Wanna Dress You up in My Love: Torrid Plus Dresses with 80s Looks
I have to admit that this revision of the bubble dress for a plus size does kind of work, assuming your hips would still work with the proportions of this dress (some will, some won’t.) It still takes the empire waist, but adds some nice ruching/detailing at the waist that keeps it from becoming a big lump around the belly. Also, since the bubble hem doesn’t extend out, you don’t wind up looking too…bubbly.
I could NOT get this to come up on my clipboard. Let that be a warning. This is one of those outfits that is good in theory, but bad in practice. First, I can see it’s going for a whole 80s look, but it’s picking the least figure flattering aspects of 80s dress and combining them. The vest makes the breasts seem baggy, and makes the dress underneath bunch and emphasize the tummy. The leggings cut the calves short, really chopping up the overall silhouette.
It would work better if you traded the leggings for tights that went all the way down the legs and then wore either the heels or a bootie, and if the vest were longer and cut off mid-hip. It also looks better with the vest open, or with large buttons that button to below the navel. Also, this would be improved by something on the head such as a hat or scarf.
I can see someone thinking “oh cute!” and trying this on, but in practice…just don’t. I actually wore something like this in high school when I was traditionally thin. It didn’t work then, it sure won’t work now.