26 February 2014

A Night at the Oscars

I can't believe that it is the Oscars next week, that seems to have come around so quickly this year!

One of my favourite things about watching the Oscars is seeing the fashion.  I can't even imagine how excited I would be to go to an event like that, especially with all the designers clamoring to dress you and the amazing jewellery you get to wear.  Sadly that is never going to happen for me, but what I thought that I would do was create a dream Oscars look.

Plus size women are scrutinized even more on the red carpet and more often that not are slated in the press for their choices.  I believe that there is absolutely no reason why you can't look like a million dollars, no matter what your size, so here is would be my look.










I think this outfit would look amazing on the red carpet and is something I would love to wear.  Sadly I think the diamonds may be out of my reach, but a girl can dream!


24 February 2014

Scarlett & Jo Feather Print Tunic Dress

I was recently contacted by the lovely Lucy of Scarlett & Jo and was asked if I wanted to review the Feather Print Tunic Dress.  Having seen pictures of the dress on the British Plus Size Fashion Weekend I already knew that I loved it and jumped at the chance.

The tunic dress comes with an underslip and then the chiffon over layer with the gorgeous feather print pattern.  The patterning is so beautiful but I wanted to try a different edge to my original idea of bare legs and sandals so I went with purple tights from +Yours Clothing and my new ankle boots from +Dorothy Perkins.

I like pieces that you can wear in different seasons with the aid of different accessories so until the weather warms up it will rocking the tights and boots look and then bare legs and pretty sandals in the Summer!

You can buy the tunic dress at +Evans here for £40.00   









* Item was sent for review, but all opinions are my own

23 February 2014

These Boots Are Made For..

I LOVE shoes.  I am very specific about the type and style of shoe that I like, but once I find the right one, it is true love.

One thing I always have problems with is finding the perfect black ankle boots.  I have such a long checklist when it comes to ankle boots that I rarely find one that encompasses everything.

Stylish but comfortable, not boring; heel not too high but not too low, must go with trousers, jeans and dresses.  So I don’t want much at all.

Anyway, I found them!!!  They are from +Dorothy Perkins  and are currently on sale for £25.00 and I love them.  Sorry for the quality of the photos, trying to take photos of your own shoes whilst wearing them is damn awkward!





I was going to put a link up to the boots but unfortunately they are not on the website for some reason so I can't, but I urge you to run out and buy them!

Don't forget to check out my competition to win a canvas print of your favourite photograph here


21 February 2014

Competition Time!

I was recently contacted by the lovely Lori of Canvas Design in relation to reviewing a canvas print.

The idea behind this is a great one.  You use one of your own photographs, be it family, friends or something from your holidays and get it printed onto canvas in a size of your choosing.  I have seen a few friends do this previously and was excited to do something myself.

All you have to do is have an image of a quality of 500kb upwards.  You simply upload your image, choose the sizing you require and you are good to go.  The prices are very competitive, starting at £7.99 for a 6 x 6 inch canvas and the delivery is free in the UK.

I choose a film still from my favourite film, Breakfast at Tiffanys together with a quote from Coco Chanel which I feel goes so well with Holly Golightly, "In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different".




I was actually so happy with the canvas print that the next day I ordered another one, more personal this time, a picture of my dad and I when I was a little girl.  I can't wait for that one to arrive.  



I am happy to announce also that Canvas Design have also kindly allowed to me to give away one of the bespoke canvas prints of one of your own photographs, with a size of anything between 6x6 inches to 40x40.  

As an additional bonus for people who don't win the competition, I also have a discount code of BLOG15 in order to get 15% off the price of your order.



17 February 2014

Joe Brown's Flattering Floral Dress

For one reason or another I haven't managed to get a new outfit on the post for a while now.  I have lots of new clothing to show you but no time to photograph it!

Today though I managed to grab five minutes to show you my new Spring dress from Joe Brown at +Simply Be  As soon as I saw it in the new Joe Brown collection I knew it had to be mine.  The floral print is something that I love to wear and the shaping of the dress is just right for the style I like to wear.

Today has been the usual wet, windy and cold but I have had absolutely had it with Winter clothing and am moving to Spring, whether the weather agrees with me or not.









You can find the dress here
Shoes are from Hush Puppy

15 February 2014

I Feel Good





You know sometimes when you spend ages getting ready for a night out, an event or even just a blog post, and the reflection in mirror isn't what you hoped? This challenge is for those times when you look in the mirror, no pre planning involved, and think "I look good today".

We all have our good days and our bad, but this challenge is to record those good days and to remember that confidence, at any size, is beautiful.


Today's photo is part of a series that I started on Tuesday.  A mini challenge to myself to publish a photograph of myself each day, with my tooth gap clearly visible and showing.  Not hiding it like I normally try to do.

Every day for as long as I can remember I have pushed my tongue back the gap in my teeth in photos because I hated it so much, but I have decided that now is the time to make peace with the gap.  It is part of me and it one of the things that make me who I am.

My #embracethegap photographs will appear until I feel comfortable with it, and here is today's (I feel like I am channeling Callie Thorpe in this picture, which is no bad thing!) :



13 February 2014

A Fine Romance

When it comes to clothing I have spent the last year really getting a feel for what I love to wear.  I have tried many colours, prints and styles but have always stayed with dresses as they just give me that extra smile when I am wearing one.
I am loving some of the new collections that are around for Spring but when I saw the Springtime Romance collection from Scarlett & Jo I gave a little squeal.  I would wear this entire collection and would dance around whilst doing so.  I have never seen a collection of dresses that have been designed as though they somehow had me personally in mind.
A little bit vintage, feminine, floral prints, flattering shapes which will work with my body, I literally want all of them, but here are some of my absolute favourites.
Black Retro Wrap Front Daisy Print Midi Dress

Floral Print Prom Dress



Spot Prom Dress




Retro Button Front Floral Floral Bouquet Midi Dress


Which dresses have caught your eye?





11 February 2014

Sister Act

They say that you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family.  They also say that blood is thicker than water.  Both of those sayings are equally true.

The difference between friends and family however is that you can break off a friendship, but the breakdown of a relationship with a family member will take a little piece of your soul with it.  Grudges are held in the heart rather than in the head and something you can forgive in a friend, hurts ten times more when it’s family.

I have a sister.  She is twelve years older than me and we haven’t lived in the same house together since I was seven and she was nineteen. 

We have always had complicated lives.  A combination of a twelve year age gap, misinformation, misconceptions and a lack of proper communication between the both of us led to a fractured relationship.

Each thought the incorrect things about the other and with each passing year, a wall was built between us that was so thick and high that it was starting to resemble Fort Knox.  Impenetrable.  The thing with families though is that with a friend you would have abandoned the relationship long ago, but blood ties keep you in the relationship because you “have to”, except you are both still hurting and it gets worse all the time.

Why am I telling you this?  Because that wall has been destroyed.  It took twenty years to build it and a conversation to demolish it.  I’m telling you because it might spur you on to fix what you thought was irretrievable too.

So what do you do?  You start by honesty; brutal honesty.  The kind of honesty that you can really only have with your family.  You each tell the other what you don’t like about them, what you don’t understand and what hurts the most.  You hold nothing back.  You each admit your faults.  You discover that they are hurting just as much as you are.

The good thing about families is that you might sometimes be on different paths, far away from where you started, but somewhere along that path is always a bridge that leads you back to one another. 

I have my big sister back and it has made me so happy.  The gap in my heart I wouldn’t admit to is filled again.

Build those bridges!  The gap between isn’t as far as you think xx

10 February 2014

Creative Corner 7

It has been a long while since I have done anything in the Creative Corner series.

I find myself happiest when I write an opinion piece but somehow the creative writing draws me back in now and again.  

This is actually a rewrite of one of my earlier stories, which had been taken from a writing prompt of "The First Step".  

So here is "The Second Step".  
They say all you have to do in life is take that first step. One step and you can change your direction, your purpose and it can take you somewhere you only could dream of before.
I disagree.
I have taken many first steps in my life and I can tell you that it isn’t the first step that counts at all. It’s the second. The first step is tentative, non committal and still uncertain. The second step is your decision.
My marriage has been a series of first steps. In the beginning, the first steps were always taken with excitement as to what was to come. Our first date, getting engaged; buying a house.
As time moved on however these first steps changed. The first time he hit me, the first time he used my body without my consent; the first time I threatened to leave him; my first hospital visit. None of these steps were taken with my permission but they definitely took me to places I had never been before, nor wished to be.
There is another first step, sitting hidden away at the back of the wardrobe in the guest bedroom. A step of my own making. A bag, packed with clothes, some money, my passport. My bid for freedom.
The problem is, I have taken so many first steps, do I have the courage to take the second?  The one that takes me out of the door and to a new life. My hesitant first step has been sitting there, whispering to me in the black of night to escape.  Fear is my constant companion.
You need mettle for the second step.
So why I am I telling you this?  It is merely to tell you what you already know; that the second step is harder than the first?  No.  I tell you because you can waste your life away debating on that second step.  I tell you because I've taken mine, and you can too.  
I have left him.

7 February 2014

The Magnificent 7th Challenge


We will be posting on the 7th of each month, and the aim of the challenge is to create an outfit to fit the theme, using clothes from our wardrobes, and yes that does mean digging deep into the depths and finding those long lost clothes! Hopefully one of us won’t end up in Narnia, but you never know with a bloggers wardrobe!

This month’s theme was Valentines Day.  Now as I am a single gal, I decided to use this month by choosing an outfit that I would like to wear to a Valentine’s Day meal.  Sadly I won't be attending no as nobody loves me (kidding).

This particular outfit has actually just been bought by me with the Capturing the Curves photo shoot in mind in March 2014 arranged by the incomparable Betty Pamper. Both the dress and shoes are from +Simply Be and together they form my new favourite outfit.

I can’t wait to combine the gorgeous dress with the vintage hair and makeup at the photo shoot and of course will putting the photographs here, and Facebook, and everywhere ha (sorry in advance for the spam)!

I would definitely wear this outfit for a Valentines Day meal as when I put them both on, I felt flirty and confident, just what you want for a special meal with your fella!



Aren't they perfect?   I am not sure I am going to be able to wait until the end of March to wear them so I may end up parading around the house in them.  The Capturing the Curve shoot is a 35th birthday present to myself and I want everything to look perfect.  This outfit will certainly help!

Check out the other ladies in the challenge (and hello and welcome to the new ladies who have joined us this month!

 

6 February 2014

Page Three

I have had the page three debate rolling around in my head for a while now.  What made me want to write about it today was the glamour model that appeared in Celebrity Big Brother and the comments that I saw about her.  The particular comment that made me sad was that her parents would be ashamed of her, because of her profession.  It just strikes me as being very small minded.

The campaign is based upon the twofold reasons of both objectifying women and also been a bad influence on children. 

Firstly, you say that having a topless woman on page three is causing men to continue to objectify women.  The page is torn out; pull on a wall; “used”; etc.  But naked women are not only found on page three.  They are found in fashion magazines, everywhere.  The only difference is that it is labelled as art and is therefore fine.  The page can still be torn out and used however the buyer of the magazine wants to.
 
Not to be crass, but men like naked women and whether that nakedness is in a newspaper or magazine makes not a jolt of difference. 
 
People also complain that children could be subjected to these images.  I grew up with seeing page three photographs and they did not scar me in any way.  Your son is not going to grow up to be a rapist because he saw a pair of breasts in a newspaper.
 
Magazines, just like newspapers are frequently left in trains, buses, park benches.  So yes a child could be passing, pick up the newspaper, turn to page three and see a pair of breasts.  But they could similarly open a fashion magazine and see a woman entirely naked, albeit strategically posed. 

 How do you explain differently the reasons behind each?  Six year old Danny looks at two images and says “Look Mummy, those ladies aren’t wearing any clothes”.  Do you respond that one image is right and one is wrong?  Why is the topless photograph wrong?  I would suggest that telling your child that looking at a naked image is wrong is far more harmful in the long run than the images.
 
They are just pictures.  We are born naked and there is nothing wrong with the naked image.  You can choose to objectify an image or not.
 
H&M recently launched a new underwear campaign with David Beckham in his pants.  Did I stare?  Yes of course I did.   Did I think wow he looks damn hot?  Yes I did.  For those moments he was a body I was looking at and that was the point of the ad.  He had sold his image in order to sell underwear.  Did I judge him? No.  Did I think that he was less of a person for selling those images?  No.

 Now the question I ask is how is that different to a woman who sells her image to page three?   She is selling her image of her own free will in order to sell newspapers for her employer.  Is she being exploited?  No.  It is her chosen profession.  Who is anyone to judge her for that?
 
In a world where women’s rights to their own bodies are being ever more restricted, in a country where female genital mutilation is being carried out right under our noses, in a time where sex workers are stigmatized rather than helped and protected against violence, isn’t it time that the feminist movement worried about something more than just a pair of breasts?

2 February 2014

My Big Fat Rant

Today is my monthly guest column with @fashionworked and I'm having a bit of a rant... Timely given the troll activity on my blog this week as pictured below and the activity on brand Facebook pages and also other on other blogs.



Here is the link to my post http://fashionworked.wordpress.com/2014/02/02/the-plus-perspective-3/

1 February 2014

*Truly Wow Colour Block Skater Dress

I was recently contacted by Marisota and was invited to take part in their Dressolutions Challenge.

Looking through the new season collection, I wanted to find something which pushed my boundaries and also broke some of the so called fashion rules that are placed on us.

What I found was the stylish Truly Wow Colour Block Skater Dress  Although wearing dresses is my thing, I usually tend to go for prints and haven't been able to make colour blocking look right on me.  Also, the whole high neckline is one of the things I am told to avoid.

The coral and black make a bold statement and I love the clean lines of the dress.  I decided that with a long necklace, there was no reason why I couldn't make the dress work for me and so here it is, and I absolutely love it!





Dress - Gifted to me from Marisota
Shoes - SimplyBe - new season
Necklace - charity shop find