Strawberry Dress Review

Early 2020, the now internet famous strawberry dress by designer Lirika Matoshi was noticed worldwide, when model Tess Holliday stepped onto the red carpet wearing it. 

It's made of a net fabric called tulle, which is a mixture of other plant materials, combined to make a scratchy rough material. The dress is a dusty pink and is midi length.

I bought this dress in Sept 2020, and paid $510.50 (~£378.52). Their website didn't state how long it would take for international orders, just that it takes around 10 business days to ship the item. It's handmade, which is why it takes a while to ship. 

Five weeks passed, and I still hadn't received a shipping notification. I was sure I'd seen somewhere online that due to the flood of orders, they were taking longer than the normal 10 days. I was a little worried as I was getting fat on new medication, concerned I wouldn't fit in it by the time it arrived. 

The dress arrived on the 9th Nov, I wasn't impressed that the front of the package not only said the exact contents "Strawberry midi dress", but had an L for large. Cheers, the postie and any potential doorstep pirates know my size and that I've spent a ridiculous amount of money on something. I was luckily at home, and got to my doormat before anyone could pinch it.

"Strawberry midi dress"

When I opened the package, I was immediately disappointed. I had the feeling in my stomach similar to being a child and getting a present that's really not you, but you have to awkwardly smile and say thank you. I had to put a face on, I'd spent basically my rent on one item of clothing. 

I tried on the dress wearing one of my 'indoor' bras, and one of the first things I noticed was how unpleasant the material was. Because the dress plunges quite deep, you don't really want to be wearing a bra. Tricky for me, being at the time a 32G. 

I was then mildly horrified to look at my hands. They were covered in glitter. I look at the floor leading to the room I opened the package, and I'd left a trail through my apartment. A spokesperson for Lirika Matoshi said "we overpack our details with glitter so that the shedding during transit does not affect the aesthetic value of the dress." However, when I inspected the dress, some strawberries had patches of glitter missing.

Patchy strawberries

High quality is often associated with sewing on detail rather than glueing it on, so it's a little strange that these weren't hand sewn sequins instead.

The more I looked, the more I hated it. It was scratchy, it felt cheap, it was uncomfortable to wear because there's no layer between your boobies and the scratchy tulle. I had a fresh nop piercing at the time, so I didn't want this against my skin. It'd be a bit easier for smaller chested people with gravity defying baubles, as you wouldn't need to wear a bra and can protect nips with plasters. Your boobies would chafe like f***, but it'd be possible if you have a preference for Instagram photos over comfort. I wonder if the roughness of the material would erase the tattoo I have on my inner arm, like a cheese grater.

That scratchy noise! 🤮

But wait, you run into another problem. It's flipping see through. So you can't go braless if you plan to wear it around most humans.

See-through material

Because of the shape of the dress, the waist doesn't quite sit at the waist. It's higher, so if you have a hourglass figure it transforms you into a plank shape. If you're apple shaped, it'd look a bit weird. 

The sensible thing now, is to ask to return it. I sent an email on the 9th Nov, the day I received it, letting them know of all the issues and attaching 7 photos. The automatic reply stated it'd take them 2 working days to reply. A week goes by and nothing. I figure they may be short staffed due to the you-know-what of 2020, and just forgot to amend their automatic email reply. So I gave them another week. And another FOUR. Mon 21st Dec I forwarded my original email with the photos and I got a reply later that day from a member of staff I'll call "Mia".

Mia apologised, saying "I am not sure why your email from 11/9 went unnoticed" and I wondered whether she was winding me up, knowing I'm from the UK and the date was 9/11.

Mia went on to explain about tulle, and I couldn't help but feel that describing the process as "what makes our items so unique and special" the equivalent of a chef saying what makes his dish special is swishing it around in a toilet bowl before serving it. It's not special, it's rubbish. 

I couldn't help but compare the fabric to the material on my window, which is a harsh net designed to keep bugs out 😬

Mia was replying to my returns queries quickly, one of my questions came after she attached the returns slip in an email, and I asked in slight disbelief whether the seller pays for returns when it's due to faulty/poor quality. She stated company policy requires the buyer to pay for return shipping. The returns slip also says the return must be sent back within 10 days of the buyer receiving the item.

Erm, it took 6 weeks to even get a response. (The website states for international returns, you must email first). You also must send your returns using a tracked service.

Sorry what? Tracked?

I used the Royal Mail calculator to work out how much it would cost me to return the item, and with their demand of a tracked service, the absolute CHEAPEST it'd cost me is £62.65. It doesn't say on the package how much it cost them to ship it to me, but $20.50 of the $510.50 on my email receipt says shipping... (I'm unsure as to whether they sent it tracked, as no packages are signed for at the moment here in the UK because of 'you know what', all my packages including this one are left on my doorstep)

I queried about this, I found it strange when the item can't be resold that the buyer would be responsible for the return shipping. This is normally when you just change your mind, or it doesn't fit. Mia replied swiftly "from the images shown the dress seems to be standard and there are not defects. Please note this is just how the item is made."

That right there is the moment that prompted me to type this blog. This wasn't a sub par quality mistake riddled dress, this was normal.

I feel like I need to try and say something nice about this dress. There are only two things I can think of. It's got a decent weight to it, when I read about the tulle being lightweight it concerned me that it'd be flowy. It's not a flowy dress. Though it does have that horrible scratchy noise from the video above, when you walk in it. The second is Mia responding quickly and politely to my emails, answering all my questions (Including when I asked to confirm that my photos did come through on the original email, as seeing them should have warranted a "Holy ball bags that's terrible, definitely not the quality we are supposed to craft the dresses at. I'm going to personally ask if the seamstress needs a day off, and remind them they need to line the boobie compartments"). One also can't help but remember the 6 weeks my issue was ignored.

I knew it was unlikely I'd be wearing this dress out to Tesco or round the high streets of north east England, I thought I'd be prancing around my living room feeling like a princess. But I don't want to do that, as I'd be obsessively whipping the hoover out each time I twitch or burp and some glitter falls off.

Overall, it's an absolute shambles. I own Versace items, so I know what expensive is supposed to feel like. This is simply a ripoff. Cheap material, rough, unfinished, messy, and aesthetically overrated. I'm unsure if I'll return it, because it makes me upset to imagine them selling it on to someone else. It's currently just sitting in the back of the wardrobe at the moment (I had to buy one of those dress bags, so I don't get glitter on everything).

Don't waste your money. You would feel much happier donating those hundreds to an animal shelter or domestic abuse charity, than you would getting Instagram likes.

Edit 7th Jan - I received a letter from DHL demanding I pay a customs charge. £139. I paid 500 quid for a dress that's worse quality than £10 dresses on Shein. Later that day, I returned the dress. Postage cost was £58.15. I'll update the post when I get a refund.

Edit 19th Jan, I got a refund today after the package was signed for on the 16th. It wasn't a full refund ($490), so with the currency exchange I'm down a total of approx £73 quid. I still don't have a reply to my email to DHL regarding the customs charge.