Is my dress a Maggie Sottero rip-off?

[zekele]

From the time I got engaged I''d had my heart set on a Maggie Sottero gown, but I am plus-size and I have had a hard time finding Maggies in stores that I could try on. So, then I thought I was going to get a dress by Casablanca bridal and posted it in the "Let''s post our gowns!" thread. However, I thought I would try one more store that was an authorized Maggie vendor (according to www.maggiesottero.com) before going back to purchase the Casablanca. Before I could try on any Maggies, though, my eye caught another dress, and I tried it on, and I knew it was the dress for me; it blew the Casablanca out of the water. It was a completely different style and material than I''d originally envisioned, not to mention that it wasn''t made by Maggie Sottero. I asked the saleslady who the designer of the dress was but she said that it was an "unadvertised" designer, and called it a "Bella." She said I probably wouldn''t be able to find pictures of it online, and sure enough I have not. However, it looks EXACTLY like this dress, which IS made by Maggie Sottero:

Now I am a little worried that the dress I love is some kind of Maggie rip-off. I don''t particularly care; I''m not really big on labels and I do love this dress. I just want to be sure that it is a decent quality and won''t fall apart on my wedding day or something! I haven''t found any other dresses online that look like my "Bella" dress other than this Maggie gown, though admittedly I have only been looking today. Since the Maggie Sottero website listed this bridal store as an authorized Maggie vendor, I did not question its reputation, but now I am wondering. Is it common for gown vendors to be "unadvertised"? Is it just a coincidence that my dress looks just like the Maggie gown but is not a Maggie gown?

Thanks for any advice and sorry for the rambling!

 

[MelissaSue]

It probably is a knockoff..but who cares?! My dress is a knockoff of a knockoff (no kidding! Forever Yours made a knock-off of a Stephen Yearick.. but my dress is Symphony which is even cheaper by about 300 bucks than the Forever Yours.. but it looks exactly the same!).

There is an entire website that does nothing but sell Maggie knockoffs (I believe it is www.bridalonlinestore.com ) Also, there are some designers (Like Forever Yours and Symphony) that mostly just do knockoffs of more expensive dresses. Davids bridal also makes close copies of some dresses, but not quite as exact copies.

It doesn''t matter as long as the shop is not trying to sell it to you as a Maggie Sottero and you''re not paying as much as the maggie would be (if you go to www.bridesave.com or www.houseofbrides.com they list all the MSRPs for Maggie Sottero gowns). There is certanly nothing wrong with a knock-off!

 

[MelissaSue]

and as for unadvertised designers.. they usually are something exclusive to one shop or just a very small company. You will run into this a lot.

 

[zekele]

I scared myself a bit today since I was making a big purchase and afterward I realized that I didn't know much about knockoffs (oops, I meant "knockoff" instead of "ripoff") and whether it was okay to have them. Thanks for allaying the fears of a novice! And happy new year!

 

[ame]

Mine was a copy of Maggie;s Sarchi gown. I didn''t care. I actually liked it more because the beading was better, there was more of it and after checking out the real thing, my dress had better fabric and seaming...it looked better than a real deal.

Pretty much the way it was explained to me--a copy knocks it off and the store calls it "their brand". So..think the Target Brand of maggie sottero.

 

[blodthecat]

We don''t say ''rip-off''

The design has been inspired by Maggie Sottero! Sounds so much better. And quite frankly, it''s probably going to save you some money, that you can use towards other expenses.

Makes sense to me

Blod

 

[Kaili]

If it looks well made to you and if it flatters your body, who cares what the label says.

 

[zekele]

Thanks for all the input! Labels don''t matter to me, I was just worried that if something was a knock-off it meant that it was poorer quality or something. I love the dress so it doesn''t matter

However...following MelissaSue''s advice, I looked up the MSRP of the Maggie gown. And my gown was more expensive!!! UGH!

This is how I''m rationalizing it to myself, though: It wasn''t that much more expensive, and it''s so hard to find a great gown right off the rack for someone my size that it is worth the extra. Also, they threw in a pair of shoes for free (they have to order the shoes, so whether or not they will work, I don''t know).

Anyway, I''m a little upset that I spent more money on this gown than I would have on a Maggie, but chances are I wouldn''t have been able to find a Maggie that fit me anyway.

Thanks again ladies, and happy new year!