I had sized down because i'm usually a petite, but didn't have the option for petite here, and it was still too big. a petite or an additional size down could have helped the fit, but in the end the style wasn't what i was going for. the dress has a little more texture going on than what is revealed in the photo here on the site -- i thought it was a luxurious brocade fabric, but the shininess actually comes from silky threads on a mesh-ish overlay. it's a lovely, quality dress, and the color is