Designer Knock-off

Well, I don't know if BCBG really counts as a designer, but the price certainly qualified ($400).  Here's the story: My brother-in-law sent me a link to a dress he really wanted to buy for his wife as a present for their 1st anniversary, "because she would look so beautiful in it".  (I know, awwwwww....gag. Newlyweds.)  But he was right, she would look beautiful in it, and not just because she would look beautiful in anything.  This dress really was made for her.  Here's the BCBG version:

So, I figured I had to give it a shot right?  I didn't tell them what I was doing just in case it turned into my worst failure ever.  The original dress is chiffon, but I couldn't find any chiffon print that didn't look like a 75 year old's resort wear, and I didn't have time to order anything online with my 1 week time budget.  I ended up with a really pretty handkerchief weight cotton that I thought captured the soft colorfulness of the original.

Using my dress form and the very useful fact that my sister-in-law and I are the exact same size, down to height and shoe size, the dress actually came together much easier than I expected.  (Ok, to be fair to her, she is larger in the er, bust area.  But that wasn't hard to account for, as everything sized above a 4 toddler is too big for me in the bust area.  I simply followed the natural and enviable curve of my dressform, Eloise.)

While we were vacationing together, we did a little anniversary photo shoot with the new dress.  Isn't my sister-in-law stunning?

This dress was actually pretty fun and simple to put together, and it helped ease the evening-wear-making itch that I had, since I won't be going to our annual ball this year.  Instead I'll be vacationing in America, attending a friend's baby shower, going to Target, and hopefully eating a philly cheesesteak.  I'll take that over a ball any day.

Update: I'm adding this to seventhirtythree's Knock it Off contest!