Evening Gowns

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mary625
mary625 Member Posts: 1,056
edited June 2014 in Living Without Reconstruction After a Mastectomy

I do some classical singing and have to wear evening gowns from time to time.  I'm also a BMX with no recon.  The frustration that I've been through the last couple of weeks can't continue!  I spend so much time fixing and refixing the dress and shawl so that nothing shows.  I have one or two dresses that actually work ok.  One is a halter style bridesmaid dress from David's Bridal, and I wear a strapless bra with foobs in it.  That dress is red, so it doesn't work for everything.  I have another dress that's black velvet with a high neck in front and plunging back.  That worked pretty well using double sided tape from the cross-dressing website to stick on silicone prosthesis.  I was still a little worried that the prostheses would fall, but the dress was sufficiently tight and the tape adhered both to skin and foob well.  The dress I've been wearing most recently has been a nightmare.  It already had some cups in it, so I had a seamstress open of the lining to make a pocket.  She did not remove the cups as I asked.  I put my lightest foobs in there, but they moved around quite a bit.  It was a v-neck dress, so I taped the V to my skin.  I also had a matching shawl that I wrapped around, secured with a broach at the V and taped to my skin.  It was a pain in the ***.  Never again.

Anyone have any suggestions for dress styles in evening gowns?

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Comments

  • peacestrength
    peacestrength Member Posts: 690
    edited January 2014

    I have purchased mx camis that work well with my light weight inserts - my silicone prosthesis are too heavy for the camis though.  I've been thinking about ordering a strap on silicone breast similar to the products pictured on www.exsilbreast.com.  Have you seen these before?  I wonder if a product like this would work with an evening gown?

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited January 2014

    Mary, last year a friend was shopping for dresses for her bridal party, and did a lot of pre-shopping on the online versions of bridal/formal places like David's Bridal where she could search by style (such as a search for "halter"), color, price and occasion. Etsy is another spot where you can find customizable dresses that might be a good choice for you. 

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  • crystalphm
    crystalphm Member Posts: 1,138
    edited January 2014

    I wish you the best with this, I was just mother of the bride and while I loved my dress, I wish I could have done better. I was never very good at dressing myself up before losing both breasts, so now it is just more of a challenge.

    So anyway, what I would do is go to a place like david's bridal and get their advice. Then select gowns that can be changed with a different scarf or shawl, so you get more than one look from the gown.

    I personally finally bought a "downton abbey" sort of gown by Nataya because it embraces the flat look. That would be Edwardian Era, Gatsby sort of look. I put a shawl over it all (It was outside and very chilly so it worked).

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  • lekker
    lekker Member Posts: 594
    edited January 2014

    Since you've had success with David's in the past, see if they have separates that could give you some choices in the way you combine them.  Maybe a white halter style top, a colored halter top with a matching slim skirt, a coordinating but different color ball skirt and flowy black palazzo pants?  Add in two different but coordinating shawls (one sheer, one velvet?) and you would end up with a lot of options.  I also love the way a crisp , fitted white blouse looks with a long skirt or palazzo pants.  The blouse would allow you to wear any nude bra you like.

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  • victoriasecret
    victoriasecret Member Posts: 333
    edited February 2014

    Just came here for a  visit today...but I have some input on the whole evening dress wear.I live in Ontario , Canada ...don't know if the mods will  approve because I have no ties or financial gain to promote this bra...but La Vie EnRose in Canada makes a wonderful bra !!I switched to them and have not looked back they are totally padded come in a few colours but here is the beauty .

    Last summer I had 2 weddings to attend of course hard to find a dress both dresses I had purchased need to conseal the bra...I had planed on pinning but of course time got away and my husband is tapping his toe letting me know we were going to be late ...so in a panic I unhooked the bra shoved the straps in side ..I am breastless ...and voila perfect the tightness of the dress kept those pretend puppies in place.

    I still have my forms but never wear them I find them heavy the La Vie Bras are a godsend the collection is called The Muse and was designed after a customer brought "our" problem to them ...sadly she passed .

    I am not trying to sell their product but I know I was looking for this after my MX and could find nothing.

    Cheryl

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  • GeorgiaRai
    GeorgiaRai Member Posts: 175
    edited February 2014

    I have nothing of value to add (sorry, Mary!), but, Cheryl, the term "pretend puppies" cracked me up.  Hadn't heard that one before!

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  • mary625
    mary625 Member Posts: 1,056
    edited February 2014

    The Vie En Rose bras are beautiful!  Unfortunately it says that they don't ship outside the U.S. at present.  Drats. I was in Montreal this past May.  I really wish we could have something like that here.  

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