Nuu-Muu Exercise Dress Review

Woo-hoo to Nuu-Muu!

The Nuu-Muu exercise dress is more than a running dress—it's a dress for living.

I flipped through a recent issue of Women's Running magazine and saw a beautiful color ad for Nuu-Muu running dresses. As I love the sexy sass with a dash of modesty that running/athletic skirts provide—running dresses are all that with even more flexibility!

Nuu-Muu's founder, Christine Nienstedt, and Co-Owner, Ashley Fullenwider, are super friendly and answered my questions personally, professionally and promptly. They Believe!

We believe in strong girls and women.

We believe in real bodies and real friends.

We believe in trying really, really hard.

We believe in having fun along the way.

The Nuu-Muu web site is easy-to-navigate and elegantly designed. I applaud their choice to support a variety of models—real women of various ages and different body types! World-class athlete Kristin Armstrong is one of their models and fans, too.

• Price. Nuu-Muu dresses are $70 each plus a reasonable $5 shipping cost. With this running dress you have more options than athletic skirts, and an exceptionally-crafted garment made in the USA. The seams are carefully surged along with double stitched piping around the arm holes and neck line. None of the stitching nor understated tags irritate.

• Nuu-Muu Running Dresses are Flattering, Flexible and Fun. With no built in bra nor bottoms you can personalize your Nuu-Muu to suit your needs and activities. Wear your favorite foundation garments for running, yoga, cycling, swimming, paddling, hikinh, beach cover up, travel, casual wear....

• Fabric. My Nuu-Muu breathes, is slightly stretchy with good recoil and is comfortable in a range of temperatures. Layer for warmth or go minimal! The fabric does not cling nor ride up!

• Race Bibs. While the fabric is durable, I will cautiously pin race bib numbers to my dress. Some other options are: use a race-number belt, fix the bib to my hat or better yet—on my compression shorts.

• Laundering Tip. Hand wash or machine wash by using a fine-mesh zipping-laundry bag in cold water. Hang to dry as you would any technical fabric. I've machine washed my Nuu-Muu a lot with no snags, seam issues nor shrinkage.

• Recylable, reusable and minimal packaging.

I first tested out my Twilight Nuu-Muu while pacing Michelle (far left) through the night at the 2009 Vermont 100 Endurance Run. My dress held up well while wearing a hydration pack! (Michelle broke 28 hours and at the time this photo was taken she's already been awake for 30+ hours.)

Here I am in Twlight with Julie, (in purple, far right) who won first female in the 12 Hour ultra at the 24 Hour Around the Lake Races. I took my Twilight for a 23-mile run as a pacer on this hot and humid day.

During both events I received many compliments on and questions where to buy this dress!

Sizing Specifics. Nuu-Muu sizing is consistent from size to size and fabric to fabric. My Large Twilight was the same size as my Large in Fleur.

Stats. I am a size 10-12 (US) and ordered a Large, which is their "(L)ovely." It's gently fitted across the chest, lightly touches my tummy (I have extra "fuel" there), covers and flatters my tush. It is not too snug in anyplace nor do the arm holes gape or bind.

I laid the dress flat and the Large's height from shoulder seam to hem is 34 inches. One width of the dress across the bust is a bit over 18 inches, which translates to approx. 36-37 inches around. This is not a baby-doll nor empire-waist style dress; there's some taper into the waist and out again for the hips with a slight and flare at the hem. One side-length along bottom hem is 25 inches wide. Two, 5.5 inch slits along the sides allow for additional action.

Additional Gear Tests at Backpacker, Outdoor Divas, and National Outdoors.

I Believe!