Christy Dawn Review
Things I love about CHRISTY DAWN
Christy Dawn is a dress designer with a unique spin on sustainable sourcing. She uses the residual fabric left behind from fashion houses headed for the landfill, also known in the industry as “deadstock.”
Every piece is made by local artisans in Downtown Los Angeles with vintage-inspired style and individual attention put into a limited number of pieces, you feel like you’re really getting something one-of-a-kind. Check out their site and take a second for the homepage video to see the full mission and vision!
image via https://christydawn.com
In addition to making it clear that their mission is to produce beautiful items while being conscious of their impact on people and the environment, I love that they include information about their employees for each item they sell. Below is the information about Kathy that was included for the Sarita dress that I ended up purchasing.
My First Experience
I had been dying to try out CHRISTY DAWN dresses for a while, and one of our good friend’s wedding at the beach seemed like the perfect excuse! I had searched through Rent the Runway (my usual wedding outfit go to) and struggled to find anything that stood out. I had been eyeing the Sarita dress in Night Peony and knew it would be great for the time of year and occasion! I felt that it was unique enough that I would seek out other opportunities to wear it and yet timeless enough to last. At the same time I was looking for a light and airy dress to wear for our engagement photos and thought CHRISTY DAWN would be a good place to start.
They make a limited number of each dress. So you’re better off to not delay too long if you see a style or print that you love! Since I had never ordered from them before and didn’t have a way of trying any of their items on, I ordered a variety of sizes and styles to start.
Customer Service Experience
With this being my first experience ordering from CHRISTY DAWN, I was blown away by their packaging and customer service and would consider it top notch! As with most any online order I receive I was super excited to be greeted with this package after a long day at work. As I started to open the box I could tell this was a little different than the usual box with items tossed in there wrapped in plastic. Upon opening the shipping box I found a beautiful cedar box with their logo embossed on the front. Everything smelled amazing and once opening the cedar box I found the dresses perfectly folded, wrapped in paper and tied up with dried lavender. I seriously don’t know the last time I had this much fun opening a package (outside of maybe Christmas morning).
In addition to the adorable packaging, they automatically ship 2 day overnight for no additional cost if you hit the minimum spend which I found rather easy to do. And since I ordered several items knowing I would likely only keep one or two of them, I was also very pleased with the speed and ease of their return policy. Do note their return policy requires a quick turn around but I didn’t mind as it forced me to take care of it quickly.
The end result
As I mentioned, I ordered a variety of sizes. Turns out I was being a little optimistic on the sizing and the extra smalls I ordered didn’t work, if you are less than 120 lbs you will be fine but going forward I know that small is the best fit for me (I am 125-130 lbs and 5’1). I also ordered a short wrap dress in a small thinking it would be good for engagement photos and while it fit, it turned out to not match my style so I didn’t have much confidence that I would wear it again after the photos. I ended up keeping the Sarita dress (size small) for the wedding and it was a hit! It was comfortable, I felt confident in it, and the color pallet and length was perfect for a fall wedding in a beach town!
I also stopped at Half United on my way into Wilmington to check out their shop (I’ve only ever ordered online from them as well) and found a pair of earrings that I paired with the dress that provided 7 meals for a child in need at the same time :)
I was pleasantly surprised (being 5’1) that when pairing the dress with a pair of older wedges that are known to withstand a couple of hours on the dance-floor, the length of the dress was just right.
The one thing I will say is the dress is not necessarily off the rack friendly for all body types… there is no way I could have worn this without having some adjustments made to the top. It was too large through the shoulders resulting in a very likely wardrobe malfunction if no corrective action was taken (any small chested lady friends of mine know what I mean?). But I loved the rest of the fit and the print so much that I didn’t mind going through the extra hassle of taking it to a seamstress in Charlotte and having the top taken up. Of course that won’t be necessary for some of my taller and more endowed friends :) And while not ideal, to me it was worth the added time and expense to support a company like Christy Dawn and have a new special occasion staple in my closet that I plan on wearing for a variety of events in the future.
As much as I love the Sarita dress that I ended up with and knowing how amazing their customer service is I will certainly be ordering from Christy Dawn again. While I don’t have a specific need for any of these right now a few of my favorites that I would consider ordering based on the styles that did work for me are the Dawn dress, the Autumn in night rose and would also consider trying the Lincoln dress for summer time. The regular lengths were fine for me in the short and long styles, but I think for any of the midi-length styles I would probably try to order from their petite offering. Have you tried Christy Dawn? Have any favorite styles? Let me know in the comments section below!
