Okay, here's my story and if any of you can figure out what happened, I'd sure appreciate it.

15 years ago I bought this long black 100% Rayon Summer Dress. It didn't fit me then, but I knew SOMEDAY it would.

I lost most of the weight I had to lose and it fits me just fine. It's been in the back of my closet for close to 15 years.

It's strapless, black, with lace design, not low cut or anything, just a pretty summer dress with nice lace detail.

Well, tonight I had the first opportunity to wear it. I put it on, it looked fine, (Oh I ironed it before I put it on), not too many wrinkles, but I wanted it to look brand new. And actually, it WAS because I had never worn the darn thing.

So Alan and I go to this birthday party, everyone ooohed and aaahed and liked my dress and after a while, I got itchy, so I took my finger and scratched (near the right side where my bra was located), and I noticed I poked a hole in my dress. I said to Alan, "I have a hole in my dress". He said "don't worry, it's dark outside (this happened after the sun went down), so no one noticed.

So after the party, I went home, and decided to hope in the shower. I take off the dress and most of my upper body was discolored. Like blue or something. Now this happened to me MANY YEARS AGO, when I bought a cheap t shirt and when I took it off, my body was blue, and as I took it off the whole shirt just ripped all over the place. It was like it had loose thread. It came apart so easy. I said "holy cow, this is a piece of ***". I then mentioned this to some guy in a store and he told me "that store sells things that are rotted". Since the shirt fell apart, it made sense. I really don't know what this means ROTTED.

Anyway, tonight when I took off my nice long black summer dress, and I looked at the color that was left on my body, I said "oh my god, did this dress rot?"

What do I need to do? Can I wash this? The label says 100% Rayon, dry clean preferred.

Any advice is welcome.

I cannot believe that I paid $50 for this dress fifteen years ago and the first time I wear it, it leaves my body blue.

Thanks much

Melody

P.S. It all came off in the shower. Nothing left behind.

Yep, even man-made fibers can deteriorate over time. I would probably look the dress over really well to see if there is more damage and if it will survive the dry cleaning. This really suck as I am sure you looked and felt fabulous in it. Lisa

I believe it's dry rot. Fifteen years is a long time to be hanging in a closet. I would guess the material had something to do with it as well. Maybe the warmth of your body interacted with the material and made your body kind of blue. IDK.

Strange....

Most black dyes have blue in them, and sometimes other colors too. I suspect since it is a dry clean only... that water and perhaps in this case perspiration dissolved some of the dye.

Here is a short site explaining that rayon does deteriorate.

http://www.redrockthreads.com/rayonthread/

I'd say the dress is "toast" and toss it.

Thanks to all of you who responded.

I happen to agree with Mrs. D. It's toast and it's going to get toasted!!!

lol

What a shame.

I lose weight, I'm able to put this fabulous lacy long black dress on, I happen to look good in it (something I was not able to achieve before), and the whole thing rots.

Maybe the universe is telling me something? Maybe the universe is telling me:

"Melody, no long black lacy clothes for you, go and wear LONG JOHNS!!"

lol lol lol

Well, Mel, I'm glad you outlived the dress! Did you get a picture of yourself? (Not the one in the shower, lol!)

Pity, but congratulations on the weight loss!!! You rock, woman!!!

Picture of myself? Sure I got a picture of myself? We were at my friend's 78th birthday party. We were sitting in the back of her yard and all the lights went out. They have some sort of motion detection system going on but something went wrong and everything went dark.

One of the husbands there always (and I mean always), has his beautiful camera with him. Because we were sitting in the dark I said "can you please take a picture of me in my dress standing with Alan, let's move over to the lighted area". He says "no need, stay where you are". I said "what do you mean, we are in pitch blackness" and he says: 'Oh, this camera has infra red (or whatever special features which I know NOTHING about".

I said "you're kidding right". He said "Stand up next to Alan".

Remember, we are in pitch darkness. I stand up next to Alan, we both smile when he yelled 'CHEESE", and he shows us the photo in the camera.

There we were completely visible and Alan smiling and I looked like a washed out dish rag. There I was with full makeup on, but in the photo it looked like I didn't have a stitch of makeup on.

I said "what the heck is wrong with my face?" They all laughed and said "you look perfectly fine".

I do???? I don't think so. I know what I look like without makeup , and there I was. LOOKING LIKE I DIDN'T HAVE MAKEUP ON.

Next time I take a photo, I'm going to put on so much makeup, I'll look like Bette Davis.

Then MAYBE I just might share a photo with you guys.

You should have seen Alan's faced when I came out of the room wearing this long black lacy dress. He took a look at me and said "you're wearing that??"

I said "what's wrong, I look nice". And he said "I didn't say you looked bad, but I've never seen you wearing anything like that before".

Of course not, I used to be a size 24 1/2, you wouldn't have caught me dead in any long black lacy thing.

And the darn thing ROTS?????

can't get a break.

lol lol lol

Next time, more makeup and a photo.

till then. BE WELL.

Melody

Treat yourself to a new dress -- styles change and you deserve an updated look!

I'm lucky I had the guts to put that one on. It had two straps on each side, it was not low, but little buttons all the way down to the bottom,and the lace detail was amazing. That's why I bought it 15 years ago. I said "this is the most beautiful long black summery dress I have ever seen, and SOMEDAY I'll wear it.

I did.

It is now in the trash. Guess why?

I picked it up in my hands earlier this morning to see if anyplace else had a tear. It was all intact. I then GENTLY pulled at it, AND THE WHOLE DRESS ALMOST CAME APART IN MY HANDS. I said 'oh my"

Can you imagine if I had moved the wrong way when I was at the birthday party"

I would have gone home in my BIRTHDAY SUIT!!!

lol lol lol

Hi Melody. First of all, congrats on losing all that weight. I suppose you should have asked the 'fairy godmother' to protect you from the 'blues'. I never knew that clothes could disintegrate . I am glad the long-waited moment to wear such lovely dress came and that you 'danced' the night away so to speak.

It seems that you are over that whole episode especially after you threw the dress away.