NYC Dress Shopping (Positive Experience!)
Partial review, partial needing to vent….
I want to share my experience dress shopping in New York City! I’ve seen so many posts and comments about how bad it is there but I had a great experience. Everything I saw on Reddit beforehand made me nervous about the trip but it went great so I hope this could help others who may feel that same fear and ease some concerns!
I’ll start with the big one I saw all over- “NYC shops are really pushy, try to persuade you to buy, don’t treat you well if you don’t buy.” That was not my experience AT ALL. I didn’t feel any pushiness or attitude from any of the places I went. However, I did go into each appointment very clear that I was visiting town and had multiple appts during the weekend and would not be making a decision until after I had been to all of them. I dont feel like I was treated any different even with them knowing that I was absolutely not going to make a purchase during the appt! A couple places even took my measurements at the end so if I did decide on one of their dresses, I could call and purchase and not have to come back in for all of that. I thought they might blow me up with calls and texts after but that didn’t happen either, only one place (the place I ended up buying from) followed up to see if their dress was still my #1 after my final appointments.
Where I went (using acronyms because apparently there’s one or more places the sub won’t allow to be named?):
WA- Semi private. They had a appointments bays with seating, mirrors and then walls of dresses on either side separating you from the other appointments. We couldn’t really look around at all the dresses in stock because of this layout, only what was in our bay. It was nice but I felt like they didn’t have a lot of dresses in the vibe I was going for. They had a lot more traditional/girly style dresses, whereas I was looking for something more unique/avant garde/not too flowery or “sweet”.
Kleinfeld- They get so much hate on here and I don’t really understand why. I had a good experience, but maybe because I went in prepared for the worst thanks to Reddit and I got lucky with a good stylist?? I watched so much SYTTD growing up, I just had to go. I wasn’t really expecting anything magical or to even find my dress there, it was just for the fun/experience. When you first walk in there are A LOT of people, but the stylists come up and grab their groups pretty fast. The appt areas are shared and small. They brought me back to the dressing room to discuss style and everything, so you don’t get to do that with your group or really walk around to look at dresses, which is understandable to me with the amount of dresses they carry and number of appts happening. I really do not care about other people seeing me try on dresses/sharing appointments spaces. 90% of the shops I went to, both in nyc and my home city, had shared space so this wasn’t new or shocking to me. The other people are focused on the person they came for and if they do notice you, they’re probably thinking only good things about how beautiful you look! But if strangers being present is a dealbreaker for you, then just don’t go (or book the private VIP). Please, don’t go there knowing full well what it’s like and then come on here to complain about it how terrible of a place it is…. My stylist went through the list of dress I pre selected on their website, pulled some of them and some other of her suggestions and told me that some of them on my list she knew I wouldn’t like based on what we discussed, but if i absolutely wanted to try any, she would pull them. There was one from her “no” list that I still wanted to try so she brought it and she was right, I hated it! The rest from my list/her suggestions were great. So, good time, no complaints, glad I didn’t let Reddit scare me out of going!
JJ- Not really private. There are a few appointment areas in a line, it’s very spacious and not crowded at all but there is no physical/visual separation between groups. This doesn’t bother me at all but I know some people dont want any possibility of a stranger seeing them lol. Absolutely loved the design and feeling of this store. Super cool and vibey but also felt more laid back somehow than everywhere else I’ve been. Also had really great lighting (which is one thing that surprised me during this process…so many of the shops have terrible unflattering lighting somehow…) Me/my group was able to go through all of their inventory and pick out dresses. We had a really great time there and I ended up finding my dress!
WC- Private appointment. The place is pretty small and selection is limited. If there is a specific dress you absolutely must try, definitely email them first to make sure they have it or can bring it in for you. There were some nice dresses but personally they just didn’t compare after coming directly from places with much higher end dresses. But they were very customizable and wrote up a quote on the spot to basically combine pieces of multiple different dresses into one for me.
BR- Semi private-ish. There were a few different areas for try ons/appointments. You crossed paths with other brides and their people going back and forth from the dressing room to your area. They had a good selection of dresses and designers that weren’t available at the other places I went, a lot of more unique non traditional dresses as well. This was my last appointment and I think subconsciously I had already made my decision so nothing was really standing out. I had told my stylist I thought I may have already found my dress and she was supportive/encouraging that I go back to the other store for it, she wasnt at all pushy to try to make me love something at their store instead.
Hope this helps at least one person out there lol and happy to answer any questions!!