J Crew Dress Review - Basket Weave Portico Dress

My much-anticipated (well, for me at least) J Crew package arrived on Wednesday afternoon. So I was thrilled to get the long beach cardi, the tall minnies, the pearl Jackie, and the crystal fireworks earrings all at 20% off. Like I said before, the savings more than offset the shipping, and I have returned the full price items.

And it was a great time to try some dresses that were catalog/jcrew.com only...20% off, so yay if they worked. And no worries if they didn't since the shipping was already taken care of. Sorry for the delay in getting the pictures up - Thursday was cleaning lady here, then meeting at office, followed by team happy hour. Friday was Valentine's parties at school, reimbursements to dole out, and sleepovers here. We are currently in the lull between 1 basketball game and 1 soccer game.

The J Crew Basket-weave Portico Dress (#22888, $118). This did not work on me at all. Well - you can see that from the picture at left. I ordered this in a 10, based on the model picture (but more about that below).

First of all, the pros:

1 - The color, brilliant orange, is gorgeous!! Love love love this color - I hope J Crew has more in it this spring. The dress is also available in dark slate. (dina - are you so proud of me for bypassing my fave J Crew gray for orange?)

2 - The fabric is beautiful. It's a cotton-silk blend and feels divine. Nice and lightweight for the summer.

3 - The neckline is fantastic with the basket-weave. Interestingly enough, the packaging outside the dress said "Tutenkamen dress", so maybe this is yet another example of an item that will have a different name in-store than online. The dress does not say online only, but I haven't seen it in stores yet. Maybe it will be part of the new release next week.

4 - It has pockets. (need I say more?)

Now let's get to the bad...it's all about fit. First of all, check out the dual images below of the dress, both from jcrew.com:

At left we have the thumbnail that appears when the dresses are all listed, with this dress on a dress form. At right, the model picture that appears when you select the dress and go to the product page. Guess which one is more accurate...the left pic that shows an a-line dress or the right pic which shows a dress that appears a bit tight on even the model's hips? Yep, the right one. All I can say is that I'd love to see the back view of the left pic, because I'm guessing the back of the bodice on that dress is pinned within an inch of its life. Plus, the way they pinned it makes it appear to have a much higher waistline, giving the illusion of an overall length below mid-thigh on me.

When a dress looks like that on the model, it really should be a warning sign. It fit me pretty much like the model, only it didn't look as good. It was tight around the butt/hips. And it was short. And because of that, plus the fact that the fabric is so lightweight, it would bunch up around my waist when I walked or raised my arm, and then stay up. Not too attractive.

And as tight as it was around the lower half, it was so loose - I don't even know that a belt would help. Again...fit like the model pic.

But is it a bad dress? No, not at all...on the right person it would work. I have a fairly straight figure (you know, a brick and all that) but for someone who is really, really straight and not too tall, this would be a great dress.

Here was my initial Polyvore if the dress had worked...not gonna need that now. But I do love the orange/pink combo.

Basket-weave Portico Dress by HeidiGblog featuring J Crew