Not So Black Magic

Top – Beth Ditto – via Amanda at Fat Swap Shop

Jacket – from Gina

Scarf – from Yours via Plus London 2011

Leggings – Evans

Shoes – New Look

I don’t often wear all black and even when I do, I still end up adding colour – whether its colourful shoes or a scarf. I tend not to wear black any more because when I was THAT fat girl – the sad, unconfident, wallflower one – all I wore was black. Now I find when I do wear black, I tend to feel like that girl again. However on Sunday, I felt like wearing something shapeless and black. We went for lunch at a friends’ house in Reading and for most of the day it was wet and miserable. Therefore black seemed the correct colour to wear!

However, looking back at the pictures, I don’t really like the outfit. It’s not me and I felt frumpy and self conscious all day. I think it was more to do with the association of the colours than the actually outfit. I’m really glad I added the jacket and the scarf to brighten it up!

I have certainly seen the appeal with having a denim jacket – I love the one Gina sent me! I also wore my hair in a different way – less Vulcan like. It’s good to have short hair that can be worn different ways.

Five Take: Nautical

Five Take time again! Just in case you banged your head and forgot what it’s all about, Five Take is where five bloggers (me, Nicole, Gina, Becky and Rebecca) all take one theme and style it our way. This week was the turn of nautical. The theme has been seen before and you can see how I wore it here.

So where better to wear a nautical themed outfit than on an actual ship! Yesterday, the Husband and I braved the elements and boarded the good ship Cutty Sark in Greenwich. We were with his parents for his dad’s birthday but I’m quite bad at museums etc, I like to whizz through and read the odd bit. So I tend to wander off ahead of everyone else and then wait for them at the gift/coffee shop.

Firstly, here’s my outfit:

Anchor vest – ASOS curve 2010

Cardigan – Joe Browns @Simply Be

Denim jacket – from Gina

Trousers – ASOS curve

Boat shoes(!!) – New Look

 The anchor vest was the first ever item I bought from ASOS curve. I wore it a lot when I first got it, packed it away for the winter and then didn’t wear it at all last summer. It very nearly ended up in the eBay bag, but I’m glad I saved it as it’s a lovely top.  I also added my boat shoes! As you can see, I’ve gone for a rather controversial haircut (as always!). I love it, but the husband thinks I look like a little fat Vulcan. I’m taking it as a compliment!!

Plus, I finally got a denim jacket – via Gina – we swapped clothes! I swapped her a skirt for it. I really like it and I was surprisingly warm in it, despite the wind and the rain!

Back to the ship – I haven’t been onboard the Cutty Sark for about 25 years! Its spent the last few years being renovated (and being almost burnt to the ground in a fire!) and it re-opened a couple of days ago. The major difference has been the glass building built around and under the ship, so you can now walk under it and around it. However, I loved being up on deck and spent most of my time up there – taking pictures and pretending I was a Sea Dog (I love boats!). Here are some of my pictures:

New entrance to the ship – you used to walk up the gang-plank!

It was a tea clipper so did most of its voyages between the UK and China in its heyday

 

A misty Canary Wharf

It’s worth a trip, even if you whizz around the inside bits and head up to the deck (like I did!).

Don’t forget to see what the others have worn:

Nicole - http://awellroundedventure.com/

Gina - http://fatfitfine.blogspot.co.uk/

Becky - http://theramblingsofmrsbebe.blogspot.co.uk/

Rebecca - http://theplussideofme.com/

Double Bird Print

Anyone who reads this blog and/or follows me on twitter, will know that I have the tiniest of obsessions with bird print. I have LOTS of bird print items hanging in my wardrobe but I have never considered wearing them together – that was until I saw Gabi wearing this outfit. So being the little copycat that I am, I came up with this outfit:

Top – Simply Be

Jacket – New Look

Skirt – Made by Kirsty

I actually really like it and I think I prefer the tunic as a blouse a lot more so I may wear it like this more often. The skirt I got made for me by Kirsty is worn a lot! It goes with so much in my wardrobe, I absolutely love it! I had a woman on the DLR ask me where I had bought it the other day, it gave me great pleasure to say it was a one off made especially for me! I of course passed on Kirsty’s details and I hope she gets a sale out of my gushing smugness.

I am now thinking which other bird print items I own I can pair together – watch this space for more double bird print!

Feminine Wiles

Top – Next

Skirt – H&M

Shoes – Evans

I really don’t consider myself very feminine but once in a while an outfit “appears” that makes me feel very lady like! This is one such outfit. The floaty skirt combined with the ultra cute top all point to someone who is girly and giggles. It was fun pretending to be such a woman for one day only, I ruined it the minute I opened my mouth I’m sure!

I was inspired by Kendi to buy the top after seeing her in this outfit (I was also trying to recreate this outfit too but the floral trousers looked hideous on me) but also the top is bit too short for me to feel comfortable wearing it with trousers. However, I’ve found it looks lovely with my midi skirts! SO that is how I will be wearing it from now on – I might even try it over one of my midi dresses. You know to mix it up a bit.

Thrilling here isn’t it!

Do you have an outfit which makes you feel the opposite to your normal style? If so what is it?

Five Take: Maxi Dresses

I’m not sure who came up with this week’s challenge but I like it! I have three maxi dresses – you can see them here, here and here. Today I decided to wear the one I’ve not worn for ages – seeing as I’m wearing the Ruby Rocks one to lounge around the house.

Dress – Ruby Rocks via Val’s blog sale

Cardigan – New Look Inspire

Anyway on to today’s real outfit!

Dress – Evans

Shrug (just seen) – Style369

Cardigan – Joe Browns

Trilby – ASOS

Necklace – gift

I was inspired by Rebecca and her way of making a maxi dress warmer - because today is chilly and wet. So I added the shrug because I wanted to have long sleeves on but also wanted to keep the boobs on show (and to prove to Tracey that I do show off my cleavage!). I then added the cardigan because the shrug is thin t-shirt like material. I love layers!

The last time I wore the dress, I picked up on the jewel greens in it. This time I went for the brown and the more earthy greens. The hat and necklace were a last minute style addition – its kinda boho chic. Although the husband – you know that well known style guru that he is – said I looked like a “country laydee”! On asking for a better explanation his response was “You know, a lady of the country persuasion.”… I have no words!

Anyway back to the outfit – I really like it! The hat is the husband’s but we have fought over it ever since it arrived last summer. No doubt I will have to buy my own – or him another one – this summer. I was warm and I felt pretty cool.

Also I added ankle boots – ones I had forgotten I had! – to keep up with the wintry theme (Becky and I are in pretty similar outfits – great minds et al). I can’t believe I forgot about the boots but its like having new items when you rediscover something…well it is to me!

I’ve added this last picture because I like it – MORE RAIN! Although, I kinda like wet lazy Sundays.

Don’t forget to check out the other wonderful women:

Gina - http://fatfitfine.blogspot.co.uk/

Nicole - http://awellroundedventure.com/

Rebecca - http://theplussideofme.com/

Becky - http://theramblingsofmrsbebe.blogspot.co.uk/

Chesca Review

Last week I was contacted by Chesca and asked if I wanted to review an item. To be honest I had never heard of the brand, but when I looked on the site this top looked familiar but for the life of me I can’t think where from.

Anyway, I had a look and whilst most of the items are not my style, a couple of pieces did jump out at me. One was this jumpsuit and the other was this vest. Chesca sent me the vest and when it arrived, I was impressed with the finish and the detail on the top. Its a 24 but the sizes are generous because it fits my bust (the usual downfall) perfectly. Unfortunately, I find it too short for me to feel comfortable wearing it with jeans or slim legged trousers. However my Domino Dollhouse skirt came to the rescue:

Top – Chesca (gifted)

Skirt – Domino Dollhouse Dotty Noir collection (in serious need of an iron!)

Cardigan – Evans Collection

The high waisted skirt means the shortness of the top doesn’t matter and whilst I am a big fan of colour, I like the blacks and browns in this outfit. The detailing is gorgeous as well.

I’ve never owned anything made from silk before, so whilst the price tag of £55 is pretty steep and certainly out of my budget range for a camisole, it is a natural fabric. As we know, this is rare with plus size retailing.

To show you the shortness of the top, I also took pictures of wearing the top with some trousers.

 Trousers – Yours Clothing

Jacket – New Look Inspire

The middle picture shows where the hem of the top sits, but the high waisted trousers help.

So overall, I was impressed with the quality and the size width wise of the top. It could do with a few more inches on the bottom for me. However, my torso is quite long and someone with a shorter body would probably find this a perfectly reasonable length top. The Chesca collection overall isn’t for me, its a bit too “old” for my style. However if they started a selling a few more “on trend” pieces I would considered investing in something, especially if it was made from natural fabric.

However, just because the collection isn’t my style, it might be some of yours. So Chesca has offered free delivery on all orders using MONKEY as a code.

If you do buy something, please use the code and let me know what you buy. I’m always interested.

Un peu Parisienne!

So having bought the same pair of trousers (blue cigarette ones from New Look), Gina and I set ourselves a mini fashion challenge. The challenge was a simple one – we both style and wear the trousers and blog about it. I did a similar thing with Naomi recently and she looked LOADS better in the dress.

So here is my outfit:

Jacket – New Look

Shirt – Frock and Frill @ Simply Be

Trousers – New Look

Shoes – Dorothy Perkins

Scarf – New Look

Hands down this is my all time favourite outfit. I look how I always want to look – smart, sophisticated, chic and well, un peu Parisienne!

I have had to resist buying the jacket in navy as well – I already have it in black! I have a real thing for blazers at the moment and these ones are light weight enough to not feel stuffy but as warm as cardigans. I love grey and peach as a colour combination, so when I saw the scarf, I knew I had to have it! Especially because it has … yes you guessed it - birds on it ! I clearly have a problem! As for the trousers, as Gina said recently on Twitter, I have never met a pair of New Look trousers that don’t fit me perfectly. It is very true. All I want now is for these trousers to come in grey and I am sorted.

My love for Inspire continues – it’ll have a quiet period and then BAM! the site will be full of items I *must* have! My bank balance looks like I’m donating money to New Look sometimes.

Do you have an outfit that just makes you feel amazing? If so why?

Don’t forget to go and see how Gina styled her trousers.