A woman says she was 'fat shamed' by an online retailer after a dress she ordered 'fell apart' on New Year's Eve.
Destiny Campbell, from Derbyshire, says she was forced to walk home naked after her Sorelle dress suddenly fell apart during a night out in Liverpool. And when the 21-year-old complained to the company, she was told she should have bought a bigger size.
Destiny, who is a size 10-12, was left shocked and horrified when the £75 dress separated, leaving her exposed in a packed club.
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She said: "I knew I would be out for a long time because it was New Year's Eve so I felt comfortable enough in the dress. I wanted to look nice.
"We went to the club and within an hour and a half my friend told me to look down and my boob was falling out of the dress.
"I was trying to hold the bottom bit so my boobs weren't coming out. All of a sudden the bottom skirt part came apart. Everything separated, I'm not exaggerating.
"My friend left the club with me and I was walking home basically naked, holding my boobs with my thong and bum hanging out.
"Men were approaching me and trying to touch me. I was in a strange city and I was vulnerable. It was awful, everyone would have seen. It was embarrassing and I felt humiliated."
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When she contacted Sorelle UK for a refund, she says she was further humiliated when the company told her she should have chosen the 'size up'.
The company claimed there was nothing they could do as the dress "doesn't just rip like that".
The messages read: "This is a rhinestone dress that needs to be handled with care and it also needs to be a loose fit as per the pictures of all the models on our website, we would have suggested to choose the size up.
"It also doesn't just rip like that in so many pieces as it's not like that in the other photos. Unfortunately, this looks like it has been heavily handled with [sic] and we are unable to fix this."
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Fuming at their response, Destiny wrote: "Are you taking the p***? Do I look like a fat person? Oh my God. [...] You have basically just called me fat which is so wrong.
"The dress broke apart from me trying to hold it all together as I was frantically running home so people would not see me naked."
Sorelle eventually agreed to the refund and said they would stop manufacturing the dress.
"This will be actioned for you, I can see many people think that we are in the wrong and I truly apologise if it came off across totally wrong," they said.
Destiny was horrified by the incident, later adding: "Are they trying to say I'm fat? They don't know what weight issues or mental health issues I have. It's not nice.
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"I've put on weight since I was 18 but I'm not fat. I felt like they were saying I shouldn't be wearing their stuff.
"They don't even sell a bigger size and the website doesn't recommend sizing up. I bought a medium and I am a medium. It's so unfair.
"The dress wasn't too small. I wouldn't spend that much on a dress and get the wrong size. I bought the dress a month before so if it was too small, I had time to change it.
"They're just making excuses. I've shopped at Sorelle before and it's always been fine. They said they'd take it off the website but I just wanted a refund and I don't want this to happen to another girl."
A Sorelle UK spokesman said: "We advised the customer as per all companies should that we would suggest getting a size up in this dress style as it is supposed to droop at the back as it has a cowl back like the models and all our customer photos which are tagged on Instagram.
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"Unfortunately, we only go up to a size medium in this style of dress as it is very small sizing and that is all our supplier makes.
"The customer was obviously very happy with her purchase of the dress to receive it, take photos and wear it on NYE with no faults.
"A manufacturing fault would have been a rip up the seam but the dress was then pulled and broken into many pieces so this is not deemed as a manufacturing fault.
"However, we did provide the customer a full refund when this was escalated to a manager, the first few responses was a temporary customer service agent due to covid and apologised for any misunderstanding, we have also discontinued this dress due to this."
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and Media