To infinite dress and beyond
So I have a slight obsession with infomercials. I must have seen that Food Saver ad a gazillion times but I just love the way that machine sucks out all the air out of everything. You can keep fish for up to 6 months goddamnit - that's pretty amazing right? Now an infomercial dress? That's a whole different story altogether! However did it come about? Gosh darnit, aren't you just dying to find out!
Some of you may know of the Infinite Dress, invented by Lynda Silvestry, but I was completely clueless until a colleague today tried to order one for his sister. Then I went on the website and realised it was an infomercial dress (on Pitch TV channel 647 on Sky if you must know...)! Why had I not seen this?? Instead of poring over Power juicer and Super Chopper ads, I could have been discovering over 100 ways to wear this 'lifesaver' of a dress. According to it's 'Hall of Fame' it has a very venerable history and apparently caused a bit of stir when it debuted in 1976. Hey, if you're still not convinced, you better believe those ever so convincing testimonials and the completely non-ironic before and after pics.
Made of 'luxurious' acetate/lycra mix, this multifunctioning dress comes in black (the only colour I would recommend buying if you are to enter into infomercial-dress territory), red and purple and in four sizes. You can be demure, go Grecian, have a beautiful back, twist tails, enhance your bosom, hide bad hair days and many many more with this one dress. Now isn't that a heck of a deal??
So much so, that they're charging UK customers £69.99 (plus P+P of course) whilst over-chargings US people who have to pay $169. Odd non? Could it be that UK customers are not yet aware of the iconic legend of the Infinite Dress and need a wee discount to convince them....
Ok, in all seriouness, this is actually an interesting concept and yes, I am a little put off by the overall cheapness of the site and the dubious Page 3-esque modelling the different dresses above but in reality, this could be a useful little dress and hey, 70 quid ain't so unreasonable. It's Infinite for god's sake!
i love this. though i convinced i would be one to buy it and then get frusterated attempting to move the fabric around to create a decent top only to give up and whine. does it come with a how-to guide? haha.
Posted by: kelly | 24 July 2006 at 22:57
Why Kelly, yes it does! A how-to DVD no less! It is an infomercial dress after all....
Posted by: susie_bubble | 24 July 2006 at 22:59
i found the 70s/80s vintage maxi version of this the other day but it was in rough-ish shape but was a lovely dove grey. and i have a vintage pattern for it. not that there is much to it. but it is neato.
Posted by: SwanDiamondRose | 25 July 2006 at 02:34
haha oh just cringe when I see the instructional video and the lady demonstrating wearing the red version.
Posted by: Ruth | 25 July 2006 at 04:54
i feel like the idea of the infinite dress is good in concept, and i'd almost go for it for the million different styled dresses for just 160 US. but then i wonder how many styles would i actually wear? i can pick out one, maybe two from the pictures. i also wonder how the fit is...? which to me is the most important aspect to consider in a dress.
Posted by: cris | 25 July 2006 at 05:25
This sort of pattern has actually been going around for a long time, I think it's fascinating. A bunch of people were discussing it on Craftster (http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=102791.0), and Rostitchery made one, with a diagram and tutorial (http://rowena.typepad.com/rostitchery/2006/06/one_seam_conver.html)
It needs to be made out of a stretch material, obviously, so that would help with a lot of fit issues. If you were to make it yourself, it would certainly be less than $160. If you used remnants you could probably make it for less than $15.
Posted by: Sarah | 25 July 2006 at 09:23
I discovered this a while ago after seeing it on GMTV. But now I like the more modern versions of it, from Butter by Nadia (http://www.catwalkqueen.tv/2006/07/butter_by_nadia.html)
I think I'm going to sew one after seeing that link above of Sarah's though. How easy?
Posted by: Gemma | 25 July 2006 at 11:18
I bought a similar dress for $20 from Target! I didn't realize it was such a "legend"
Posted by: S | 25 July 2006 at 15:13
rachel pally has a similar incarnation though with much less "looks". it's called the mexico dress and is made of modal and spandex which, i imagine, is better than acetate/lycra. here are a few photos: http://www.revolveclothing.com/productpages/RACH-WD7.jsp, http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2883874, http://www.activeendeavors.com/product.asp?catid=3199&listtype=c&pfid=AED12947, http://www.standardstyle.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=38959
Posted by: shopdiary | 25 July 2006 at 16:28
Gemma: It looks like the easiest thing ever, it's only a couple of pieces to cut out, and one seam. Her version has a circle skirt on the bottom, but you obviously don't have to, it could be any shape you want!
Posted by: Sarah | 25 July 2006 at 20:03
I own one of the Butter by Nadia's...its pretty versatile and very sexy on.
Posted by: Orchide | 26 July 2006 at 11:24
Hey... I am in the US... I went to the site... The checkout price was $199 US dollars. That's about 2.5x the English price. Lucky. Also try American Apparel for a similar dress that has multifuntions. http://store.americanapparel.co.uk/rsa8339.html or http://www.americanapparelstore.com/rsa8339.html good luck!
Posted by: Georgie | 29 July 2006 at 04:11
I own a real infinite dress in sky blue. It has the infinite label. I have lost the book on how to style it and will order another so I can learn to style it again. I can only remember about 4 styles. Its very stretchy. Cool in the summer heat. I do love it. Mine is over 12 years old and still holding up fine.
Posted by: Rosa | 23 April 2007 at 17:40
Uh... yeah there's such a thing as an exchange rate,
69.99 GBP
Great Britain Pound
1 GBP = 1.9914 USD = 139.3816 USD
United States Dollar
1 USD = 0.5021 GBP
But there's really no need for ANYONE to pay this much dinero, on either side of the pond- seriously, if you can lay a pattern on a folded piece of stretchy fabric, cut around it, and either sew one straight line or get someone to sew that line for you, that's pretty much the extent of it. Head over to that craftster thread, the girls on there have made dozens!!
Posted by: Emily | 05 June 2007 at 00:48
Uh... yeah there's such a thing as an exchange rate,
69.99 GBP
Great Britain Pound
1 GBP = 1.9914 USD = 139.3816 USD
United States Dollar
1 USD = 0.5021 GBP
But there's really no need for ANYONE to pay this much dinero, on either side of the pond- seriously, if you can lay a pattern on a folded piece of stretchy fabric, cut around it, and either sew one straight line or get someone to sew that line for you, that's pretty much the extent of it. Head over to that craftster thread, the girls on there have made dozens!!
Posted by: Emily | 05 June 2007 at 00:48