Saturday, May 30, 2009

J.Crew: Dressy Jersey Cinched Dress Review

This is J.Crew's Dressy Jersey Cinched Dress (item #15340), which retails for $78.  It is alpha-sized, and comes in tropical palm and dark charcoal.  J.Crew describes the dress as such:
A relaxed, versatile style in our refined, sophisticated viscose jersey. Sleeveless silhouette. Fitted bodice with V-neck front and back. Long wrap-tie at waist. Falls to knee; 22 1/2" from natural waist. Import. Machine wash. Catalog/jcrew.com only.
I ordered this dress in a size small, in the dark charcoal color.  I know the tropical palm color looks very lovely on many of you, but olivey greens are just not my thing.  I think this dress fits true-to-size.  While there is definitely some stretch (and thus a little extra room) in the small, I still would just stick with my regular size, because I think it might be a bit too tight around the waist in an extra small, even with the stretch.

My love for J.Crew's jersey dresses is no secret, and this dress is no exception.  The jersey is a nice, midweight jersey that flows and drapes very nicely.  It is a soft and cool fabric, and the dress is cut in a flattering silhouette that creates a neatly defined waist.  The waist sash is attached at the side, and wraps around the middle, and can be tied in the front or the back.  I think the length of this dress is nice - it hits a tiny bit below the knee for me.  I would have liked it to hit where it hits on the model, but it's not so long that I need to get it shortened, which is always a plus.

This dress is cut a bit more fully than some of the straighter jersey dresses, and that helps prevent any unflattering jersey cling, especially in the midsection or on the rear.

The back of the dress looks pretty much just like the front.  Even though the back is a bit deep, I was still able to wear a regular bra with it, which is good.  My one issue with this dress is the sleeves.  I prefer the sleeveless style on this dress, as opposed to the cap sleeve, which is the way the sleeves sort of naturally fall.  While you can scrunch the sleeves up to make the dress strapless, I couldn't find any way to make them stay, which was disappointing, as I think the dress is much cleaner looking as a sleeveless dress.

Overall, I think this is a really cute dress, especially once I can figure out the sleeves.  I really like the silhouette, and I think this dress can be really simple and casual, or dressed up with the right accessories.

What do you think?  Do you like this dress?  Do you own it?  Which color do you prefer?  How would you accessorize this dress?

Check Out Some Other Reviews

7 comments:

jacquelyn May 30, 2009 at 7:29 PM  

I am so glad you reviewed this! I really wanted to get this but when I searched for it on J.Crew I noticed the search picture shows the cap sleeves, while the product picture after clicking on the search picture shows it as sleeveless. I found it really confusing.

I'm not a big fan of cap sleeves so I've been waiting to see an IRL review. While I think it looks cute on you I won't be getting it, because i would want it to be sleeveless and I don't want to go through the trouble of sewing it.

JTS May 30, 2009 at 10:45 PM  

Hi Jacquelyn - Hmm, that is weird about the pictures, you can definitely wear it either way, but I'm still not sure how the sleeves would stay sleeveless. AppGal and Summerilla were able to do it, so maybe we could check with them? I think it looks a lot better sleeveless though!

lilac cupcake May 31, 2009 at 12:29 AM  

This dress looks great - really flattering! And I love the dressy jersey too ... it's so comfortable, yet it looks put together. I may be picking this one up ;)

You do such a great job with reviews ... Thank you so much!

KatyO. May 31, 2009 at 6:59 AM  

I just ordered this dress yesterday! I wonder to make it sleeveless whether you just have to tuck the extra fabric under your bra straps? I'll try to figure it out once it arrives. ;)

AppGal May 31, 2009 at 8:52 AM  

So far, I have had no problems keeping the sleeves up. I just kind of tuck the edges of the sleeves under the rest of the fabric, and like KatyO mentioned, your bra straps can help keep it in place.

haha...I even did the "jumping jack" test like Summerilla, and the sleeves stayed in place :) I'd give 'em another shot, bc wearing it sleeveless really does look better, IMO (esp. if you can't pull off cap sleeves, like ME! :))

HeidiG May 31, 2009 at 8:56 AM  

I tried on dinagideon's dress last night (she was nice enough to bring it to our little JCA outing). The dress just not great on me because the M would have been too big and the S was a little snug-feeling around the bust/ribcage. But when I tried it on, I just pushed up the sleeves. They stayed just fine on my shoulders. The sleeves aren't so loose & flowy that they will just continually fall down. But it's definitely something you should try out to see if it works for you.

JTS June 4, 2009 at 11:21 PM  

@lilac cupcake - Thank you, I'm glad you find them helpful! The dressy jersey fabric is probably one of my favorites - let me know if you get it!

@KatyO - Did you get it yet? Were you able to figure out the sleeves? I know this will look great on you!

@ApGal - Oooh, okay, thanks for the info! I like it so much better as sleeveless. Haha, I have never heard of the "jumping jack" test, but that is a good one to remember.

@HeidiG - I sort of ran into that problem - the S was a little loose around the bust/rib cage, but I think the XS would have been too small (although admittedly I didn't try). I will definitely have to try it again with the sleeves up!