Modesty Dresses (in real life!)

We finally have some photos of our more modest dresses. The one above was sent to us from Alyssa, who, some eight weeks before her wedding date, wasn’t too thrilled with the velvet bridesmaid dresses she had previously selected from another vendor. She ordered a bunch of Modesty Long Sleeve Tops/A-Line Skirt dresses for her bridesmaids from us. The dresses shown are in Brick Red Satin. We also supplied a little additional fabric, free of charge, for the girls’ dresses.

Great Article with One Small Omission

We thought this was a great article in the NY Times discussing the growing trend of brides and bridesmaids customizing and buying their dresses online. Maybe it’s just our skewed perspective, but we think a mention of Coco Myles would’ve made the article even better since we offer more colors and customization than anyone else. Anyway, it’s nice to know the NY Times Sunday Business Section is taking note of the trend.

Coco Myles in Brides Magazine

Here is a link to the recent Brides Magazine Editors' Choice feature about our bridesmaid dresses.

Oh, Canada

Operating online, we think it’s imperative that we be able to accommodate customers all over the world. To date, we have shipped dresses to every continent except Antarctica. We’ve limited our Google paid-search campaign there so we’re not overly concerned.

We’re particularly happy with our Canadian business. Although we do charge $40.00 for international shipping and handling for Canadian orders, this fee is generally decreased, or eliminated completely, when more than one dress is shipped to a particular Canadian location. We’ve also found that our customers are usually surprised when they find out that we take care of the import duties and fees. It seems they’re used to other online retailers leaving them with the duty bill at the end of the day.

We just received these beautiful photos from Melanie, a happy Canadian customer. The dresses shown are in our orange satin and charmeuse. The photos really help show the difference between the bright charmeuse fabric and the more subtle satin. From left to right in the standing photo, we have a Strapless Top/A-Line Bottom with Pearl Ivy Beading in Orange Charmeuse (makes a nice maternity dress, no?) followed by two Scoop Neck Tops with Asymmetrical Bottoms and Waterfall Beading. All the ladies are sporting short red satin sashes as well.

Mix and Match Examples

We love when our customers send us photos. We think the following pictures offer great examples of different styles (in the same color) being used to coordinate a bridal party.

The first photo shows five of our Navy Satin dresses with Strapless Tops. As shown on the left-most dress, we do offer customers the ability to add spaghetti straps to our Strapless Top if requested. This dress also shows how the Asymmetrical Skirt looks paired with our Ballroom Skirts. Much thanks to Angela for sharing the photo with us!

The second photo features both our Scoop Nec (l) and Criss-Cross (r) Tops in Wine Satin. There's also a Short Sash in Brown Satin featured on the Criss-Cross dress. Many thanks to Cierra for sending us the photo!

More Modest Offerings

If we had to speak about one facet of our offerings that has been most influenced by our customers, it’d be the trend towards more modest dresses. It may very well be that not all women are that comfortable with the selection they have at traditional retail stores.

We’ve recently introduced two new modesty tops – a long sleeve modesty top and a ¾ sleeve modesty top. These tops are available in the same fabric, color and beading options that we’ve always offered. We’ve also added a new option for these tops – bows. The bows can be placed on either the wrist, neckline, or down the back. These tops are particularly suitable for religious events that require a more modest dress. So far as we know, we’re the only ones offering these kinds of options for modest dresses.

Ix the next few weeks, we’ll also be offering a pickup skirt which will be a perfect complement to the modesty tops. Our customers will also be able to match the pickup skirt with any of our existing top options, with the exception of the empire top.

We’re always happy to add to our Custom Couture line in order to give our customers as many options as possible and we look forward to continuing to receive your feedback so we can continue to offer you what you want.

Lighthouse Weddings

Much thanks to Shannon for sharing these beautiful pictures of her wedding with us. Shannon is wearing our Sweetheart Top with a Ballgown Skirt in White Satin. The beading on the dress is our Pearl Ivy. She paired her dress with one of our long sashes in pink satin. We think she made an excellent choice. We love the lighthouse photo -- especially how the clouds match the white satin.

Coco Myles in Prague

Prague is widely acknowledged as one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in the world. We were thankful when one of our customers, Veronica, sent us these photos from a wedding that took place in this majestic location. We had to deliver the dresses (shown here in our Lime Green Satin) to Wisconsin and Germany but had no idea that the wedding was taking place in Prague. We especially love the photo of the betrothed coupled getting bombarded by bubbles. We’re very happy, and honored, that our dresses were part of such a beautiful celebration.

Tffany Blue Wedding?

Given the amount of requests we've had for a blue that resembles that used by Tiffany's, we've decided to offer a new satin color called "Jewel Blue". The color is now available in our satin color palette.

Dyed to Match . . . Chuck Taylors

Much thanks to Amanda for sending us photos of her wedding. While we don’t offer dyed-to-match shoes (yet), we’re quite tempted to simply stock up on a wide range of Chuck Taylors so we can accessorize the footwear for both the bride (yes, she has them on too) and the groom. We’re also very honored that the décor of the hall matches the beaded stars on our Katie dress.

Brides Magazine Editors' Pick – Coco Myles!

We’re thrilled that Brides Magazine has selected Coco Myles as an Editors’ Pick for bridesmaid dresses in its September/October ’07 issue. We were able to provide Brides with a few of our dresses for a photo shoot and they loved them. In the recent issue, which is now on newsstands, they have a photograph of one of our Strapless/Asymmetrical Navy Charmeuse dresses with a Short White Charmeuse sash. Considering they’re the most widely read bridal magazine in the world, we couldn’t be happier. Hopefully, we’ll be able to post an image of the article. We’d do it now but we don’t want to run afoul of any copyright issues. For the time being, you can find us on page 186.

Skorch Magazine Article

We’re happy to be featured in this month’s (August ’07) issue of Skorch Magazine. About 30 clicks in there's an interview with us. Skorch is an online magazine that features fashion tips and advice for plus-size women. The editors of the magazine fell in love with our website and asked us a few questions about how we came into being and our ability to provide Celebrity Inspired dresses for plus-size women. Besides my incorrect use of the word “jive” (should've been "jibe", oh well), I think the interview went well.

Jr. Bridesmaid Dress Photos

As we mentioned in earlier posts, our Jr. Bridesmaid dress came about as a result of collaborating with our customers. We know the name is not the most original but we think it’s a great dress to accompany other Coco Myles dresses at a wedding. As you can see based on these photos, the dress also works great for flower girls. The first photo features the Jr. Bridesmaid dress in Ivory Georgette with Lilac Georgette accents (nice color coordination with that matching hyacinth!). The second photo is the same dress in Black Satin with Hot Pink Satin accents. The shot also features our Strapless Top with Asymmetrical Skirt in Navy Charmeuse. Much thanks to Julie, Chloe and Malena for sending us their photos!

Encrypted . . . and in Good Company

When we started a little over a year ago, we decided that we'd encrypt all the credit/debit card information we receive from our customers on our servers. This does tend to lead to the occasional problem of our having to call a customer for their credit card info if they want to add another item to their existing order or decide to use expedited shipping after placing the order. The usual response is "Can't you just add it to my existing order?" We answer this question by explaining that the encryption is for the customer's protection. This is usually, although not always, treated as a satisfactory answer.

Based on a story today in Internet Retailer, it seems that the hassle is well worth the effort.

On average, only 66% of merchants and other organizations involved in processing payment card data encrypt that data for transmission over the Internet, compared to 100% among best-in-class organizations, research and advisory firm Aberdeen Group says in a new study, “Protecting Cardholder Data.”

We will certainly continue to encrypt credit/debit card info even if it means a few extra calls to customers.

Yellow is Big

As per the Wall Street Journal, Bright Yellow seems to be the big, new color. We've yet to see a Yellow that's brighter than our Charmeuse version (as seen in the immediately preceding post). Here's a little summary:

THE TREND: Bright yellow on everything from ball gowns to patent platform pumps.
WHO'S DOING IT: Jil Sander, Catherine Malandrino, Nanette Lepore, Burberry and Nicole Miller, among others.
WHY IT'S HAPPENING: Recent spring and summer lines showed splashes of color, and now designers are taking yellow front and center. "Women need a ray of light in their wardrobe," says Ms. Malandrino, who adds that her most popular dress this season is a short bright yellow chiffon number.

Mixing Colors Done Right

We know the usual way to go with bridesmaids dresses is to have everyone wear the same color dress. Usually this works out great, and with our Custom Couture dresses everyone will have perfectly color-matched dresses even if they’re ordered in different styles. However, sometimes it makes sense to be a little non-traditional and get dresses in different colors. We think this works great for large bridal parties. As you can see from the picture above, this method can work extraordinarily well! Having a sunset on a beach doesn’t hurt either; especially when it color coordinates with the dresses! The dresses shown are in our Yellow, Orange, and Hot Pink charmeuse colors. Much thanks to Kitty for sending us this great shot!

Celebrity Inspired with Your Favorite Color

We think one of the really fun things about our site is the ability to get a great Celebrity Inspired dress but in a color different than the dress that inspired it. For instance, Emmy Rossum made a huge splash when she wore this dress to the Academy Awards. There’s no doubt that the brick red color of this is beautiful. However, as demonstrated by our beautiful customer, Grace (a very appropriate name, no?), our version can look quite wonderful in Royal Satin as well.

Blueberries at the Beach

We’re getting a lot of inquiries about what dress works well for beach weddings. We think our Blueberry dress works really well in this regard especially in bright summer colors. A great example is the dress shown above in our Yellow Charmeuse. We thank Sarah for wearing the dress so well. We love the matching flowers too.

Criss Cross Top/Asymmetrical Skirt

Recently we’ve received a lot of orders for the Criss Cross Top with an Asymmetrical Skirt. We’ve also had a number of requests from folks wanting to see photos of how this dress looks in real life. In the December 12, 2006 post you can see how this dress looks in turquoise charmeuse. And, to the immediate left, we’re especially happy to have the lovely Sarah showing off this dress in our Raspberry Charmeuse with Pearl Ivy Beading. We love how the beading helps to “formalize” the dress. Wicker chair is optional.

Personal Favorite -- The Teri

I think this is my favorite Celebrity Inspired dress. I remember the day we first photographed it and I loved how it looked. It looks even better on our friend Tsz who’s wearing it in Royal Blue Georgette with a White Charmeuse shawl.