I know, I know every PUGster raves about the Monica dress. But I thought I'd share the mystery of this dress and it's impact in my life to add to the inspiration.

Four years ago I had a bad fall, injured my hip, gained weight through long recovery, and became depressed to the point of not even wanting to get out of my pyjama's. I was lost in a funky fog and didn't recognize myself in the mirror anymore. Any sense of identity was blurred away with the growing 70+ pound layers of fat added to my body and the fact that I no longer had a career to keep me distracted from myself. I wanted my life back, but was so stuck, feeling helpless, with no way out... I just could not find the light switch.

A few years went by and I finally surrendered to the fact that perhaps the "business model" for my life had to shift. I may never be the way I was so I had a choice... be the best I could be no matter what the circumstances and create a new me, or die in self-pity. I felt a shift was coming though I had no idea what that would look like.

I began meditating again, travelling, and since I couldn't exercise, hike, or do the fun things I used to... took to riding my motorcycle more. While my closet was still full of out of style clothes that didn't fit anymore, I had completely lost any sense of style. I threw on whatever over-sized t-shirts, jeans and yoga pants I found lying on the floor.

The shift began to solidify after I discovered PUG and began to spend my down time drooling over dresses and praying that one day I would have a figure to pull them off. The ONE dress I dreamed of the most was Monica. I changed my haircolour from Sharon Ozbourne red to platinum blonde, started wearing makeup and dreamed that one day I would find my hourglass curves again... Monica was so perfect for curvy girls and ooh so Marilyn, I dreamed of fashioning my curves to the perfect hourglass ratio of .7 established as ideal by Mae West and Marilyn Monroe. 

I pinned a photo of the luscious Doris MayDay in this dress and set my sites on wearing it for my Birthday. Okay, so I needed a lot of shapewear to pull it off even though the dress had built-in shapewear, but in this dress I felt better than I had felt in years. In fact I couldn't remember ever feeling that good in any curve hugging dress, even when I had nice curves. The compliments I got that night on the dress was exactly the confidence boost and the encouragement I needed to finally decide "I'm gonna cultivate those curves, no matter what!" I set out to find my hourglass with new zeal and determination. 

Fast forward one year... I've lost another >50lbs (75lbs in total). While shopping for all the PUG dresses that I now have curves for I thought maybe I should buy another Monica and size down. 

I ran to my closet and threw it on (with absolutely nothing underneath) just to see how big it was. That's when I discovered the true MAGICAL nature of this dress. I'm 50lbs and some 40+ inches smaller, but mysteriously this dress fit like a comfy glove and hugged every curve perfectly.  

When my Valentine's dress from another company didn't arrive this week, I ended up wearing it while stealthing a full underbust corset and it looked fantastic! All the compliments I got that night in this dress was such a confidence boost I realized, I had finally made it and I was really me. Infact, I do finally have the perfect hourglass ratio and in this dress, I was the best me I've ever been.

The Monica dress really is a no-brainer if you wanna feel like a million bucks. The bodice and roushing hide a multitude of sins. I am now 38-30-40 but I'll be keeping this one (size Large) and buying another few colours perhaps a size down, just because I can. Thank you Laura Byrnes... Please keep making such incredibly well constructed dresses!


Cheers!