Anthropologie Fitting Room Reviews (Turbine Dress, Compeer Dress, Manor Gates Dress, Marine Mural Dress)

On Friday, I hit up two of the NYC Anthropologies. I started out my morning at Rockefeller Plaza where I tried on a ton before finally buying the Artist's Palette Necklace and Bright Bulb Posts. Then I hoofed it downtown to Union Square for my second Anthropologie of the day. At that store, I tried on even more and purchased the Double Torsade Necklace (due to freaking out and thinking maybe I wouldn't like the Artist's Palette Necklace with my Ann Taylor Loft Silk Dress with Ruffle V-Neck). I'm likely going to return the second necklace (although I'll wait two weeks in case it gets marked down!)

My goal for the fitting room reviews was to not try on anything that I'd seen at my local store, which is obviously smaller than anything NYC has to offer. This was not a difficult task and nearly every time I turned around, I spotted something I'd never seen before. I was also able to try on some of Anthropologie's more expensive options, two of which I've reviewed below.

Let's get to it!

Turbine Dress, size Large ($118)

This dress is online in navy, but the Rockefeller Plaza store also had it in grey. I sized up to a Large because the hips were rather slim fitting and the material reminded me of the Perilla Dress, which still gives me nightmares! I was wise to size up and the Large ended up fitting me just right without the dreaded Perilla side effects (doesn't that sound like some sort of infectious illness? It should - the Perilla Dress looked that bad on me, click here to see for yourself!)

Anthropologie is currently styling this dress online as a jumper which as you probably realize is my new favorite idea! The material is a rather heavy weight. That combined with the color choices (navy or grey) makes this more of a fall/winter than spring/summer dress. I can imagine this dress looking nice with a cardigan and being either dressy or casual depending on shoes. There were pockets and the detailing along the bust was interesting. The dress is pretty and fit well, but it was nothing special. I can think of many other things to spend my pennies on!

Compeer Dress, size Large ($248)

Oooh la la - this is the first of the "expensive" items I tried on last Friday. I've been in love with the color since I tried on the Everywhere Dress (click here for my review) and since I saw this actual dress on Anjali over at goldenmeans (click here).  I had hoped that this dress could fulfill my desire to have a dress this color without also looking like I had wandered out of the house wearing a bathrobe. The dress is a lace overlay with a silk liner built into it. I initially thought I'd have to put the liner on first but then realized that it's sewn right in, wrap style. I liked that a lot. My biggest complaint about this dress was the buttons - while they were lovely, they were rather circular. That combined with large button holds made me nervous that the buttons would come undone during the day. There was also a rogue eyelet hook at the waist, but I couldn't find a hoop to attach it to. For $248, I expect a hoop! I also didn't realize until I got to the fitting room, but the belt of my dress wasn't attached. As I look at Anjali's review, I realize that the belt is just a strip of fabric anyway, but the belt loops are pretty pronounced so it looks silly that I'm not wearing one! This dress was nice, but I'd never dream of paying $248 for it. I wouldn't even consider it at a 50% markdown.  Perhaps I'm expecting too much since it's so expensive, but although it is very pretty, I wasn't impressed.

Manor Gates Dress, size 14 ($188)

I saw roxy try on this dress here and thought it looked amazing on her. My expectations were not high, however, because she had to size up for the dress to fit around her thighs. With this in mind, I grabbed a 14 and assumed that the bottom would fit and the top would be enormous...such is my life. *sigh* I love the pattern on this dress, but the cut is just not going to work on me without major alterations. The shoulders of this dress are a sheer mesh, reminiscent of the Drifting by Dress, although here the color is a lovely cornflower blue. The empire waist hits at the perfect spot and the pattern on the skirt is vibrant and bright. If this was a fuller skirt, I seriously suspect that it would be in my closet as I type this. Too bad.

Marine Mural Dress, size 10 ($248)

Finally, we have another pricey dress - online the rose is the only color available, but in the store I had the choice of pink or blue. Then again, perhaps the blue dress was the Pigment & Canvas Dress and I didn't look closely enough at it. The first thing I noticed about this dress was the smocked back. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a smocked back, but on a $248 dress? Hm. I think I've reached my threshold for clothing. I can pay any amount up to $200 and not bat an eyelash, but once I'm over $200, I start expecting clothing to make me breakfast and do my taxes before I'm willing to take the plunge! This dress is really pretty and it fit nicely and if it was cheaper, I'd wish list it, but I just can't wrap my head around this much money for a dress that only looks nice on me (as opposed to "knock your socks off amazing") Since this is my first foray into the most expensive pieces at Anthro, I can only assume that I'll get past this hang-up eventually (remember it was only six months ago that I bought the Beribboned Buds Cardi at full price, $88, and didn't sleep for a week!), but in the meantime, I doubt I'll be making any pricey purchases soon!

Alright that's my first batch of reviews. I'm trying to put them in groups that make sense so these were the only dresses I tried on. Everything else was skirts and tops. I'll post those later in the week!

Happy Shopping!