Step 1
How to measure yourself
How to take the three measurements every formal dress size depends on — bust, waist, hips — with correct placement, the classic mistakes, and what to wear while measuring.
Wiki
Fit & sizing
How to measure, how to read a size chart, and what ease, stretch and closures do to the fit.
Step 2
How size charts work
What a size chart actually is — a map from body measurements to one maker's labels — why charts disagree with each other and with streetwear sizing, and how to use the right one.
Step 3
Ease
Ease explained — the deliberate gap between a garment's measurements and the body it's cut for, why it varies by silhouette and fabric, and why a dress never measures like its chart.
Step 4
Stretch fabrics and fit
How stretch rewrites sizing: negative ease, why sizing up backfires in stretch dresses, how to test stretch on the hanger, and what changes at the seamstress.
Step 5
Closures and adjustability
Why a dress's closure — zipper, corset back, or combination — is the most fit-relevant fact on the hanger: what each one allows, forgives, and forecloses.
Step 6
Prom dress alterations
Alterations are the tailoring done after purchase to make a dress fit: hems, straps, taking in or letting out seams, and cup or bodice adjustments.