What do you think of "replica" china dresses?

I agree with all of that. its ironic when most frocks ARE made in china, my watters dress was but I preferred the original than a cheap version of. Its all down to personal taste but I've rarely seen one on a bride thats been a good replica, theres always something thats 'not quite right'.

Buying second hand instead would seem the better choice I think..

I'm inclined to agree with you Starstruck. I don't think anyone could copy the detail of a designer dress. I fell in love with one dress and was prepared to do overtime to get it. I'm personally a fan of sale dresses though ?

I would only consider it as a VERY last resort. Ie: My dress would have to be completely wrong when it turns up 6 weeks before thw wedding (touch wood that won't happen!!),

I think it is a personal thing though and reflects how I behave in all aspects of my life. I've been wanting a Chloe paddington bag for as long as I can remember. I could easily get a fake for £50 but I would rather go without to be honest.

I had never even heard about ordering from china until i joined hitched and always assummed that i'd be getting my dress from a bridal shop.

However when it came to buying my dress there was no way i could afford £1000 for my dress and ended up buying a dress from a bridal shop just because it was a good price. When that dress was delivered i realised that i'd made a huge mistake and that it really wasn't the dress for me and that i'd just brought it because i could afford it.

That's when i started thinkng about a china dress. I'll be the first to admit that it's a gamble, the first dress i ordered was too short (even tho it was so say made to measure) so they agreed to alter it for me, but when they returned it for a second time it still wasn't good.

It really got me down that i'd never have a wedding dress that i loved so decided to take the risk and go with Landy bridal as it was quite a well known company and i must say they have been brilliant.

Right from the start i told them about what happened with my previous dress and they done everything they could to reassure me. They were constantly emailing with suggestions for the lace embellishments and explained the whole making process to me and even triple checked some of my measurements.

My dress was delivered today and no it's probably not as good as the original but it is very well made and it fits me like a glove, the length needs adjusting but that is because i purposly ordered it too long because of the other one being to short. The embellishments are lovely all with little tiny pearls.

I would never say a dress looks great just to spare the feelings of a bride, designer or fake and i should hope that people would be the same about mine on my flash post.

I would have loved to have been able to pay mega money for a wedding dress but i couldn't, fortunately i'm one of the lucky ones that seem to have got what i wanted.

God that turned into an essay, ha ha.?

Starstruck - well done for being honest, I know as a HIB on here sometimes you have to be careful what to say as not to offend others.

Grace, I think your dress is fab - honestly - I can see you love it and to me, that 50% of the battle. But, (and I am not saying you should feel this) if it were me, and it wasn't EXACTLY the same as what I fell in love with instore, that wouldn't be enough for me. Call me demanding, a princess, whatever it maybe but the same applies to fake shoes, handbags, Designer dresses, sunglasses.. Everything really.

For me, it's the real deal or not at all.... Perhaps this is why I am finding it so hard to find wedding jewellry - everthing is a compromise down from diamonds! hehehe

The lady that is doing my alterations is a professional seamstress, she does all the costumes for my singing and dancing group so i know she'll do a good job, i want the top of the skirt (just under the waitband) narrowed abit anyway so i'm going to ask her to take it up there. If not i have every faith that she'll be able take it up without loosing the detail.

It's my fault it's too long as i was so parnoid about it being to short that i over estimated the length.

Have faith Starstruck :-)

Unfortunatley i can't be like this, i never have been able to and i doubt i ever will.

I've never brought copy handbags and sunglasses but i also could never imagine paying a couple of hundred pound for a bag, i guess i'm just a high street gal through and through.

Yep - I completely respect that too Grace, and certainly would never change my opinion on you for choosing your dress where you did just like I wouldn't expect you to in regards to anyone spending a fortune in a dress shop (well, other than in jest anyway!). Goodness after all you went through, you deserve for it to be perfect.! And I am glad that you feel it is!!

It's just not for me. I've always been this way, my best mate has a new £25 handbag from new look every month, I have a new £150 radley every year - it doesn't make a huge difference but I know she wouldn't feel so good without a new bag regularly and I wouldn't feel good without my Radley.

To be perfectly honest Grace, I love your dress. I think that they have taken a lot of time over it and the detail is impressive. But it sounds like you've had a bit of a journey to get there!

I've tried on dresses in the shops that are slightly over my budget and couldn't justify paying that much because they weren't quite what I wanted. I've "compromised" on my dress because it was in the sales but I'm soooooo happy. It's beautiful. It's not this season's but I don't care. I don't know if I could get the same quality from a copy for the same money

I don't mean to offend anyone because I think it's a personal thing, and I'd certainly not notice if I was at a wedding and the Bride had a dress from China because I wouldn't be looking THAT closely!!!!

I initially thought i would order either from Landy or yourbridal. The dresses i have seen flashed look lovely to me. However i have now set my heart on a Justin Alexander dress that i want and i want the exact same as i have tried on and it is very very detailed.

A grand is a hell off a lot for me to spend and i am feeling queasy about putting down the £5oo quid deposit on Thursday however i am not buying myself any of the usual bits and bobs i buy myself every month clothes wise and i have switched from smoking real cigs to roll ups lol. All to buy this dress!!

It wasn't something I ever considered and wouldn't if I got married again. I'm not into designer clothes but I'm also not into primark clothes so I'm just a normal high street kinda gal but when it came to my wedding dress I wouldn't have compromised if the dress was in my budget even if I could have saved £700 and spent it elsewhere. I wouldn't have settled for anything less than 100% perfect and I'm like that with a lot of things. I wouldn't have cared if my wedding dress only cost £100 instead of £1k but it had to be right and imo the copy dresses are never quite right for my liking.

I agree with everything Starstruck has said. I feel very bad when people mention about using bridal shops to try everything on. I don't think people realise that running a shop is very expensive so the whole phrase of 'oh trying dresses on in a shop where I 100% won't buy it isn't hurting anyone' is actually untrue as the shop has paid for members of staff to be there for that appointment and might be missing out on a bride who does want to try on with the hope of finding the one and buying it from the shop.

It's always a thread that raises a lot of debate because ultimately most people want to save where they can and the dress is probably the second biggest expensive of a wedding normally.

I think if I will think from the way of a bride than I will,l also want to save money and also spend money in a replica wedding dress..

I agree with Starstruck and Kayl, small businesses and individuals such as designers and bridal shops work hard and particularly in the current economic climate struggle to make ends meet and I think it is a tad unfair that other companies can plagurise (sp) their ideas for their own profit. I understand why it is tempting to brides to choose this option but it does seem like a huge risk, I havent seen many replica chinese dresses in real life buth those I have were badly made from poor quality fabric and not really worth the money when you can get something from the high street for a similar cost.

I generally a highstreet girl myself and do not necessarily think it is about the dress having a designer label as such but just being the quality and cut to make you feel amazing on your big day. Im not knocking anyone who has ordered a chinese replica dress as like Starstruck said some of them are excellent and from the pictures I would never know they were replicas if I wasnt told (Grace and Geordiebarbies spring immediatley to mind) but I do unfortunately think they might be the lucky minority considering the people who in real life have ordered from them.

Re starstrucks comment about people commenting in dress flashes etc My policy is that if I genuinely like something i will comment to that effect, if something is not to my taste or I feel that the bride has been ripped off but they are happy than I wouldnt say anything as there would be nothing to gain but hurting the bride and putting doubt in her mind (Im wobbling enough with any negative imput from anyone else and assume others are the same ?) but if people ask for honest opinions because they genuinely are unsure then I would give them.

Phew that ended up being longer than I anticipated lol

Personaly, i would never get a replica dress from china. Id be a nervous wreck, i understand why people do it but i would much rather get a sale/sample/second hand dress that your confident your going to love.

If you got a replica dress then ended up hating it and having to get another thats wasted money you could have used getting your perfect one. I know that sometimes you can be lucky and get a great one (ive seen a few) but i personaly dont think its worth the risk or the money.

I want to find a that perfect dress and im hoping to get an ex sample or get one from the national wedding show next year, they had thousands when i went in oct and loads were at very cheap prices.

WSS

But didn't realise that geordiebarbie's dress was a copy... She looked amazing!

Ialso had doubts with chinese dresses! i have spent the last year saying should i or shouldnt i!!! I am a mum with 2 young children and would love to buy a designer wedding dress but we would rather put the difference in money into something the whole family would benefit from ie a nice holiday after wedding and honeymoon! i have decided to take a risk but have ordered my dress early enough that if it arrives and is not what i expected then i will look at other options.

I personally dont think there is anything wrong with Chinese dresses if you find a dressmaker that makes them at a good quality. Its all about budgets etc i suppose!! i have been speaking to loadsa people on here that have given me advice and they were really pleased with their dresses. Mine is due to be delivered in a couple of weeks so will flash it then if i am happy with it.

i guess its what makes you feel good....if my dress fits me perfectly and is what im expecting then thats what counts not where it was bought from. x

I wouldn't entertain the idea of a replica dress, regardless of where it was made, but specifically not from China. I think you can tell they're a cheaper version because of the way the dresses are structured and the material hangs. Whilst I've seen some decent copies, the majority, in my opinion, are not. I suspect even with the good ones, you could tell the difference between an 'actual' dress and a replica immediately.

I think it's unfair to plagiarise a designer's efforts - I don't buy knock off CD's, leather goods or trade with counterfeit money, so why should a design be any different. I am surprised that more designer's don't take legal action, if I'm perfectly honest. I saw a shocking act of plagiarism on here recently but kept my mouth shut. I think the person on the receiving end should be applauded for doing the same!

It is something that I feel strongly about - to the point that my dress is being made in the UK. I appreciate that having different budgets can affect the level of choice you have regarding the manufacture of a dress and had I been in a position where I have a more limited budget then I'd have gone down the second hand/sample sale route.

Don't worry Tricks, i know my dress is the right one for me ?

I'm sure it won't have. Grace loves her dress and that's the main thing. Whilst I wouldn't buy one from China, I respect her right to - besides, given the number of people operating out of China there must be a burgeoning market for replica dresses! For every person who's against them in principle, there'll be someone for them.

I never once went into a bridal shop to try on a dress to then get it from Landy, i went into a bridal shop to find my dress, it was never my intention to try it on then order it from somewhere else, to me that is morally wrong. I knew which dress to order because i knew that shape fitted me, not because that actual dress did.

As for going down the sample/2nd hand route, i tried on ALOT of dresses and only 1 of them fitted me properly, alot of them were too short which obviously you can do nothing about, the rest just didn't fit my shape.

There is nowhere in my budget that i can cut back to make some extra money for a dress. There is no way i can save a bit of my salary as i'm already paying out 90% of my salary on the wedding and paying of debts so me and my OH can start married life completly debt free, to me that is more important then a dress i'm going to wear for a day.

I don't regret my decision to buy from China, yes it was a rocky road but i got there in the end and i'm happy with my dress. Obviously i would have loved to have been able to go into a bridal shop and buy designer but that was never really an option for me.

Although it has made me wonder if everyone's comments on my flash were genuine???

Grace - I don't think anyone on here would say something they didn't mean, as I said above I think your dress is fab, because you love it. I can say this because it makes no difference to me simply because I've haven't seen / tried on the desginer model of it and so have nothing to compare it against.

If I had done, then I'm going to be completely honest and say that I suspect I would feel differently.

I haven't seen your flash yet, Grace. I suspect if people have said it looks lovely on you then they mean it. I think there are very few people round here who'll say something positive just for the sake of it, after all!

The old saying 'you get what you pay for' springs to mind. A genuinely beautiful wedding gown will have taken considerably more time & effort while it was being made than a cheap knock off. Quality unfortunately rarely comes cheap.

I am looking at Chinese dresses but only because I am under pressure from my fiance to buy one & save a lot of money. Personally I agree with everything the likes of Starstruck have said with regards to the stealing of other designers designs, the quality of the seams, embroidery matching etc etc.

I have ordered a dress from the manufacturer I'm thinking about buying a wedding dress from, this dress is intended for a Christmas Ball I'm going to in a couple of weeks time & is intended as a kind of trial run. I am actually hoping the Christmas Ball dress arrives & is clearly badly made so I can show it to my fiance and insist that I'm allowed more budget for my dress - unfortunately as a stay at home mum I have no income of my own at present otherwise I would move hell & high water to get the money together for a designer label gown myself! If I do end up in a Chinese dress I have a nasty feeling that I'm going to feel cheated that I haven't got my fairytale dream dress on one of the most important days of my life when I am meant to be the center of attention. I am also looking on ebay at second hand dresses & sample dresses but I feel really uncomfortable at the thought of wearing a second hand dress & so far I yet to see a sample dress that looks like it might be 'the one'. My H2B gets it easy as he will simply wear his RAF uniform & he can't understand why a dress that will only be worn for one day can easily cost £1000 plus. My H2B will also expect me to look just as good, if not better than all his friends wives when they got married on less than a quarter of the budget!!! The thought of getting married in a dress that feels anything other than perfect actually makes me feel sick.

I can honestly say i feel no different in this dress as i did in any other bridal dress i have tried on!! In no way do i feel cheated that i only paid £250 for it instead of £1000.

I know i will be centre of attention on my wedding and can guarentee that the only people who know it is a replica dress will be the people that i have told!!!

Panda - scour the sale rails! I picked up my AMAZING Alfred Angelo for £100!!! Or buy preloved.... either way you won't get that feeling but can still look after your pennies. Just take your time dress shopping and look around lots xx

Your dress is gorgeous Grace & you really will look a million dollars in it. I have huge issues with my figure since having my baby in February & I know it is going to be so difficult to find a dress that makes me feel attractive in front of so many people ☹️

Probably yes, but in a proper bridal shop I will have chance to try on various different shapes to find the one that makes me feel better about msyelf which is something I can't do if I order straight from China. They will also be able to do any alterations to make it look as good as it possibly could on a person with as many strange lumps & bumps as I now have.

I hate my body and i'm doing everything i can to change before the wedding so i at least feel half decent.

This is the main reason why i feel i have never found "the one", and i doubt i ever would have. For this i really begrudge paying alot of money for a dress i just felt ok in.

You will need to go into a bridal shop before you buy a china dress whether you like it or not, you'd have to see what styles and shapes suit you, there's no way you could order a dress blind without even trying something similar.

Trickers - I am kind of answering the question you posed to Panda, but for me, it's a confidence thing. I know other people won't know either way whether it's by the original designer or a replica, but I will and that's enough. Call me vain, materailistic, yep I have been sucked into to being those things but I am certainly not going to compromise on the day of my dreams. I deserve to feel good, and it's what my OH would want.

I'm sorry Kayl but that is materalistic, the price of a dress shouldn't comprimise how good you feel in it.

It kinda sounds like your saying that i don't derserve to feel good because i haven't paid full price for my dress.

Panda - what you need is a dress with decent corsetry. It's amazing what a corset does for your figure and your posture. An inbuilt corset is very different to wearing a seperate corset under a dress.

If ever I have lots and lots of money I shall ensure all of my dresses are made this way ?