Non-strapless dress

maryritaw

Does anyone been anywhere that had a large selection of dresses that are not strapless?  I am a little tired of the strapless look and besides, I'm a bigger girl and would like to spare my guests from having to look at my back fat. I did find a dress today that has spaghetti straps which I can add to.  People always say you can add straps.  That helps, but at the end of the day, you still have a dress built like a strapless dress with straps smacked on top of it.  I have tried on a couple that have been ok, but nothing great.  I would like a rouched boatneck or something.  Everywhere I go is filled with strapless dresses with only a handful of other dresses...and they usually flare or something.  I would like an a-line dress that is not strapless.  If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them.  I live in the Chicagoland area.

meganpow87

I thought I wanted straps too until I tried it on and discovered it didn't look good on my narrow shoulders, and plus I couldn't raise my arms to dance with my Daddy or FI.

However, they are very pretty! Have you considered one shoulder? I think they're very modern and I tried on several since I had the narrow shoulder problem where the straps would fall off or keep me from raising my arms.

Two straps or One staps are everywhere! You should ask your bridal shop to pick some styles out that meet your requirements and go from there!

ceh789

What size are you?

I very nearly bought this:

http://www.igigi.com/charming-romance-wedding-gown.html?source=googlebase

That site has a fairly good selection and very few are strapless:

http://www.igigi.com/plus-size-bridal-collection?linkid=topmenu

I bought my dress from Dolly Couture - they're online - the Beverlywood has sleeves and is absolutely gorgeous, she has several other sleeves styles also.  If you look up Dolly Thicke on Facebook she has hundreds of photos of real brides in her various dresses -  I know there are loads of bigger girls in the Beverlywood and I think it's very flattering.

AurorasEnvy

I think a lot of designers are coming out with more dresses with sleeves/straps after Kate Middleton's wedding dress.  I'd call around stores in your area and ask how many samples they have with sleeves/straps.

Depending on how modest you want to go, you can always try a store that specializes in modest wedding dresses (usually cater to religions like the Mormons who require more modesty):

http://www.latterdaybride.com/modest-wedding-dresses.php

Also, have you thought of wearing a lace bolero?  Could be an option over a strapless dress, but would still provide more coverage than adding straps;

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=223655050&sellerid=24241626

snuff9861

I don't know your taste, but as a bigger girl myself I was self-conscious about dress shopping. I ended up with strapless as my only saving grace is I have a tiny chest so it doesnt look horrendous on me. My dress is Alfred Angelo so that is why the following links are AA

http://www.alfredangelo.com/collections/productdisplay.aspx?productID=3d6de46a-4412-4189-97b8-01a56d5237b9&categoryID=1af402e9-205f-4b7b-9d22-6fec77b3d187&pg=1&colorId1=

http://www.alfredangelo.com/collections/displaycollection.aspx?CategoryId=32e5a88c-cbf1-498f-afcf-dbfca138c5d3

JennLax

The Allure "Woman" collection seems to have a lot of dresses with straps:

http://allurebridals.com/Store_CategoryProducts.aspx?cid=e03GhG1161GD69eeBe

(They also have a "Modest" collection similar to the Latter Day Saints link that a PP posted).

Good luck!

artbyallie

Have you tried any on yet? Wedding gowns are made way differently and much more structured from most strapless dresses and when you have on the right size, there should be no back fat nor danger of the dress falling down or boobs spilling out.

That said, straps/sleeves are slowly coming back in style so you should be able to find some.

monkeysip

Not trying to threadjack here, but it does annoy me that the market is still so dominated by strapless.

Yes, there are a good amount of dresses with sleeves out there, but they all look very similar.  You can get a strapless dress in ANY style... it seems endless.  I see so many strapless dresses with skirts that I LOOOVVEE... but the dresses I find with sleeves always have boring skirts. 

For me it's an issue of modesty, but the "modest" dresses are always really plain and boring.  I'm just too picky, I suppose.

DeannaCW

I also didn't want a strapless, though more as a modesty issue, plus I just feel uncomfortable in them.  I went to a couple regular boutiques and just went through the racks to find those that clearly had something actually over the hanger.  It cut my choice down by a good bit of the store, but I can be indecisive so that actually helped me.  I found a pretty decent variety too. 

I did try on a couple strapless, but didn't get them mainly for that reason.  I mean, what's the point of paying extra to add something just to get a lil coverage?

Avion22

I too didn't want a strapless dress, mostly because I'm short and chubby and a dress that cuts straight across my armpits just makes me look shorter and chubbier.

I went to 3 different dress shops and found maybe 8-10 non-strapless dresses per shop (which actually made dress-shopping easier because there were enough options but not too many).

I settled on Watters Harmony (pic in my bio).

Bett2012

Phone in to the stores specifically. I ended up getting a strapless dress and adding spaghetti straps and wearing a bolero made of the same material....

I was phoning stores within a day's drive trying to see if anyone had a specific allure dress with straps/tiny cap sleeves and they all said "we're not allowed to bring in dresses with sleeves unless you put the deposit on it as if you were buying it.. and if it doesn't fit or you don't like it on you, too bad, you lose the deposit".. it sucked because they were all like "omg, that dress is GORGEOUS, but all the girls want now is strapless, so our manager won't let us bring anything else in unless you order it"

I think that mindset is slightly changing since the royal wedding, people are more open to sleeves, but still, I find them hard to find in store.

Good luck!