The F&F Limited Edition Ponte Dress in blue/black really caught my eye on the F&F website.
Image courtesy of F&F Clothing
I love the richness of the blue against the black hem and cuffs. Such a classic combination! Whilst I realised this wouldn't necessarily be a 'wow' night out kind of dress, I hoped it might be something I could wear to work.
I ordered a size 14 and kept my fingers crossed...
The colour was every bit as lovely as I'd hoped. The royal blue suited me perfectly and the black cuffs and hem added a bit of interest to what could otherwise have been a rather basic (and dare I say dull) dress.
The ponte fabric was brilliant. It was really soft and stretchy and felt like it would be warm without being overly insulating. Being 76% polyester, 19% viscose and 5% elastane this fabric would undoubtedly be easy to wash and wear and wouldn't usually need ironing, which is always a bonus!
The dress fastened at the back with a zip but I was able to pull it on over my head without undoing it. There is a lining inside (100% polyester) that helps to smooth out one's lumps and bumps and this was concealed well underneath the dress.
However, as you can probably see from the photos above, I had a few issues with this dress.
First of all, there was far too much fabric around the middle. As always, I take into account my extreme proportions (46-30-47) when making statements like this but I do feel this dress had more fabric than necessary. I believe that even those who have a smaller difference between their bust, waist and hips would have found bagginess at the waist. I could have added a belt but the extra fabric would have still been noticeable, I'm afraid.
There was also not enough boob room. Yes, it's a standard gripe of mine and I can usually solve it by wearing a camisole or vest underneath but this dress missed the mark in several other ways so it was not worth giving it a try. I was surprised at this, though, as the dress has a crossover at the bust and often this allows for bigger boobs. Unfortunately it was not the case on this occasion.
Sadly this dress did not work for me so I reluctantly returned it to Tesco. Had it fitted I would of course have kept it so it's a huge shame it wasn't right for me. However this is not the end of my experiences with F&F Clothing - I have more reviews to come soon!
