Sunday, May 11, 2008

I found a dress at Anne Hung – success at last!

After three weekends of shopping and three different friends on “dress duty,” I finally found the right dress.

Yesterday, Mish suggested we make the trek down to Queen W. Her designer friend Anne Hung has a wonderful boutique stocking her own unique creations. Mish was sure I’d find the perfect one. She was absolutely right.

Here’s why...

Service: Anne Hung was on hand. In addition to her awesome talent, she has a friendly, bubbly personality that shines through for all her customers.

How many designers are on hand to make sure you’re wearing their creations the way they intended? Anne showed me several different options and offered to change some of the details later if I wanted to give my dress a $20 makeover in the fall.

Off the rack, there are at least three different looks for my dress. Anne even offered to make me a dress within two weeks if I wanted to mix up elements from different styles. Awesome!

When I got home, my dress was full of static cling. I sent Anne an email and she got back to me with two solutions – Static Guard or placing the dress in a garment bag with a sheet of fabric softner - on her day off!

Confession: Anne (and a member of her staff) had to get me out of one of her dresses. I tried it on and couldn’t get it off by myself. ;)

Style: Anne’s creations (mostly dresses) are designed to flatter almost any figure. I watched other customers as they tried on different dresses and every woman looked terrific.

Sizes: Okay, so this may be a marketing tactic and I’m not sure how it all works but my dress is a size 0. I think her largest size is a 4.

Comfort: In addition to looking great, Anne uses comfortable fabrics and her designs are easy to wear.

Affordability: How many designers offer unique designs at affordable prices? My dress cost $298! It wasn’t on sale but still a far cry from the $400 minimum Mimi said I had to spend in order not to see myself coming and going. Bonus, my dress doesn’t require any alterations.

Sales Policy: Well, purchases are final sales. I know I’ve balked about this before but when it comes to boutiques, especially specialty ones like Anne Hung, even I am somewhat forgiving. Small, independent designers/retailers would be unable to keep their costs down if they had to deal with shopping bulimics. ;)

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:56 pm

    LOVE this dress and am definitely going to check out the boutique next time I'm in Toronto. Well...maybe not next time, that would be this Thursday...but the time after.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Lisa! Maybe I can take you there on your next visit.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous1:34 pm

    that dress is gorgeous!

    i need a dress for a wedding this summer; I will definitely be checking out that boutique.

    z

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Zoe!

    If you like the dress, you'll like Anne too. Yes, you should definitely check out her boutique if you need a dress to wear to a wedding. If you go to the ChickAdvisor Shop Crawl, you can check out Anne's boutique at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous11:54 am

    Anne is amazing i'm a size 15 and she found a dress that really complimented my figure.Some of us are plus size and she gets that and because she does customize for such a low price- us bigger ladies can be fashionable too.She reassured me and let me know she has alot of body flaws too and showed me slimming tricks.Finally a store that cators to bigger women!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Karen, thanks for your comment. When I bought my dress, there was a plus-sized woman trying on dresses beside me. Everything she tried looks great. Anne's designs seem to flatter several body types.

    A friend of mine chose Anne Hung for her bridal party and everyone looked great even with a wide variety of figures and sizes.

    I'd love you to send us a picture of you in your Anne Hung dress.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for telling me about this - I love the sound of the store. Another great local designer who offers similar service is Shernett Swaby on Queen East www.shernettswaby.com I have purchased a few pieces from her and her tailoring and personalized service is amazing.

    ReplyDelete

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