I've spent months shooting UGC for dress/apparel brands, and the pattern is always the same: brands write a script that sells, then shoot it like a commercial. That's the mistake.

Here's what actually stops the scroll for fashion ads:

1. Motion in the first 3 seconds. A twirl, a walk, fabric moving — not a static hold. Stillness reads as "ad" instantly and people swipe past.

2. Show the fit problem, not just the fit. "I was worried this would be too tight/short/sheer" and then showing it land perfectly builds more trust than 10 pretty shots.

3. Bad lighting > good lighting, sometimes. Ring-light-perfect UGC is starting to read as staged. Natural window light with slight imperfection outperforms studio setups for dresses specifically — it looks like a real person's mirror check, not a shoot.

4. One CTA, spoken, not on-screen text. "Link's in my bio if you want the same one" beats a text overlay every time for this category.

If you're a brand doing your own UGC in-house, test just #1 this week — cut every clip that opens on a static shot. That alone usually moves CTR.