Design Details and Benefits
- Ruching gathers at the waist rather than sitting loose - is what pulls the V neckline in and gives the dress its shape through the middle
- Slit placed on one side only - keeps the front reading as a clean floor-length line rather than splitting down the centre
The ruched waist is doing more than it looks like it is - without it, an open-knit dress this long would hang fairly shapeless from the shoulder. Gathering the fabric in at one point gives the whole dress a waistline to work from, so the balloon sleeves and the skirt both have something to play against instead of just adding volume everywhere at once. Worth knowing before you order: the knit is open throughout, not just at obvious cutouts, so this sits closer to a beach evening piece than fully opaque eveningwear, and what's underneath will show through in bright light.
