How to Virtually Try On Dresses Before You Buy

The gown you are looking at was photographed on a runway model who is probably 5'10", a French 34, and standing under lighting designed by someone very good at their job. You are none of those things, and neither are we. So the question every client asks us — by email, on WhatsApp, in the showroom — is some version of: yes, but what does it look like on me?

Until recently the only honest answer was "come in and we'll show you." Now there is a second answer. On our handpicked gowns you can sign in, upload one photo, and see the dress on your own body. It is not a fitting. It is a very good way to stop guessing.

Which dresses you can try on virtually

Not all of them, and we would rather say so up front than have you hunt for a button that isn't there.

Virtual try-on is switched on for the Handpicked by Almasa collection — 104 gowns at the moment, drawn from Yolancris, Gattinolli by Marwan, Gaby Charbachy, Edward Arsouni and OFFSET. That covers the pieces most people are deciding between: evening gowns, occasion dresses, mother-of-the-bride, red carpet.

It is not on separates — skirts, blouses, jackets, capes, tails, trousers. The technology reads a full silhouette; a skirt on its own gives it too little to work with, and a bad preview is worse than none. If you are on a product page and see no try-on button, that is why.

Where to look: open any gown in Handpicked by Almasa and scroll past the size selector. The button sits under the add-to-cart area and says Virtual Try-On. You will be asked to sign in the first time.

How to try on a dress online, step by step

1. Pick your gowns first, then try on

Browse the collection and shortlist three or four. Trying on one dress tells you little; trying on four tells you which necklines and lengths are actually yours. Comparison is the whole point.

2. Sign in to your account

Virtual try-on requires an account. That is deliberate: your previews are tied to you, so you can come back to them, and so we know who to help when you write to us about a gown. If you don't have an account, creating one takes a moment, and try-on picks up exactly where you left off — you land back on the same gown with the panel open.

3. Upload one photo

One full-length photo of yourself. This is the part that determines whether the result is useful or useless — see below.

4. Wait a few moments

The preview generates and appears on screen. Same photo, next gown, repeat — you do not need a new photo each time. You have six try-ons in any rolling seven-day period, which is enough to work through a serious shortlist, so spend them on gowns you are genuinely weighing rather than browsing at random.

5. Save the two or three that work

Screenshot them. Put them side by side. Then send them to us — genuinely, this is the most useful message a client can send. Three previews on your own figure tell us more about what you are after than any description, and we can tell you which of the three will actually behave the way you are hoping when you move in it.

The photo makes or breaks it

Almost every disappointing preview we hear about comes down to the source photo. Five minutes here saves the frustration.

• Full length, head to feet, facing the camera. Arms down and slightly away from your body, not crossed, not on your hips.
• Wear something fitted. Leggings and a close top. An oversized jumper hides your actual shape, and the preview can only work with the shape it can see.
• Face a window. Daylight, evenly on you. Not backlit, not under a single ceiling spot, not in a dim room at night.
• Plain wall behind you. A cluttered background is one more thing for the model to get wrong.
• Camera at chest height, straight on. Phone propped on a shelf beats a low-angle selfie. Shooting from below stretches legs and shrinks heads, and proportion is precisely what you are trying to judge.
• Hair back if you want to see the neckline and shoulders clearly — which, with an off-shoulder or halter gown, you do.

One good photo, taken once, works for every gown on the site. Save it somewhere you can find it.

What it gets right, and what it can't

Every preview is labelled AI-generated, and we mean it.

Trust it for: neckline against your face and shoulders, whether a colour suits your skin, how a length reads against your height, and roughly what a mermaid cut does to your proportions versus an A-line. These are the questions that eliminate the wrong gowns, and it answers them well.

Don't trust it for: your size, or anything to do with how fabric behaves. It cannot show you how a boned bodice sits through the ribcage, how much a jacquard weighs on the shoulders, what a train does behind you when you turn, or the way hand-embroidered organza catches light across a room. A gown like 26-119 is built from structure you can only judge in person.

Use it to go from a hundred gowns to three. Come to us for the last step.

Sizing: read this before you order

Our gowns run in French sizing, FR 32 to FR 54, and couture is cut closer to the body than the ready-to-wear you are used to. Your usual size is not a safe assumption.

Take three measurements — bust, waist, hips — and check them against the size guide on the product page rather than eyeballing it. If you sit between two sizes, message us before ordering; the right answer depends on the specific gown, and most pieces can be adjusted. This is the single biggest cause of a return, and it takes two minutes to avoid.

Frequently asked questions

Is virtual try-on free?

Yes, it costs nothing. You do need to be signed in to an Almasa account, which is free to create and takes a moment. There is no payment and no obligation to buy.

Why do I need an account to try on a dress?

So your previews stay attached to you rather than to a browser session — you can close the tab, come back, and still have them. It also means that when you write to us about a gown you have tried on, we already know which one.

How many gowns can I try on?

Six in any rolling seven-day period. That is enough for a serious shortlist, so use them on the gowns you are genuinely deciding between.

Which dresses have virtual try-on?

The 104 gowns in Handpicked by Almasa. Separates — skirts, tops, jackets, trousers — do not have it.

What happens to my photo?

It is used to generate your preview. If you have questions about storage or deletion, ask us and we will give you a straight answer.

Can it tell me my size?

No. It shows silhouette and colour, not fit. Use the size guide and your measurements, and ask us if you are between sizes.

Why is the preview slightly off?

Usually the source photo — loose clothing, poor light, or an angled shot. Retake it facing a window in fitted clothes and try again.

Do I still need a fitting?

For a gown at this level, yes. Virtual try-on shortens the shortlist; the fitting is where a beautiful dress becomes yours.

Start with three

Open the Handpicked by Almasa collection, pick three gowns you keep coming back to, and try all three on the same photo. Then tell us which one you can't stop looking at — we will take it from there.