Midi Skirt for Less - Review of Sammy Dress

It's not a huge secret that I prefer skirts and dresses to pants for work. That means I'm thrilled that midi skirts are everywhere right now! After obsessing over Tibi's gorgeous full midis on Atlantic Pacific, I went straight to my new go-to for all things trendy and affordable, Sammy Dress.

You may remember my Sammy Dress cape from a few months ago. The site is super cheap and although you have to really sift through their products to find your personal taste (and wait a few weeks for shipping), they have a lot of adorable clothes...including midi skirts in a few style and color options. After carefully converting centimeters to inches and hemming and hawing over a few options, I decided to go with basic black ($11) in a medium for my test skirt. When the skirt arrived, the fabric was the first thing that made me really happy. It's that great scuba material that is being used by everybody. This also means no wrinkles and great structure. There is a short slip underneath, but it's not necessary for any functional purpose - the skirt is substantial enough on its own, yet not so heavy that it can't be worn year round. The skirt can sit lower, but I prefer it to sit higher on my waist to give it more fullness.

Black Cape from SammyDress

For months I have been looking for vintage black capes on Etsy and eBay. I am really short, so I was having a tough time deciding on a cape as so many looked like they would be too long for me. Then, I saw this cape on eBay:

Image: Sammy Dress

The item was available from multiple sellers and varied in price. And so the search continued until one day when curiosity got the better of me and I clicked on an ad for Sammy Dress, an online retailer based overseas that is sort of like a virtual Forever 21, but cheaper (and with a lot more inventory). I was ecstatic when I spotted the cape for $2 and some change, and with the $10 off coupon offered through the ad (no longer valid), shipping was going to be (more or less) free. Sammy Dress even featured customer reviews with photos, which were hugely helpful in making my decision! For the price, I had next to nothing to lose and ordered the cape. 

And then I waited. The cape arrived just shy of a month after it shipped (which was the day after purchase), a reasonable time frame having shipped things internationally plenty of times through eBay. The item arrived in the tiniest vacuum packed bag imaginable, but while it was wrinkled at first, the cape flattened out nicely on its own (and quickly, too). Initially, I wasn't sure about the cape. A button popped off when I tried it on, but the material is nice, it is warm and hits at a great length. I love the slits for the arms, too.

For $2, I took out the sewing kit, fixed the missing button and reinforced the others. Voila! Transformed into a great little cape that I love!

Sammy Dress sells a lot of clothes, but their jackets really seem to be the item that makes the site a great find. I would definitely recommend ordering from them, just be prepared to pay for rush shipping if you need your purchase in a timely manner. Overall, another great resource in my thrifting shopping arsenal!