Sunday, April 17, 2016

Order at Your Own Risk

I didn't cut the model's head off; STYLEWE did. Either that or the model insisted upon remaining anonymous, which wasn't a bad choice if such was her intent. 


Tonight I clicked on a link for a clothing company that calls itself "STYLEWE."  Here's the link if anyone is interested:  https://www.stylewe.com/product/embroidered-pierced-mini-dress-21184.html?gclid=CMTeppH8lswCFYiVfgodrmELXA . I don't believe the link or site is embedded with any malware content.

I would describe most of the clothing featured at this site as tawdry in an attempt to be charitable. The dress pictured here is OK -- one of the more tasteful garments I viewed at the site -- although it's not something I'd choose for myself. It's more my friend Megan's style, and her birthday is approaching. I assumed I'd probably want a small for her, as she usually wears a size 4. I clicked on the size guide to confirm that my expectations were in line with their sizing protocol. Much to my amazement, I discovered that Megan would only be able to squeeze into a size XXL. 

Seriously, on whose planet does size 4 equate with extra-extra-large?  I would not buy that dress for Megan even if I thought it would be her most prized dress of all the dresses she would own for the rest of her life. For one thing, I'd have to cut the size-indicating tag out of it to avoid hurting her feelings, and who gives someone a dress with the tag cut out? More importantly, though, I refuse to do business with a company whose size protocol is, in essence, a method of fat-shaming. 

For that matter, the company is fat-shaming even skinny people. My mom wears clothing in sizes  2 to 4 depending upon the garment and the manufacturer. She would need an extra-large (XL) size of this dress at the very least, and possibly even an XXL.  My mom is 5'3", is small-boned,  and is arguably thinner than a person should be. Granted, the company is not marketing its products to forty-nine-year-old women such as my mother, but if she were her same size and 21 years old, she'd be thin by any standard other than perhaps in comparison to starving Ethiopian refugees.

I wear size zero. Two years ago I was probably a double zero, but clothing I wanted didn't usually come in size 00, so I had to make do with over-sized clothing or with children's clothing.  It's unfortunate that I did not know about STYLEWE back in the day.  By patronizing this company, I could have worn slutty and tacky clothing every day of the week with very little effort. My Aunt Cristelle probably wishes the company had been in business when she was scouring the planet for clothing to dress me up in the Halloween that I was Trailer Trash Barbie. If she'd bought a size-00 outfit and tossed it in the dryer on "high" for twenty minutes, it might have been snug on me even then.

Incidentally. STYLEWE's sizing guide for the dress in question indicates that sizes "small" and "medium" are identical. My guess is that virtually no one orders medium when a small garment fits identically. I would probably feel better about wearing a medium for once in my life, but I acknowledge that I'm in the minority.

On top of everything else, I wouldn't think their marketing strategy would be an advantageous business model, but then, what do I know? Perhaps STYLEWE is targeting their merchandise to those on the down side of anorexia and to those suffering from the acute hyperthyroid phase of Graves' Disease or with inflammatory bowel disease.


another charming STYLEWE offering


Here's another sweet STYLEWE garment. In this one, the model (if you could see her face) looks as though she is stoned,which a person would almost  have to be in order to voluntarily wear this dress. Edited to add that I have slightly amended my position in regard to this dress. I now think the top looks like a top especially made for breastfeeding. A five-year-old could probably breastfeed discreetly under that top, not that I would ever be caught dead breastfeeding a five-year-old.

7 comments:

  1. As someone who has never been XS, this post depresses me. I don't see how that company can stay in business for long. The vast majority of people wouldn't be able to wear their clothes.

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    1. I don't understand what they think they're going to accomplish other than putting themselves out of business.

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  2. If you have any comments that you want to make to this company, then they want to hear from you. In the about section they say: "Rather than just an online shopping store, we would like to create a community which will be shared by both designers and customers. The community will enable all parties to communicate, share ideas, and recognize each other. It would not only provide instant feedback for fashion designers when launching new concepts or products, but would also allow customers to share their shopping experiences and fashion dreams."
    https://www.stylewe.com/information/about-us

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    1. The company knows they're excluding people with the size restrictions of their merchandise and offending others with the way they label their sizes. If I cared about the company or if i liked the merchandise but it wouldn't fot me, I could contact them, but since I son't care about their company and I could wear the clothing if i liked it, which I don't, I feel no sense of obligation to tell them anything.

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  3. Sizing illogicalities and online buying is a disastrous combination. I have a friend who owns a bespoke,high end bridal atelier. Many brides-to-be are now ordering gowns online, usually from China as it is cheaper than local boutiques.she now refuses to see hysterical Bridezillas begging her to alter their dream gown which arrived 3 days before the wedding,size inappropriate and with no allowance for any such alterations. Her small ,high quality niche market furnishes fewer head and heart aches.

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    1. I've only ordered online from couple of relatively reputable clothing companies, and even then, it's never for an important event. I can't even imagine ordering a bridal gown online. I suppose if it looked really nice and cost $50 so there was relatively little lot lose, and you had plenty of time to find a real bridal gown when the one you ordered online fell through, it might be OK. Still, you would most likely be throwing your $50 away. with nice dresses, you usually get what you pay for if you order in person. If you mail order or order online, you probably don't even get what you pay for.

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    2. There are a whole bunch of companies now that just take pictures from other designers, throw them on a website and then you order the dress and a seamstress in China makes it for you. Awful on multiple accounts. They like to advertise for brides to get bridesmaid dresses from. My mom ordered on for herself for my wedding and went on and on about how she was getting s designer dress (I'm not sure she understands what that means) and she ended up hating it so much that she (a talented seamstress herself) couldn't even fix it.

      Then last year my little sister wanted to use one of these sites for bridesmaid dresses. I told her I refuse to order dresses from these sites just on principle (they are directly stealing others designs, among the other issues) and told her I would wear something in the same color from an actual store or I didn't have to be a bridesmaid. She also waited so long to pick dresses that it would have been questionable for me to get the dress in time anyway. She ended up letting me pick my own.

      I was given a hard time about not buying one from the sketchy manufacturer even though my sisters dress had to have significant alterations the night before the wedding because it didn't fit. No regrets here

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