/small D cup. My waist is a 32", and my hips are 40". Judging by the size chart, this piece should be a bit loose on me. That said, this piece is actually pretty snug on me.

I took the following measurements of this dress with it laying flat:

Bust, unstretched: 16"
Waist, unstretched: 17"
Length: 31"

Length wise, this dress fits me just fine. I am 5'6", and it comes down to mid-thigh length on me. I do not have any problems with the dress riding up when wearing it, but if you do? This dress looks cute with leggings.

What about the design?
This tube dress is designed to fit snugly. It clings to your curves, but that's what it's supposed to do.

It's also designed to be worn with, or without, the adjustable shoulder straps. Personally, I prefer to wear it with the straps. The dress just doesn't offer me enough bust support to wear without them.

That being said, even with the shoulder straps, this dress offers minimal support. There is no underwire, and no padding in the cups. The three satin "strips" going up the bust do have plastic boning in them, and it seems like they were put there to offer some support. In reality, they just fail at doing their intended job. The boning is just way too flimsy to be supportive.

The pink decorative ribbon only goes across the front of the piece. It's also own sewn at the very top. I would've liked it better if the ribbon went all the way around the dress, and if it was sewn flat. It would've made the dress look much nicer.

You should also be aware that there is a pink bow on the ribbon trim. The pink bow is not meant to be removable, but you could easily remove it with a seam ripper if you chose to.

How was it packaged?:
This comes packaged with a really nice padded hanger. It also arrives covered in plastic, which helps to protect it throughout the shipping process.

And what about the quality?:
Honestly, for $33.99, this dress is low quality, and not at all what I have come to expect from Coquette. Coquette usually makes such high quality pieces, but this one appears cheap.

Problem 1: The pink trim that covers the plastic boning in the bust is already fraying. In fact, it started to started to fray after just wear.

Problem 2: The boning is incredibly flimsy.

Problem 3: The ribbon is not seamed at the bottom, which makes it so that the ribbon never seems to lay flat.

Problem 4: The bow feels cheap, and appears as though it's about to fall off.

This dress just seems to be fraying more with each wear. I've only worn it three times, so it's not like it's gotten a ton of use. Each time I've worn it, it's only been for about 2 hours at a time.

At this point the fraying has gotten so bad that I don't feel comfortable wearing it out of the house. It's a shame as this dress had such great potential.