Thursday, 24 May 2012

Rocking my Hell Bunny - in Greenwich and Hither Green Cabaret

So the spring is FINALLY here! And to celebrate I wore the Hell Bunny dress that I got at Hyper Japan (think I blogged about it then). I've never worn it out.....but I loved it - I put some makeup on - a dress like that demands red lippy - and went with my friend Clare for lunch in Greenwich then silliness with photography around Royal Naval College...
Twirling!


Clare and I

This dress is amazing. It made me FEEL amazing. I felt feminine and pretty and curvy. My husband thinks it's his favourite outfit and was complimenting me (a rarity). I'm so utterly glad I bought it!

In the evening Clare and I went to the Cafe of Good Hope to see the amazing EastEnd Cabaret girls....so I put my proper 50s petticoat on under the frock

Posing outside the Hither Green Week's Cabaret - our local cafe!
and showing off the petticoat! Too hot to have worn it all day....

Here I am with the amazing performers - Bernadette and Victor/Victoria (known as Victy). They are amazing musicians with filthy lyrics and are performing three shows on the South Bank - first one tonight - then one on the 22nd June and one on the 26th July - I will definitely be going to one of the June or July shows so anyone want to come?



Sunday, 13 May 2012

7 Day OOTD Challenge

The marvellous Claire challenged me to an instagram challenge last week - probably cos I haven't been blogging enough too - to take a picture every day of what I was wearing and share it on Instagram. So for those of you who haven't seen them each day on Twitter or Instagram, here's an amalgamation

I really enjoyed it! I did it with a friend of mine and we had great fun finding funky walls to pose against....and it also cemented my idea that I love dresses/tunics with leggings - it's what I wear the majority of the time at the moment. That might change in Summer but only to make them maxi dresses I imagine. I have got a lot of flack on twitter for my love of Ugg boots and the black boots I'm wearing in most of the photos - I know they aren't exactly stylish but fuck it. I love em! And will continue to wear them - though I'm looking for more pretty type of shoes to wear in the summer. I also love that three of the above outfits came from bloggers - Em, Kirsty and Claire - all of whom continue to inspire me to wear what I love!

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

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?

Thursday, 5 April 2012

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!

Thursday, 22 March 2012

Uber Quick OOTD (Crap photo though!)

Dress - Torrid
Cardigan - New Look
Leggings - M&S

Got the other half to snap this this morning so my hair looks dreadful and I wasn't smiling even though this outfit makes me really happy! It's a Blogger tribute outfit I think! The dress is from Em who was one of the first bloggers I ever read and whose style I adore. She has this dress - you can even see it here when she met Gok! She sold one exactly the same on her Boombands Blog Shop and I snapped it up!

I paired it with a cardigan that the lovely Claire gave me when she was restyling me - love the polka dots. The dress - you can't see it in this photo but you can on Em's link - has a mad combo of tiny polkadots on the boobs, a big wide ribbon band and floral skirt. So I thought this might work. Be gentle with me - this has to be the first time in weeks I've worn something without checking with my style guru first....

My mother said it was "awfully bright" and a bit in your face. Which she didn't mean as a compliment but I took it as such!

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Where HAVE I been?

I know...it's been bloody ages. Don't know what's  been up with me....(well I do...stressed out to fuck husband and insane children) but I've had all the creativity of a dead fruitfly. I haven't even been posting on Fbook (which has sent a lot of my friends into a panic wondering what's up). I've given up on my Photo A Day (mainly due to the upcoming death of the wonderful picnik.com as of April 19th which is what I use to edit photos) also due to a total lack of creativity and inspiration.....

So today, even though I've got a cracking headache....and my two boys have been the demonic antichrists all day....I'm attempting a brief catchup.

About 3 weeks ago (sorry Claire), the lovely Monkey Fatshionista did a re-Gok on me - another style session with some new items and some other stuff that had been in the wash when she came last time....

 I saw Kathryn review this Gok Dress from his new collection for Sainsburys and although she didn't like it, I loved the colour. It's a relatively new thing for me, colour - I used to live in black like a dutiful fat girl. Since joining the marvellous world of Fatshion, I've been inspired to get colourful.  I went to Sainsburys to buy it (checking with Twitter while walking around the shop with it in my trolley) and ended up buying it and asking Claire's opinion. She liked it! Hoorah! I would have kept it even if she didn't! She showed me two ways to dress it - with the brown New Look jacket she'd suggested I buy and ....
 With the blue cardigan she also suggested I buy (I think it was Dotty P's but I can't remember and can't be arsed to go up two flights of stairs to check)..... So it's a keeper - though everytime I look at the above photo I a) love that you can see Claire in the mirror, and b) wonder why I am always standing with my belly stuck out!
 Then we played with some other choices - love this purple top (M&S) and wanted to see if it worked with the long sleeved T and Claire thinks it does. I wore it once since and actually changed as I didn't feel comfortable. Need to get more confident with my layering....
 One of my main fears in dressing in clothes that are more fitted than I'm used to, is that I'll look pregnant. I can't count the times people have asked me AFTER I'd had both my children, how long till I'm due. So Claire showed me with this pic that it's in my head! I don't look pregnant - and my boobs, although diminished, are still bigger than my belly.
 Playing with ways to button a cardy. Claire suggested this but every time I've worn it since I've worn it with the top two buttons done up instead - my preferred choice (SEE! I'm not her #walkingtalkinglivingdoll and I do have an opinion of my own - I just like hers as well)
 This was an outfit Claire put together and I really like it! Roll on summer and I might wear it! I found I do have a Cami - after various chums suggested I wear it under dresses - and I thought it was too big but CleverMonkey found the straps were adjustable. I'd obviously substitute a white bra (note to self - need to bloody buy one)
This was a lovely dress that I bought on Claire's recommendation - styled in a different way and I still love it. Have worn this outfit a lot.

So daily I'm thinking more about what I'm wearing and I'm actually getting so many more compliments on my clothes. And I FEEL better. Huge debt of gratitude to Claire


And now for something completely different....

I went away this weekend to a 40th Birthday party adults only weekend at Butlins. It was utterly insane and utterly fun. The theme was Old Skool so the 11 other women I went with were going for the full on Britney/St Trinians schoolgirl look complete with mini skirts and stockings. NOT in my lifetime. So I decided I would be the headmistress......

First night we were there we all wore the obligatory (as nearly every other woman there was wearing) Tshirts with our names on and a photo of the birthday girl across our chests,  and pink tutus. I drew the line at legwarmers....

I also had a fab fake ponytail. I was worried that I'd feel too belly exposed but actually there are a heck of a lot of larger women out clubbing these days (it's been about 20 years since I set foot in a nightclub) and I didn't really feel fat shamed at all the whole weekend!

On the Saturday night it was school time....are you ready for this? Mistress Salacious the demon headmistress at your service....

I know! I can't quite believe I went out in public like this (though you should have seen some of the other outfits). I was quite tipsy on vanilla vodka and AfterShok though! I did have a jolly time scaring the life out of various men who were dressed as school boys. I was asked to spank.....so after making them say please I did....




I was very much in character - no smiling, insisting they all said please mistress and thank you mistress. It was great fun. I love this corset - I have had it for a long time and it used to be too small - unfortunately it's actually a bit too big now - it was laced right up and still too loose around my (diminished) boobs....boo hoo! But I still got a heck of a lot of boob compliments (from other women) and I felt fantastic. The skirt is an underskirt from my 50's dress, the boots are from Evans and the fishnets from Torrid.

So there's an eyeful of a catch up for you! I'll try and blog more OOTD to replace my Photo A Day - my life just seems endless drudgery as hubbyhoo isn't contributing anything but grumpiness from behind a laptop, I'm dealing with all kinds of work stress myself and as I said, the boys are possessed. I've been watching American Tv on Sidereel.com to destress and totally neglecting everything else (but can highly recommend Smash and GCB as wonderful escapism)

Ok - words drying up so that's me out.....