Dress fits true to size--honestly, I possibly could have gone a size down, surprisingly. It's got a decent amount of stretch. It says to wear with Spanx, but you really don't need to--the material is thick enough and the shirring placed just so that it hides most problem areas. You can definitely wear a proper bra under it, which is fantastic because I can no longer find usable strapless bras (hooray for being super busty). The only issue with the dress I noticed is an unfixable structural issue. It doesn't have a hook closure at the top, so when I was swing dancing, the dress tended to unzip itself. Oh well! The band/dance partners enjoyed it, I'm sure. Necklace is fantastic. Once you put it on, it really doesn't move around, and it's super sparkly and pretty. Excellent suggestion from the stylists here.