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Monday 25 February 2013

Inspiration: Mad Men

Wow. I was so late to the Mad Men party that I've been playing catch up ever since!

I've had the DVD of Series 1 for 3 years?! I only started to watch it because Sky Atlantic started showing it from the beginning. Even then, I was a slow starter, not really feeling the power of it until Season 3. And then it hit me. I had my favourite character (Peggy), most hated character (Betty / Pete), and just swooned over the styling and the story lines, and the American Dream as each episode slipped past me. 

The first week of living in my new home had me with no telly - what better time to immerse myself into a TV series that is so well written, well acted, and so well styled. 

As a result, it's been having an effect on my fashion choices recently.

Take this print:


Add it to this shape:


Equals something a little like this:


In my ASOS dress from December 2011

Then there was the iconic Purple Dress from Season 5:


And my sneaky purchase in November from this eBay seller:



I'm going to ask my Grandma to see if we can move some buttons, if not, it'll have to be sold - I didn't check the sizing chart, so it's all my own fault really that it didn't work out as well as it could have done - which is why I've included the picture above for comparison purposes!

Peggy is not all about the 50s full skirt mind:


So my little nod to this?


My Clothing at Tesco's Swan print dress from December 2012.

And you know what? My addiction to Peggy's style is no bad thing - look where it got her. It got her recognition, and position.

Although I won't be making this mistake:


Much love my lovelies,

K x


Wednesday 13 February 2013

Ax Office!

When I was approached by Ax Paris to select a dress from their collection to review, I was worried I'd find their dresses too short. What I wasn't expecting was on trend dresses to be sold out in my size 22 - chosen because they seemed to all have bust details which meant I would need the extra space!

Surprised at how quickly their stock was selling, I was excited when I found their New In section, and fell for this dress in navy:


This dress is still available in a range of sizes, from 16 - 26 HERE.

This dress made me rather happy: it was sleeveless - hello proud arm baring in the summer; it was floaty and girly; the leather collar just yelled at me to try it!

When it arrived I was in the process of The Move, which is why this is a good week or so after I wore it! I was planning on letting you know how it washed etc, but as my washing machine is currently being fixed by my Dad, it may be a while before that happens!

So, the dress!

Being sleeveless and in the middle of a cool spell, I wanted something which offered a little arm coverage. Cue my first instagram picture in my bedroom:


So, we can see the 22 was still not really roomy enough for my 36H bust, but with a black cami top underneath, and my Tatty Devine flower, with Excite Clothing Shrug, I was set! Oh yes, and tights :)

I chose the purple shrug as I felt the colour really complimented the navy, and brought out the hint of lilac in the tulip print:


This dress felt pretty good on - it was floaty and romantic to swish around the office, with the leather detail adding the right about of toughness - like I said, a great combination that I'm sure I'll be wearing to DEATH this summer!

Close up of the face and necklace. It is the first time I've worn this necklace as I found the length just too long. I took matters into my own hands though, and tied a loop knot in it so I could shorten it to a more appropriate length!


There you go Miss Takes! A brand I've not tried before as I thought they would be too short for me, and it turns out they're an okay length!

Shame about the bust on this dress, but it's manageable, and I'm sure that I'll be able to get into a 22 in a more giving material. 

Much love my lovelies, 

K x

Friday 8 February 2013

Killer Curves in the Office

I've had this tee shirt for a while now - in fact I bought it as soon as it was released by the lovely Betty over at http://talesfrombettybeetowers.blogspot.co.uk/. 

Stupidly on my part though, I stuck it with my working jeans, and it quickly became a 'I'm working on my house' tee shirt. 

How silly of me!

Today?

I'm wearing it in the office!

It's a 'dress down' day in honour of one of my colleagues, and so, I thought I would rock out my Killer Curves tee.


The tee shirts are available here, with slash necks as well. I've never got on with slash necks in the past, so went with this standard shape.


Invasion of the Killer Curves indeed!

On Wednesday, you may have seen that 4 fabulous ladies took part in a styling challenge with this tee as their theme:


I had had thoughts of wearing this tee in the office, but always discounted it on ground of, well, how would I wear it. 

Being in  'mid move' mode, more than half of my clothes are still at my parents. On Wednesday I threw some more into a box and hurried home. 

When two items fell together. My black skinny jeans, and this tee. At which point, an idea was born. 

In my head, I would look like Sandy at the end of Grease, in her tight pants and skimpy top. Instead of a leather jacket I decided to pair it with my green Little Miss Delicious cardigan (available here).


Not seen are my leopard print flats to add a hint of glamour to the outfit. 

Once my red lippy was on, I knew this outfit was a winner for today!

Quite the accident really!

Much love my lovelies, 

K x

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Moving in, moving on

Eeeeeeeeeee! I can't believe this is my 200th post! How am I at this milestone already - just blumming ridiculous!

Not only that, but this weekend saw me MOVING IN! And as part of moving house, is the great PACKING panic.

It's not really been that bad in my case, as I've been able to leave a LOT of things at my Mam & Dad's, without worrying about them throwing stuff out etc. which has been a great relief!

I'm even moving my clothes across one batch at a time, which means it is rather odd just having a dozen items staring at me in a morning!

One of the benefits though is discovering things you forgot you had, or which you've fallen out of love with. One such item was this skirt from Evans circa 2008:


I love it! It's a heavy material, and the satin bands around the hem add extra weight so it hangs perfectly!

And yes, look, no awkward bathroom / hallway shot - as my bedroom has two huge full length mirrors in the build in wardrobe! 


Once I'm a little sorted, my tripod and camera will be coming with me for better photos still, but I think this is a massive improvement already!

When my bedroom is a little more 'together', I'll do a bit of a better review of my wardrobe, organisation and otherwise. 

But I'm just happy to have my bed out of storage:


Awww, just looking at that photo makes me happy!

My cosy front room is a favourite of mine at the moment though:


Because of the red carpet, I couldn't continue with my theme of teal and purple in this room, so I've gone for reds and browns in here - as much as I could on a budget!


And on Monday night, my first ever Yankee Candle got lit! My lavender addiction means it's the perfect scent to have on the go on these winter nights, watching Mad Men on DVD (no TV yet, just my free TV set and my old DVD player!)


Perfect, I'm sure you'll agree!

I'm so glad to finally be in, and settled.

Yes, there is still a TONNE of work to be done, but with 2 rooms done (living room and bedroom), my kitchen just needs painting, and then it's a paper stripping mission in the back sitting room, hallway, stairs, landing and back bedroom. 

I'll keep you updated!

Much love my lovlies,

K xx

Friday 1 February 2013

Stripes and Prints

I had planned to wear this today. There was meant to be an after work thing happening, so I thought this would take me nicely from work to the thing.

When this got changed, my outfit choice changed. 

I pulled out this dress, and tried to style it when I got in from work yesterday. When digging about looking for a bright coloured shrug, I pulled out this cardigan:


I picked it up when I bought my New Year's Eve dress, and instantly forgot about it!

When I spotted it again last night, I was keen to pull an outfit together around it. 


This got popped onto Instagram (MissKathryn84) this morning, and I have to say, it makes me feel like I can take on anything. Including awkward work situations. 

Someone tweeted me to say how fab it was, and how slimming it was. Which surprised them as it's all horizontal stripes. 

Now, I love this because of the colour, it's different, it reflects the vintage in me, without being too out there - I didn't buy it to be slimming.

I also don't subscribe to the 'rules' that say clothes should be flattering or slimming. I'm fat, deal with it. 

I'm wearing my ! print skirt, which is now terribly faded because of the amount of times I wear it, and a belt I bought from Caroline.

There is a black top underneath, which is a work logo shirt, in case the material proved too hot in our office - it isn't - but I needed to be able to take this off if the temperature rose!

I know belts are a contentious issue, and I do have days when I can't face wearing one:


And this is what this would look like without the belt. 

I'm mainly wearing one as I ordered this skirt about 2 sizes too big, so I need something to hold it up! But as you can see, the black detail at the waist just sits nicely at my waist, and does provide a good contrast.

Same pose, with belt:


And there you have it. 

An outfit that made me realise why I love fashion and our independent designers are doing amazing things for us plussize ladies!


Happy Kathryn face!

Much love my lovelies,

K x