Post all "Knock Off Wedding Dress" questions/comments here

[sweetp24]

Hello Ladies,

 

Sorry for the long post. This may have been answered before, but I need input from the following dress makers. DHGate, Milly, Landy and Duosheng.

 

I found 'the dress' to be the Eresma from Pronovias 2011 collection. I needed to save some $$$ from the over $1K price tag so I decided to start searching for Chinese dressmakers to get my dress made. After a couple weeks of research, I found Milly to have the best reviews with little mishaps. I didn't know about Landy, DHGate or Duosheng when I was searching (wish I did =)

 

Anyhow, I learned from forums like these that with any of these sellers you must order very early. Plus you won't get 100% the same dress. I went ahead and contacted Milly last November. They didn't have my dress on their website so this was going to be custom. After a LOT of emails going back and forth about the details of the dress, I was pretty confident I would be happy with the outcome.

 

Once I got past the test phase and got pictures of the bodice, I was immediately concerned because I could see the princess cuts right thru the pleated layer. We revisited the material the dress is made out of. I insisted they send me fabric samples. I'm glad I did =) I went back to bridal shop and compared the samples to the dress. I was able to get the correct fabric picked, but now I am concerned about the lace applique. I'm attaching pictures of the comparison below.

 

I'm highly debating of ordering another dress from Landy, Duosheng or DHGate. I did more research on Duosheng and they do have my dress as part of their catalog, so I'm incline to think they have the correct lace. I have yet to contact any of these sellers to compare laces yet.

 

Before I do, I would like to know if any of you have order a dress from the Pronovias collection from any of these sellers and if the lace looked close to the original. Thanks!

 

 

[Beachy]

Thanks Ginger, I will try and drag the photos off the other websites and resize these (as the photos are huge!) and send that way.

[magirl]

who is Jeff Liu and topspartner? I can't say I have heard of these makers before. Can anyone post a link to their sites?I'm in talks with landy about another custom dress, but am wondering if there is other options.

 

Also, I just ordered a dress from Monica bridal, i'm hoping since its very simple it will be quite similar.  I think I might use this as a TTD but not sure...

 

 

 

Originally Posted by shootystar 

They just said that they can't make it "like you asked in the picture." and that they are "incapable" of it and that I should just go buy the dress from the bridal shop if I wanted it like the photos. Which might be a time thing but sounds more like they just think the dress is too complicated and don't want to make it anymore. It is disappointing since I already told them that it is fine that the pleats are different, fine that the flowers are different, fine that the lace is different. I just want is the top to have a waistband, all be pleated, and not to go down as far. They are obviously capable of pleating well, can probably add a waistband without trouble (well it seems simple to me, a complete non-sewer ) and I gave them the exact measurements for how long the bodice should go down. I didn't think I was being suuuuper picky and difficult, but I maybe I am. Well, if they say that they can't do it, I should just trust that they can't since they know their abilities best, but who can I ask to make it now?

 

Jeff Lui wants $216 for it, which is fine, but can't show me any photos of his lace or appliques. Topspartner will take too long now, probably even if I do rush service with the holiday coming up.

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karen&Rene 

Did they just outright refuse to make it or did they say they just couldn't make in time due to the holiday?

 

 

[kkkk]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am new to this forum and would like to ask you for advise.

 

I am looking for a wedding dress and have just found Landy Bridal shop when I looked on ebay.

 

I am trying to decide whether to buy from there or from Tiffany Bridals.  Has anyone heard anything good/bad about Tiffany Bridals?

 

From your experience, are dresses made from lace easy to copy?

Is the lace pattern usually similar or does it look cheap?

 

I would appreciate any comments.

 

[badgergirl8]

Hi Sweetp:

 

Just a clarification for you, DHGate isn't a specific dress maker company like Landy and Duosheng.  DHGate is essentially a Chinese Ebay.  There are sellers who list or run their businesses through DHGate (not just bridal, but a ton of things, like Ebay).  I used Monica Bridal who runs her business through DHGate for example.

 

Another thing I will warn you of, if you are looking for an exact replica you might be disappointed.  There is a reason these authentic dresses are $1000 + and these knockoffs are 100-300 typically.  You simply cannot expect an exact replica for that price. 

I actually LOVE my Monica Bridal knock-off dress.  It has the same lines and looks very similar to my "inspiration" dress but it isn't 100% exact.  I'm afraid you are simply not going to be guaranteed the exact same lace nor fabrics.  Although US bridal shop dresses do have inflated prices, the materials are often simply more expensive than what you are getting in these knock offs. 

 

I don't think it is true that these dress makers need "a lot of time" as you said, my Monica Bridal dress is fairly simple but it took 15 days including shipping.
 

Originally Posted by sweetp24 

Hello Ladies,

 

Sorry for the long post. This may have been answered before, but I need input from the following dress makers. DHGate, Milly, Landy and Duosheng.

 

I found 'the dress' to be the Eresma from Pronovias 2011 collection. I needed to save some $$$ from the over $1K price tag so I decided to start searching for Chinese dressmakers to get my dress made. After a couple weeks of research, I found Milly to have the best reviews with little mishaps. I didn't know about Landy, DHGate or Duosheng when I was searching (wish I did =)

 

Anyhow, I learned from forums like these that with any of these sellers you must order very early. Plus you won't get 100% the same dress. I went ahead and contacted Milly last November. They didn't have my dress on their website so this was going to be custom. After a LOT of emails going back and forth about the details of the dress, I was pretty confident I would be happy with the outcome.

 

Once I got past the test phase and got pictures of the bodice, I was immediately concerned because I could see the princess cuts right thru the pleated layer. We revisited the material the dress is made out of. I insisted they send me fabric samples. I'm glad I did =) I went back to bridal shop and compared the samples to the dress. I was able to get the correct fabric picked, but now I am concerned about the lace applique. I'm attaching pictures of the comparison below.

 

I'm highly debating of ordering another dress from Landy, Duosheng or DHGate. I did more research on Duosheng and they do have my dress as part of their catalog, so I'm incline to think they have the correct lace. I have yet to contact any of these sellers to compare laces yet.

 

Before I do, I would like to know if any of you have order a dress from the Pronovias collection from any of these sellers and if the lace looked close to the original. Thanks!

 

 

[mochamakes3]

I don't think I would ever order a replica of a dress that I tried on and had access to. For sure, you would be disappointed because many things would be done differently. I'm really pleased with the quality of both my Monica Bridal dresses because I never saw the originals. I liked the pictures and Monica Bridal simply recreated the pictures. They don't have patterns of the originals, they don't have access to the originals and most of time can't see most of the details. So if you want something exact to what you tried on, save the $200 and buy the original. It's the only way you'll be happy. Rule #1 of gown shopping is, don't shop out of your price range.

[sach26]

Hi,

I fell in love with this dress by Alvina Valenta ( Jim Hjelm), I'm not really sure where to order the replica. has anyone ordered a replica of Jim Hjelm before? Please let me know. I checked some stores and the price range is $ 3400-3500.

[skellynet]

isadora dress is amazing, i hope to get one for next year... is that u modeling it? how does it feel to wear it?

[shootystar]

Jeff Liu is on ebay as Aprils Bridal http://stores.ebay.com/April-Bridal but I read on forums that you can contact him to make custom dresses by email, usually price range from 170-230 ish shipping included

 

I found out about topspartner on this forum, their website is http://www.topspartner.com/ , they have a reputation for nice dresses but I've never seen any photos, their price range is $300+ I think
 

Jeff Liu doesn't have pics of dresses he has made up anywhere and I had a lot of trouble finding reviews of him despite his massively high feedback on ebay so to make things easier for anyone who wants to know about him, here are some I have found looking around. They range from great to sorta unfortunate. There are a few more in this thread too I think.

 

Originally Posted by magirl 

who is Jeff Liu and topspartner? I can't say I have heard of these makers before. Can anyone post a link to their sites?I'm in talks with landy about another custom dress, but am wondering if there is other options.

 

 

 

 

[cookiemunchkin]

Totally agree with this!  I think I was happy with my dress because I hadn't tried on the original and couldn't compare all the tiny differences between the two.  All I knew was that I had a dress that I loved the look of and that fit me perfectly 

 

 

Originally Posted by mochamakes3 

I don't think I would ever order a replica of a dress that I tried on and had access to. For sure, you would be disappointed because many things would be done differently. I'm really pleased with the quality of both my Monica Bridal dresses because I never saw the originals. I liked the pictures and Monica Bridal simply recreated the pictures. They don't have patterns of the originals, they don't have access to the originals and most of time can't see most of the details. So if you want something exact to what you tried on, save the $200 and buy the original. It's the only way you'll be happy. Rule #1 of gown shopping is, don't shop out of your price range.