I feel pretty

People are starting to notice I'm dressing differently. No longer hiding in voluminous black articles of clothing or jeans and baggy tops. Since last summer I've been slowly blooming into something - a woman who enjoys wearing dresses. Who likes prints. Who wears leggings a lot and doesn't give a flying fuck that "fat girls" aren't supposed to.

Yes, I still wear my Ugg boots a lot - I like comfort....(sorry Claire)....but I am getting bolder in my choices and am shopping (and swapping) in many different places. And I like it. Today it was a grey miserable rainy day. I considered going for slobby jeans cos I had no where particular to go. But then I remembered the skirt that Claire swap/gave me at the Red Bows event and it called to me. It was too wet to wear my Uggs so I decided to put on my proper leather boots.

I also have this top - I bought it 2 years ago in Detroit and it didn't have a hope in hell of fitting me but I bought it because it was part of Sarah Jessica Parker's short-lived fashion line "Bitten". I bought a bag of hers and I loved it and this black top was a large....a very small large...and I hoped I would fit into it one day or I'd flog it on Ebay for a fortune. While contemplating how to wear the skirt, I decided to pair it with this belt from Yours which has a frilly edge...which reminded me of the frilly front of the Bitten Top so I dug it out of the back of my drawer and tried it on and here you are.

Husband hates it. The top - he loves the skirt. But a female friend who I trust more told me she absolutely loved the top and I'm quite proud of my combination - all my own work....

Top - Sarah Jessica Parker - Bitten

Belt - Yours Clothing

Skirt - Swap

Boots (you can't seem em) - Evans

What do you think?

Red Bows Vintage event - MY HAUL! Pt 2

As Claire has mentioned before, I do love a clothes swap! I think I hauled more than anyone last summer at the London event....

This was my haul!

A gorgeous sort of reverse leopard print top from Amanda I think...

I always seem to end up grabbing anything that Claire brings - I love her style! She used to wear this as a skirt but I'm going to be brave (if the weather improves) and wear it as a dress.

A beautiful silky top from Tasha

Think this was Claire's as well - love the floral dress....it's a bit big so I need to take it in at the top....but I love it....

This is a brilliant maxi from Tash - it's strapless - I just didn't take my bra off - and it's the perfect length for me....

Another beautiful floral tea dress...

And - I did actually spend some money - this is the dress I bought from Michelle - it's not a great pic - this is beautiful cornflower blue with little flowers embroidered throughout - not sure what period it is - think it might be 80s as it reminds me of things I used to wear. I intend to put my big tutu petticoat under this to dress it up, or wear it with leggings/tights and my blue cardie for everyday. It's such a beautiful dress and my FIRST vintage item!

Red Bows Vintage Event Gather the Women! Pt 1

So...plus size vintage wasn't something I'd ever thought about until Plus London- as I've said before on this blog - anything outside of Evans was something new to me until recently! Michelle who runs Red Bows, had a rail at Plus London that I drooled over while waiting to go on to the catwalk - I just didn't have time to browse properly. Luckily she agreed to host an "at home" event with her clothing and was ably supported by The Vintage Cake Company.

All of us who attended brought some food to share...and best of all some clothes to swap!

The Vintage Cake Co's beautiful china!

One of the wonderful rails FULL of plus sized Vintage

The swap sofa! We all put our freebies on there and waited for the rummage!

More vintage finds

Cakes!

Sian got this amazing jacket!

Michelle in a dress I'd brought to swap - it looks SO much better on her....

Sian again in an 80's classic dress - I swear I had this dress back then. It looked AMAZING on her. No idea why I ended up just taking pics of Sian trying the stuff on! I think I was so busy chatting, trying on stuff myself and just having such a fab time that I only managed to take a few pics. Michelle in this shot is also wearing another of her swap finds - this time it was from Claire and it looked amazing on her - I tried it on but she looked, again SO much better in it. That's one of the wonderful things about clothes swaps - you bring along things that aren't working for you - they might be the wrong size, or just not suit you - and then you see some amazing women trying it on and they look brilliant.

Claire taking a cake break. The cakes were amazing - especially the Victoria Sponge!

We all had a food break - the best parties all end up in the kitchen anyway!

Amanda is one of the brilliant women I've met through Fatshion but she doesn't blog - YET! PLEASE Amanda - you have such great style - share it with the world!

The food we brought and shared.

I just want to say thank you to Michelle for welcoming us all, thank you every one who was there for being there, being supportive, sharing your clothes and your sartorial fashion tips. I love it when bloggers get together like this - I'm becoming addicted to this community!

It was great to meet Tash and Sian who I hadn't met before - to catch up with Claire and Amanda, to eat Hannah's wonderful cake and just to have a fabulous Sunday in the company of wonderful women wearing beautiful clothes. I'm about to do a separate post with my haul!