2018 Grana Silk Dresses Review: Tea Dress and V-Neck Shift Dress
So I know I've said in the past that I'm not going to be reviewing any more items from Grana (due to their decline in quality and customer service towards the end of 2017). Also the ethics of Grana is a little gray to me since they used to talk more about their manufacturing standards (I used to think of them as the Hong Kong version of Everlane). But these days I don't find anything about it on their site anymore. However, I've accumulated a lot of store credit through the use of my 10% off referral link (thank you and I'm super grateful for everyone who's supported me by clicking on my referral links!). And well, even though I'm trying to consume less, I can't let all the credit go to waste (it feels like wasting free money that I earned). So I decided to try a couple silk and linen items from Grana. I'm going to do a bulk review of them starting with the 3 silk dresses (I got all of them in a small and I'm usually a size 4-6).
I went down the path of Grana again because I have a wedding to attend to later this year and when I saw Grana's new silk dress options I wanted to give them a shot. In the past, I found their silk dresses (especially this one) to be of superb quality and have worn them to a wedding or two in the past. I still have those dresses, but I wanted something a little more dressy. So the first one I tried was their Tea Dress and I love it! I love the deep V in the front (which is great for a small-busted gal like myself) and the flutter of the ruffled silk hems. I also appreciate the sleeves to hide my triceps. The dress is a very flattering A-shape and I love that you can wear a regular bra with this dress.
{Wearing: Grana silk tea dress, Everlane Day Heels (reviewed here), Valentino small lock bag (similar here, reviewed here)}
As I've said in the past, Grana has downgraded the silk they use (everything used to be double lined in 14mm silk, now it's a single layer of 16mm silk or with a 10mm habotai silk lining--more on that in a bit). For their Georgette silk satin, which is what this dress is made out of, they went from 22mm silk satin to 19mm Georgette silk. You can definitely feel the difference in the quality and thickness, but since this dress is lined (by 10mm habotai silk) it's not that big of a deal.
{Wearing: Grana Silk Tea Dress, Valentino Rockstud Kitten Heels (reviewed here), Chanel crossbody bag (similar here)}
I really like this black version, so much so that I went ahead and got the blue version since I think the light blue might be more wedding appropriate. The blue one is still fully opaque since it is double lined in silk. What do you think, black or blue?
{Wearing: Grana Silk Shift Dress, Rothy's (reviewed here), Valentino small lock bag (similar here, reviewed here)}
I also ordered Grana's V-Neck Shift dress (in small) because I wanted to compare to Everlane's double-lined silk v-neck dress. They look similar but appearances can be deceiving! First of all, the small was definitely too small for me since you could see my belly pooch. But then the arm holes, shoulder, and neckline was way too loose. Also the v in the back goes down really low and so you can't wear a conventional bra with this. All in all, this dress was bad on me. Everlane's version, which you could get for $50 cheaper is waaaaaay better. The Everlane dress fits better, plus it's double lined in 16mm silk. Grana's is 16mm silk, lined with 10mm habotai silk which just feels thin and cheap. Grana, if you don't go back to your quality from before I don't think you're gonna survive!
Well at least I found their tea silk dresses to be the perfect one for a California wedding. But to be honest I'm not sure how often I'd re-wear this. And in general I do feel like Grana's quality and designs have gone down since they first started. There's also no mention of their founders and ethics on their site anymore.
P.S. I no longer have any Grana credit left (we used it to buy up some tees for my husband), so if you read the comments below, I can no longer offer to use them.