The line that runs both ways
Most plus collections are a room off the side of the house. You get sent to it, and the door opens one way.
Julietta does not work like that. A Julietta gown can be ordered in a regular size — the request sits on the order form, and a bride who is not a plus size can have the design she fell for. The wall most houses build, this one leaves out. That is not a courtesy Morilee added recently for the look of it. Evlynn Udell founded the house in 1953 to make beautiful dresses for all women, and seventy-plus years later that intention is still sitting in the paperwork, where intentions are easy to check.
Drafted, not enlarged
Julietta is drawn for the figure rather than scaled up from a smaller pattern. The difference shows in what the gowns are built from: corset bodices made to hold, flounced organza, embroidered lace and tulle drawn at the scale of the gown they sit on. A motif enlarged from a size 8 reads as an enlargement. One drawn at 24 does not.
Madeline Gardner drew this line, and she had thirty-nine years at Morilee to learn what a gown has to do before anyone looks at it.
Designer options versus in-house alterations
Designer-ordered options are chosen when you purchase your gown, and we request them from Morilee when we place your order on your behalf. A neckline can be changed and the waist reshaped. Sleeves go on or come off. A slit can be cut in, or closed up if you love the gown and not the slit. Pockets can go in. The back can be swapped between a zipper and a corset either way round. Glitter tulle can be laid over a bodice, a skirt, or the whole gown — or lifted off it. Lining can be added for coverage or taken out for less. And a Julietta design can be ordered in a regular size. Not every option is offered on every style, so your consultant checks yours with the house at the time you purchase.
In-house alterations follow once the gown lands: the fit, the hem, and the work of putting back the line you fell for in the mirror. Our master seamstresses bring 40+ years of alterations expertise, in-house, in the same building where you chose it. Plan to begin your alterations 8 to 10 weeks before your portrait or wedding date, and your consultant will confirm the timing for your gown at the first fitting. Either way, the gown is ordered in a standard size from Morilee’s own size chart and fitted to you in-house, never made to your exact measurements.
Julietta and Portrait cover the same sizes
Portrait by Enzoani covers bridal 16 through 32; Julietta covers 16W through 32W. The range is not the question between them — the house is. Portrait comes out of Enzoani’s couture side and reads that way: architectural, deliberate, engineered from the inside. Julietta comes out of a house that has spent seventy years making a gown for everyone who walks in. Both hang here, so the question answers itself in an hour.
The rest of what this house makes
Julietta sits on our floor beside the main Morilee collection, and the house does not stop at the bride: MGNY mother-of-the-bride gowns and Morilee bridesmaid dresses are here too. Your mother, your bridesmaids, and you can be dressed by one design house, with the fabrics held beside each other before anything is ordered.
What brides ask about Julietta
What sizes does Julietta come in?
16W to 32W. If you are near either end of that, bring your saved styles anyway — the straight Morilee collection picks up where Julietta stops, and your consultant will tell you which one a gown lives in before you start trying anything on.
Are Julietta gowns made to my measurements?
No. We measure your bust, waist, and hip, order the size that best fits your largest measurement from Morilee’s own size chart, and our master seamstresses complete the fit in-house. A gown drawn and built from scratch is a separate service, and one we also offer.
Is Julietta just the Morilee collection in bigger sizes?
No. They are separate collections with separate patterns, and you will see it fastest by trying one of each in the same hour. That is the appointment worth booking if the question is bothering you — and it should bother you, because most houses do exactly what you are suspecting.
What are your payment options?
We offer payment terms with no finance fees. Take one off our floor and it can go on the Layaway Plan. Order one in and the Special Order Payment Plan covers it instead. Say so at your appointment if you want more time, and a consultant will walk you through the one that fits your gown.
Try Julietta on in Greenville, SC
Julietta hangs among the 1,000+ bridal gowns in stock here rather than behind them, which is the whole argument of the line in one sentence. Three generations of families across the Carolinas have been dressed at Dimitra Designs across 30+ years. Come and try it on in Greenville, SC, or see the rest of the plus-size floor.