Sort of hard to tell what's going on with it on the hanger. I don't actually have the straps sewn on, the hem done, and a bunch of tedious little details taken care of, so no on-the-body picture yet.
The pattern was originally a contender for prom dress, but no more. If you look at the pattern envelope it looks as though it's sort of a cross-over bodice with all sorts of folds. Well, every stinkin' one of those folds is a meticulously marked and stitched dart, tuck, or some combination thereof. Also, the asymmetrical waistband is stitched with 5/8 inch seams -- it has as much seam allowance on the back as it has fabric on the front (why not 1cm, aka 3/8,seams to reduce bulk?). The 1 inch elastic in the upper back serves no elasticizing purpose I can discern -- just adds bulk to the seams.
The bodice is underlined AND lined, although the underlining pattern is actually the exact same as the lining pattern. I reflected on this and decided the 2 layers of lining-type fal-de-ral would be important with a sheer fashion fabric, since seams could show through. In our fabric it didn't seem necessary. Plus Thalia want to wear this to swing dances, which tend to be rather toasty affairs, so 3 layers of bodice (plus extraneous fabric from all the %^(*$ darts and tucks) seemed a bit much.
Thalia disliked the long ties in the back. Removing them would've made the top of the zipper possibly wonky. Plus I thought a center back invisible zip was sort of dippy, so we left off the ties and moved the zipper to the right side. Used the wider straps instead of the spaghetti straps (better for swing dances).
We also ditched the asymmetrical skirt -- on the pattern the right front and back has pleats while the left front and back has gathers. It struck me as silly, sort of weird-for-the-sake-of-being-weird. So out that design detail went, to be replaced by gathers all around.
Overall, much bulkier and dumpier than originally envisioned. Currently a strong contender for stupidest pattern I've ever sewn, what with the overworked bodice. Also, why did the bodice of Simplicity 2253 fit her almost perfectly straight out of the envelope, while size 12 on THIS Simplicity pattern need to be taken in over an inch in the bodice, and is STILL baggy? The styles are such that the fit should be similar.
IN the meantime, prom is a week from tomorrow, and no real clue as to what she's wearing. And no real time to shop, what with Holy Week and time-consuming Girl Scout stuff happening this week. Stay tuned to see how this turns out.
Edited to add picture, admittedly with shrug over it so you can't really see the bodice (which might be a blessing):
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