A Coin For the Well - Style Inspiration for Everyday Vintage Looks: May 2014

A few weeks ago (or maybe months ago now? Gah I'm such a procrastinator!) eShakti contacted me and asked if I would be interested in receiving a dress in order to review it. This excited me greatly because I have always wanted to order from eShakti but have heard different things about them - one only has to google "eShakti review" to see how people have had widely different experiences with them! I figured I had nothing to lose however so I agreed.

For those who don't know, eShakti is an online retailer that let's you have it your way. Dresses are completely customizable. You can raise or lower hemlines, add or remove sleeves, pockets and embellishments and for a small $7.50 fee, have the dress created to your exact measurements! As a girl who falls under 3 different sizes on Modcloth's size chart (small for bust, large for waist and medium for hips) this seems like an amazing idea.

eshakti review, eshakti dress, anastasia pink dress, vintage style pink dress, floral headband, modcloth style dress, fit and flare dress, customizable fashion, Windsor Ontario blogger, Suzanne Amlin, A Coin For the Well

I ended up choosing the Anastasia Dress because I'm a sucker for pink. What I failed to realize is that it's a dead ringer for my skin tone. Derp. I had to play with these pictures a lot to even make it show up. However, this review isn't about my stupidity. I love the colour in person even though it doesn't photograph the best on sunny days on pasty people. It also comes in a host of other colours if you love the dress but would rather try another colour. Otherwise it's sweet and lovely and you can't help but feel like a princess. The best part is it can easily be dressed up or down. I tend to go the dressed up route but I think if you threw on sandals and a casual jacket, it could work just as well.

Eshakti Anastastia dress, cameo pink, apple green, blue, mustard, yellow, cotton, fit and flare, figure eight neckline, vintage style, customizable fashion

I got the mini length and I was surprised by how long it was still. I saw some other reviews where the skirt had ended up quite short but I believe the recipient was under 5'2". I think the length I got is a really versatile length. This could be worn to baby showers and such without being offensive but I still get to show some leg. I'm into that.

I posted my stats so anybody interested in ordering can compare. However, keep in mind my waist measurements are kind of deceiving. I can squeeze into smaller sizes because my fat tends to squish higher or lower. Since I didn't opt for the customized size this round, I didn't want to order something so large that my bust couldn't fill it out. However, the size 8 worked pretty good!

The dress is made of sturdy cotton and is lined. It also has a super sturdy zipper (which is the first thing I noticed when taking it out of the box!) It's still an invisible zipper, as it's the same colour of the dress and blends right in. It's not one of those super fragile ones that catch on the fabric and stop zipping the first time you use them. I can see this zipper lasting the life of this dress.

My only complaint is because it's cotton (which is lovely and breathable and such) it's also high maintenance. It wrinkles terribly. I had intended to re-shoot these but couldn't be bothered to have my mom re-iron the dress.