Black floral '70s dress that looked so nice in mirror, not great in photos

My last post here on the Co-op was in late April after after I lost my cousin. Thank you to all those who shared their prayers and condolences. I wrote several posts and finished telling my story about Jesse, but wouldn't you know it; the sadness remains.
Anyway, here's a dress that I thought was pretty fun but too dang big:

Lots of easy to sew polyester in my favorite kind of floral print; the kind that's on a black background. I took this picture of a page in People magazine:

I pictured a maxi dress with shorter sleeves and a defined waist which would probably be achieved with a standard dress sash. I shortened the sleeves, took it in, took it up a couple inches, made the sash from excess material, and made the neckline no so floppy.

I thought it looked so cute when I put it on and wore it to work. The camera disagreed. I think it's the angle I had my tripod set to. Or I'm delusional and not as cute as I think.
Here's the whole post on my blog Craft, Thrift, or Die.
If you go, you can read my sad posts where I wrote about the death of a promising teenager:( Sorry, it's a bit of a downer.