When I was asked to review unitedstyles, I jumped at the chance. It's an interesting concept in where you can choose a design and customize it to your specifications. The website is user friendly, fairly easy to understand and navigate. you're encourage to post inspirations and to have at it in designing the perfect garment for you. In fact, they are so dedicated to a bespoked experience, unitedstyles guarantees a perfect fit.
After you design your desired garment and order it online, you'll receive a sample of the garment in the mail approximately 3 weeks after you order it. It is a simple black jersey knit version, and when you try it on, you make a note of adjustments needed, if any. You then send back the specs for the needed modifications (you keep the sample dress) and they will make the final garment according to your instructions. In fact, they are so committed to that perfect fit, in case the garment still doesn't fit, they will reimburse you for taking the dress in and having it altered by a professional tailor. Sounds good?
There's plenty of dresses in the gallery to give you an idea of what's possible. And when you are ready, just click the design now link and you're good to go. At the time of this post, there are 10 basic styles for you to design from. To give you a feeling of international fashion flair, the templates of the designs are named after a fashionable city, such as the Tokyo, the Malibu, or the Amsterdam. I chose a charming design aptly named Paris.From there, I had to options to customize: the trim, and sleeve. I went for a gathered 3/4 sleeve, and no trim. Then comes the fabric choices, mainly there are 2 selections: solid colors and prints. You can even mix up the two a bit, which I chose to do, giving a cardinal red trim to my black/white bird print dress.
In no time at all, I received the sample dress- basically an awesome LBD. The material had a good feel, a thick knit that hangs beautifully. I was surprised to see the hem as high as it was, but liked the way the dress fit, so I gave my approval, and within two weeks, I got my custom print dress.
The print looked a bit faded. Instead of being BLACK fabric with white birds on it, it appears to be white fabric with the color printed on it. So it's sort of an ashen grey, not black and white. I remember reading this feedback in Sally's review of her unitedstyles dress- and while the solid colors are saturated and rich looking, I would probably avoid ordering another printed garment. Which is a pity as the prints are really great, and I love how you can customize the prints.
The dress is pretty cool all and all, however. I found it cute and comfy. There's a little too much "cleavage" in the first loop- I'd probably ask them to make that keyhole smaller if I were to do it again, but I love the dress, and wear it quite frequently. However, since the fabric is a bit faded looking even before a first wash, I don't know how I'd feel if I would have paid the $119 dollars (plus $20 shipping) for a dress I basically look super cute running errands in. For me, a dress over $100 is usually one that I can "dress up" in and should be comfortable in a more formal setting than coffee shops and farmer's market. That said, I would and will probably order another item from unitedstyles, and I would recommend you to try the experience. My only suggestion is that you stick to the solids if you want a garment that doesn't look faded from the get-go.
The folks at unitedstyles has offered 3 readers a 30% discount if you order by May 31st. So I'm going to throw the codes out there, and it is open on a first come, first serve basis. Who ever uses the codes first, gets the discount.Here are the codes for a 30% off discount. They expire May 31st.
- rosebudjycs30
- rosebudjvbw30
- rosebudbgxl30
