I am always leery of buying clothing online since I can't try on the piece before purchasing. As we all know, a comfortable fit can vary several dress sizes, depending on how the dress is cut and what your body shape is. So the next best thing is to come to amazon, read the reviews, and hopefully find someone with a similar body type to mine to see if the cut is flattering on them.Hopefully this will help someone. For reference I am 5'9" and 165 pounds. I ordered the XL, and although I love my fit a little more loose, I could have easily gone with L if I wanted the dress to be a little more form fitting, especially in the hip and breast area. A few notes about fit:1. I LOVE the fit. So flattering. It cinches in all the right places (for me it was right under the breasts, rather than the true waist, which has been destroyed from having kiddos. :)2. The A line bottom hides the "pear shape" that I so often have trouble dressing attractively.3. The bust had an oddly placed "stitch" near the top-- I assume this is to keep the breast area from gapping. But I cut that and found the fit much more flattering without it. If you cut the stitch and find that you feel exposed, a simple safety pin will do the trick.Feel and flow of the dress:1. The material really surprised me with its durable feel and heaviness. It's not so heavy as to be uncomfortable (it breathes), but it really felt high quality-- not like the material that almost seems paper thin.2. I was surprised by the stretch of the dress. It was really forgiving and stretchy-- not like, swimsuit stretchy, but definitely some stretch to it. So if you are between sizes I would suggest deciding how you want the fit to be-- loose and kind of flowy? Size up. But if you prefer a more shaped look, size down and don't worry about it fitting because the stretch will allow it.3. Length. I was surprised by how long this dress was. It was a few inches away from mid calf. I think I might hem the bottom, which is easy enough. I am tall (5'9" and all legs) so I imagine on someone more petite this would be almost tea length. But like I said, easy enough to hem the bottom. Just something to be aware of.4. I bought a cincher belt on amazon, also, for the waist. I just felt like a little ornamentation would be nice (since I picked a fairly plain pattern), and it looked awesome. Also as mentioned I chose a size up and the cinched waist made it seem more fitted but also comfortable.In a nutshell, is this dress worth the money? YES YES YES!!!! Do I feel beautiful in it? YES YES YES! It fits a variety of body types, it seems study and well made, and with a few adjustments I believe it will become one of my favorite outfits. I can't wait to order more! :) I hope this helps someone <3
