Anthropologie Fitting Room Reviews (Southward Stop Shirtdress, Kissing Friday Dress, Boughton Dress)

I am so excited this week because I have some super special fitting room reviews planned. My sister from the adorable blog The Square Root of Style visited her first Anthropologie store this weekend. She's been an avid Anthro fan for a while, but only ever shopped online so she was very much looking forward to taking this day trip with my mother, a recent Anthro convert. I suggested that they write up some fitting room reviews for me to post and they agreed! So watch out for those later in the week!

In the meantime, here are a few dresses I tried on a while back.

Southward Stop Shirtdress, size 12 ($128)

This dress has been on the mind's of many a blogger since fitting room reviews of it started appearing a few weeks ago. It finally showed up online and in my store at around the same time. First thing I noticed? There are definitely pops of color in this dress which surprised and pleased me. One bird had a touch of turquoise and another had some hot pink trim. It was a nice unexpected twist on an otherwise neutral dress.  The general consensus has been that how you feel about this dress will be based mostly on how you feel about the pattern: in addition to the birds, there are also deer (or whatever a man deer is called. They are deer with antlers.) I didn't mind the print at all. Up close, sure, I was like, "Eek I'm about to put on a bird/man deer dress," but once I had it on, the print sort of blended into the rest of the dress. The fit was very similar to the Secret Treasure Dress which I own and love. There were pockets and although there are front buttons, I was able to easily slide this dress over my head. My Anthropologie doppelganger had struck again so no size 10 was available, but I appreciated the extra room that the 12 gave me in the hips so I'd stick with that size to buy.

Kissing Friday Dress, size Medium ($158)

My first thought when I saw this dress was that Bailey 44 has a lot of nerve. Who do they think they are charging between $150-$200 for a freakin' jersey knit dress? Then I put the dress on and remembered that Bailey 44 makes a completely flattering and stunning dress. The seams down the front of this dress were a great functional detail: they add some visual interest to an otherwise plain dress and help the dress skim the body. And how great does the bottom of the dress skim over my hips? I don't look ridiculously hippy at all! My one complaint? The dress was a wee bit sheer when photographed. I didn't have an issue just standing in the fitting room, but once I took the picture, my bra is very clearly visible which is annoying, especially if I'm paying $158 for a dress. I did really love this dress though and will have to seriously be strong to keep myself from buying it at full price.

Boughton Dress, size Medium ($128)

To get an idea of why Bailey 44 can get away with charging so much for their jersey knit dresses, compare the Kissing Friday Dress with this knit dress from Deletta: the fit is just not as flattering, the satin/charmuese-esque draping across the chest comes off as busy, as does the rouching/gathering on the strap. The Medium fit fine and the material didn't seem to be tight or pulling, it was just not as nice of a cut. I also already own like 539 navy dresses so that's the final strike against this dress. I'll pay the extra $30 for a Bailey 44 dress if that's the look I'm going for.