The Dress

Detailed. Talk about the STYLE of the dress, HOW the dress fit you, WHY you fell in love with it, any included items, and unique features of the dress.

The Madison dress was part of the Rivini Timeless Collection by Rita Vinieries. I purchased this dress from Kleinfeld at Hudson’s Bay in Toronto in 2020 for $10,000 but did not end up wearing it until 2022 due to the pandemic. The material is ivory silk magnolia and the dress is size 2 with some slight alterations.

Style: Rivini doesn’t carry this dress anymore, but I instantly fell in love with its elegant drama. This is one of those pieces that is modest on the hanger but has a particular wow factor when worn. I was looking for a dress that was stately and modern for our gallery wedding, without feeling trendy. After trying many dresses, I decided on the Madison for its simple details in the origami like V-Neck line that reminded me of the Empire State Building, and the unique drama of the one sided bow.

Dress fit: The dress fits snuggly around your torso and is roomy around the legs without feeling like you are wearing a ball gown. It was easy to move around in, and I was able to comfortably wear it from the morning until after dinner. I changed into a different dress and shoes for dancing to avoid damaging the train.

I am a size 32C in bra size and did not need a bra with this gown as the bust is quite structured, I found I had plenty of support and was not worried about falling out at any point throughout our day.

The dress has a zippered closure at the back which is largely covered by the one-sided bow. The one sided bow has a hook that attaches to the gown to keep it up right.

I wore it with a contemporary Rivini Sania Veil (unaltered, cleaned, and as shown in photos) that is also in very good condition which I am also selling separately for $400.

I have the original hangers and garment that came with the dress which are included with the purchase: a black silk hanger, the Kleinfeld Hudsons Bay hanger, and Hudson’s Bay Kleinfeld fabric branded garment bag.

The dress and veil are currently being expertly cleaned by wedding gown specialist cleaning and preservation company, Style & Grace (https://www.styleandgracecleaners.ca/) and are in very good condition.

Flaws are on the inside of the dress, there is a slight tear which has been hand repaired in the interior lining of the dress which is not visible from the outside of the dress. Happy to take a picture or do a video call with the dress once I receive it back from the cleaners.

Alterations

I had subtle alterations made to the dress by Kleinfeld Hudsons Bay in 2022 to enhance the fit. I’m 5’7” and wore 3’7” heels. The alterations were as follows:

- Dress length: Front of the dress shortened to let the toe of my heeled shoe barely peep out from under the dress.
- Dress Train: The original dress had a very long traditional train, I reduced the length of the train to improve ease and movement without having to bustle the dress. As you can see from the photos, there is still a train for both the bow and body of the dress that is quite long. There is no bustle on the dress although this could be added in the future.
- Dress Body: The body of the dress was opened around the hips by a centimeter on both sides to make it more comfortable.

If you live in Toronto, Ontario, I’m happy for you to come by and try it on to ensure a good fit. Please feel free to send along any questions if you have any.