A Shein shopper who ordered what she thought was a dazzling sequin dress for her birthday was left stunned when it arrived with the sparkles simply printed onto the fabric.
Cate Langley had ordered the colourful mini dress from Shein ahead of her birthday.
Images on the website show a model wearing a colourful halter neck dress adorned in bright sequins.
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The 24-year-old paid around £13 ($17.95) for the frock.
But when the parcel arrived on July 25, she discovered the eye-catching embellishments were nothing more than a flat, printed image.
“The dress looked perfect,” Cate, from Mobile, Alabama, USA, told Whats The Jam.
“It had lots of colour and was covered in sequins.
“To me, it was exactly what I was looking for.
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“Here’s where my naivety comes in, the dress 100% looked photoshopped onto the model.
“But, I’ve never been essentially scammed by the pictures on Shein so I thought that I would trust the process and believe it was going to look good in person, because it always has.
“That was my mistake.
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“When I opened it, I wasn’t necessarily shocked, because I knew it was a risk when ordering it.
“The dress genuinely looked like they had screenshot the picture of the dress I wanted, and put it onto a random dress.
“There were no sequins, no nothing.
“It was just a picture of sequins.
“If I had to describe it in one word, it would be preposterous.
“I was a little annoyed because it could have been a fantastic birthday dress.
“But, overall, I found it funny.
“I showed my roommate and she burst out laughing.”
On the side, the dress is described as “deep, v neck, flare hem halter dress, rainbow print, party, clubwear, festival”.
Although the listing had no customer reviews, Cate said she had previously bought dresses without reviews that looked exactly like the photos.
She said: “I did look for reviews but there weren’t any, which I know is a red flag to most people, but I’ve got decent quality, true to picture, full on gowns off Shein that had no reviews
“And someone has to be the first to review something, so why not be the guinea pig?.”
The server and aspiring content creator shared the fashion fail on TikTok and the clip has now racked up more than five million views.
She said: “The reactions included people calling me an idiot for not recognising how AI the picture was, people saying the dress was ugly in the first place, people telling me I could DIY sequins on it, and people hating on me for buying from Shein in the first place.
“Making fun of me was expected, hating on me seems a bit ridiculous, but oh well.”
She doubts she’ll bother returning the dress and instead plans to donate it to a thrift store.
And Cate admits the experience hasn’t put her off shopping at Shein.
She added: “I’m a master procrastinator so I doubt I will return it.
“But, I’ll probably take it to a thrift store because there has to be someone out there that will like the dress.
“Or maybe not.
“It’s hideous so who knows?
“I’d love to say that I am reformed and have learned my lesson and won’t shop on Shein again, but I doubt that’s true.
“Sometimes you need a quick and cheap option and Shein is that.
“But, world if you’re reading this, I will do my best to use my brain a little better next time, and maybe try to not wait until last minute to buy clothes and to also save money to buy better quality clothes.
“No promises though.”
One commentor said: “Girl, did you look at the reviews?”.
Another person added: “You thought you were getting all those sequins for $2.50?”.
A third commentor said: “She wasn’t scammed, she didn’t read the description.
“It clearly says printed dress.”
Someone else said: “Girl, you should’ve known.
“The model herself isn’t even wearing that dress.”
A fifth person added: “I mean, you can clearly see it’s edited or AI.”
Shein has been contacted for comment.
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