A Bittersweet Tale From Lady V London

It was love at first sight...BAM! On browsing Facebook a few weeks I was completely taken aback by the most beautiful sight. Rosetta was her name, she flaunted as many red roses as a sleazy Lothario on Valentine's Day. She flirtily enticed me to take a closer look and I was hooked.

Photo from Lady V London

Rosetta is of course this beautiful dress from Lady V London. Priced at £60 she's at the higher end of what I'd normally pay for a dress on account of me having so many I don't get enough use to justify the cost. Alas I was unable to resist. I knew she'd sell out quickly so I took the plunge. A few days later she arrived and I eagerly slipped her on...

I'd ordered my usual Lady V London size in the Rose Print Rosetta Swing Dress which is a UK 8. The size chart puts me at a 10 bust, 8 waist and 12 hips but I'd recommend working from your waist measurement if your figure is anything like mine. To ease the awkward 'which size do I order?' dilemma of the Rosetta Swing, you only need to take into account your bust and waist measurements since it's free at the hips. The Rosetta Swing Dress size chart below suggests a UK size 8 to be 33" bust and 27" hips. I'm currently sitting at 36" bust and 25.5" waist and the Rosetta fits fine, possibly because of the mock wrap bust line giving a bit more flexibility on size. The Rosetta Swing Dress sits a few inches below my knee. I'm 5'2" for reference. 

Rosetta Swing Size Chart from Lady V London

So let's take a look at Rosetta in full. Here I teamed her up with red accessories as I felt they worked best. My belt is from a random Chinese seller on eBay and my shoes are an old style from Debenhams. The clutch came from my local indoor market. I chose not to wear a petticoat as it doesn't necessarily need one, but you can add one if you like a more voluminous look. The neckline is definitely ideal for showcasing your cleavage and may not be suitable for those less inclined to flaunt 

Now as you may have gathered from the title of this post, this love story does not end well. It's visible on the middle photo above that one of the sleeves is slipping and that's with me posing in an attempt to prevent that happening. As I've discussed a number of times before, I often have issues with the fit of dresses and tops at the shoulders since I'm quite petite, causing straps to slip, gaping collars and a generally awkward fit. Rosetta, my love, this is where it all went wrong.

As you can see in the photo above, I'm not posing to make it look any worse, this is genuinely how much bigger than my shoulders the dress is. Sadly, the sleeves can't be altered easily as they are pleated and it would be quite a difficult job to do neatly so I'm told. This was the deal breaker for me. It's okay to have a bit of extra wiggle room in the waist, not quite enough in the bust, but the shoulders slipping, nope. 

I feel I need to throw in a disclaimer here that the dress itself is absolutely stunning and I would have kept it in a heartbeat,  but my petite shoulders let me down here, not the dress. If you're of a more standard build around the shoulder area then you'll more than likely find it will fit. Damn shoulders!

Rosetta is available from Lady V London for£60 in 7 different colours, sizes 8-20/22.

Photos from Lady V London

As an aside, if you love this dress but prefer a more streamlined silhouette, check out Loretta which has the same top half with a mock wrap tulip skirt.

Alas, I bid farewell to Rosetta. Please join me and my wardrobe in mourning this sad loss.