Back in February, right at the start of my spending ban, the fantastic plus size range for Lady Vintage London launched, aptly called Lady Voluptuous.
In their own words: Lady Voluptuous is the UK's first dedicated Plus Size Vintage Clothing label and is proud to be Made in London, England. Lady Voluptuous was created in collaboration with Georgina Horne, from the blog Fuller Figure Fuller Bust.
I've been a supporter of Lady Vintage London since they first launched, and rocked their swing dresses for all I was worth! I remember talking Georgina through what style of dress to order, and pointing her in the direction of the Hepburn. The rest is history, and I can't think of a better pairing of Lady V and Georgina, and if Lady Voluptuous is their first borne, I can't wait to see what they produce together next!
I digress!
Lady Voluptuous is now synonymous with the beauts that are Debz and Lucia:
Why Debz and Lucia? Because they represent what makes Lady Voluptuous extra special - that they go up to a size 32. Not only that, but the sizes at the top end of the spectrum were the ones that sold out first! Showing that if you build it (or sew it, in this case), they will come!
When I finally got round to placing an order, I knew the Lyra would be the dress for me - not only because the His Dark Materials trilogy is one of my favs - but because the tea dress is a classic shape missing from my wardrobe! I've got body con, skater, but no tea dresses!
I opted for the 22-24, and it is a perfect fit, hugging my waist (with the tie pulled as tight as I can get it), and skimming everything else.
It is also one of the only wrap dresses where I don't think I'll need to pin / sew it shut. It is a perfect fit for my 36JJ bust.
The Lyra comes in an assortment of colours, and I opted for the jade to start with, but I was tempted by the navy, which may well be my next purchase, but to be honest, I want one in every colour:
This dress may seem a wardrobe staple, but it's a dress I've been hunting for - and that Lady Voluptuous have been the first to deliver!
I can't believe how quickly the next "7th" rolled around! Our theme this month is Floral, and I've had difficulty narrowing it down to just one outfit!
In recent weeks I've had 3 success stories with floral print:
This old Evans number (from Summer 2010), teamed with my Little Miss Delicious cardigan is a perfect spring time combination!
This Lady V London dress (from last Summer), again, teamed with my Little Miss Delicious cardigan, is great match for either days in the office, or nights out on dates!
But I wanted to show you this:
If we can pardon the funny face, and the fact that the sun was shining so much that I had to close my ineffectual curtain to try to block it out a little!
This is the dress I pick up when out shopping (post here), and this was it's first airing!
The whole point of this challenge is not to buy something new just for the purposes of the challenge, but honest guv, this has been in my wardrobe all this time!
Now this was when the sun was shining but the heat wasn't turned up, so I added my trusty shrug:
An instant shot of summer, and the vintage floral print is just a perfect late Spring dress!! This will happily take me to the office, but also out shopping!
It is now back to the main price of £65, but I was lucky enough to snap it up for £35:
I love that this size 20 cardigan fits well over the bust, without hiding the waist, although I have worn it like this:
whilst out at the dentist and a little bit of shopping with my Mam and Grandma at the weekend.
I was conscious of the beading detail, and worried my seat belt would cause it a mischief, but then that serves me right for going out without a coat #northernlass.
Just look at the button detail? Just a nice touch and I do love the combination of this mink coloured cardigan and my purple Lady Vintage London Swing Dress.
As an extra 'luuxious' touch, they' partially lined the cardigan, creating a waistcoat effect, where your arms are the only part of you making contact with the 14% Angora.
And there you have it.
Much an improvement on my last dalliance with the Clements & Ribeiro Collection.
Did you pick anything up in Evans recent glut of offers and discounts?
Okay, so my love of the brand 'Lady Vintage London' has been well and truly documented on these pages, with the added bonus of a little giveaway not so long ago as a thank you.
But they just got even better!
They have extended their sizes in their popular 'Hepburn' dresses, so instead of stopping at a UK20, they now go up to a UK24.
A hepburn dress you say? I've not mentioned them before as I've considered myself sized out of this range, but now, well, now I should hopefully fit perfectly into a UK22 in this style:
With the high neck, according to 'fashion rules' I should discount this dress as my figure wouldn't suit it. Well, I'm sorry, I think I would anyone of these dresses.
The other Hepburn dress currently available in the extended sizes is this:
What a perfect smart black dress to add to your wardrobe staples. I have a dress in a very similar style which is my 'interview' dress, and I would be happy to replace it with this. Add a my green cardi, and I have perfect dress for the office or for lunch with friends.
I suspect this extended size option is available to see if it would be popular across their other ranges, so how about it ladies? Anything take your fancy here?
It happens. They don't work. And they get returned.
Sometimes I'm bashful that I even tried it, sometimes I'm relieved that I can return it and sometimes, well, I love it so much I want to MAKE it work!
These are from the A/W12 collection from Simply Be, the hi-lo hemmed skirt in wine, and the black top with removable embellished Peter Pan collar.
The black top was just too heavy for my liking. Yes, great for the winter, but for me, I'll just melt! I'm much more a 'layers' girl, not a thick jumper type! I was tempted to keep it for the collar alone, as the detailing was so delicate. Sadly, not for me. Also, this was the 20, and it was rather baggy and loose for my tastes.
The skirt on the other hand, was tight in the 20, and I was tempted by the 22, but I realised that it would lose the fit at the waist, and possibly still not fit on my rear, but this is just a guess.
The gathering at the front is a nice touch, but I felt like to added to my size. I didn't mind this, but if you want something to skim, this skirt isn't it.
The reason I gave up on this item was I looked in my wardrobe and tried on a number of tops I already had, but nothing seemed to work with it. Either the length was wrong, or the colour.
Not for me I'm afraid.
This little beauty was from, you guessed it, Lady Vintage London and their 'plus size' range. This is stocked by a number of different companies, but as I was also placing an order with them for a swing dress, I wanted to give this a try as well.
I've ordered from this range before, or so I'd thought. This dress is sold at the larger end, in dual sizing. I opted for 22 - 24 as I knew the 18 - 20 would be asking too much!
This dress fits across the bust perfectly, but is rather 'loose' everywhere else in the top half. I was massively tempted to return the dress, but the print, cut and style were too tempting to pass up!
I'm hoping my Grandma will be able to dart it, or work some kind of magic and make it the 'perfect' dress!!
So, what do you do if the clothes don't work? Hoard? Return? Or make it work?
First of all, I want to apologise for the poor quality of these pictures, they were taken quickly, and not with a post in mind. When going through my photos, the idea for this post was borne!
You will all know my love of the small brand, Lady Vintage London, and their amazing swing dresses. I love the cut, but more importantly, the variety of prints and colours that they are available in!
Now, some people have said to me that they would love to shop there, but don't know when they would wear these dresses. Now, I am lucky in that my work is rather relaxed when it comes to dress code - in fact I am more strict on myself then work some of the time!!
So yes, I have 4 of these swing dresses in different prints, and would probably wear all of them to work in some way or another. But how? Well, here this post idea was borne!
My Blue Tit print dress here, with my Little Miss Delicious red cardigan - buttoning the top button means I can be a little more 'covered' then the square neck allows sometimes!
Here is my scarf print dress - the dress is rather hidden under the blazer, but looky here for a better view of the print. I wore this when I was popping out to town for a few errands, and it did feel rather wasted on that - but it goes to show how my brain automatically switches to 'smart' rather than 'casual'!
Due to my ever more painful adhesions, I opted not to wear this with a belt to work - which also meant that it wasn't overtly busty or hourglassy - but if you want to see what it looked like with a belt, looky here.
Also, it is worth while popping over to their Facebook page here, where they are having a competition for their fans to post pictures of them in Lady Vintage, and the most likes, wins a £50 voucher. In addition, there is a discount code available for 10% off your next order - but only if you like them on Facebook and they'll message you the code.
I'm popping over there regularly and liking everyone's pictures as, really, everyone looks great in these dresses!
I am massively excited to be reliving the event that was Plus North. I knew it would be good, (see here), but I didn't expect it to be this amazing!
In my earlier post, I explained a little as to what Caroline (of CurvyWordy fame) and I got up to in Leeds, but stopped short of the Main Event!
The Main Event!
We had an early night in preparation on Friday, and were up all bright eyed and bushy tailed:
I had already planned to wear my Lady Vintage dress from this post, but I needed a cardigan to go with it - I opted for this cardigan by Little Miss Delicious:
I chose the 18-20 so it would fit my waist, which it does perfectly.
Once Caroline and I arrived at Aspire - a beautiful venue in Leeds City Centre - we were whisked away to Simply Be to try on the outfits we were to be modelling on the catwalk. Oh yes, the catwalk! But I'm getting too far ahead of myself!
We had the option of heading down two flights of stairs to try the clothes on in the swanky bathroom, OR, strip off in front of everyone, and hurriedly try on our outfits for immediate approval / suggestions from the other blogging models. I opted to get changed there and then... I only later realised that in my prancing state that there were males walking in and out of the mezzanine level!
Whilst changing, we had the chance to introduce ourselves (even though we really knew each other already), and I caught up again with Kaye (after meeting her at the Simply Be Stockton Opening), I also 'met' Dannielle, Rosie and caught up with Cyn - a fellow model from Plus London! Pals in Arms almost! Cyn wasn't happy with her outfits, and so we mixed and matched instead. The camaraderie was there, ready to help us if needed! We didn't need it.
With the outfits settled, I was keen to catch up with, well, everyone! But it was Benefit make up time. And I was a bad blogger and didn't get a photo of the makeup - suffice to say I've added Pore-ffesional, They're Real, and a brow visit to my list of 'must haves'!
Make up done, I handed my hair straighteners to Cyn, and headed downstairs to get my name badge:
This was where we met the comedy duo that was Mr BeBe, and his partner in crime, Ben. I can see how they kept Becky sane, or drove her to distraction, one of the two!
Whilst at the 'front desk', Hayley Wall swanned in, looking luscious in her post Barcelona glow:
We had a wander around the stalls as they were setting up, and I had the opportunity to hand out a couple of these:
My new business cards from Staples in Crown Point! Suitably vintage and girly I hope!
We had the pleasure of meeting the lovely PeskyChloe, and my name badge gained an extra visitor:
I'm sure you'll agree that he is a sweetie!
On chatting with the brands there, I have to say I'm looking forward to working with Excite Clothing and Curvissa in the future, brands who are looking to develop and work with us to make sure they meet the needs of the growing plus size community.
The competition to 'dress' the dress form was a brilliant idea!
Strangely, I wasn't nervous. I knew I was in a room of positivity, of inclusion, and most of all, of warmth.
The 12 models all lined up ready for the catwalk to commence - Charlotte-of-SimplyBe was ready to read out our outfits, and where appropriate, our blog addresses. We were ready:
My first outfit. I cobbled this together, and so glad I did! I loved the jeans, and think it needed to be shown that fat lasses can wear skinny jeans. I have chunky calves, and large thighs, but felt AMAZING in these size 20 skinny jeans from Simply Be. The COLOUR is delightful. I can't decide if the outfit works or not, but I loved the sparkly animal print top, and as it needed a belt to give it shape, I needed to add the light tan belt.
Second outfit:
This is my favourite. And I think it shows! I love purple, but never loved my legs enough to encase them in it! Now though, well, try to stop me!
I know that skater dresses work for me, and I am so glad I had the opportunity to wear this on the catwalk, and show how great it can look.
You want to see how amazing we looked on the catwalk?
Enjoy!
After the catwalk was over - which was all too quickly if you ask me - the models were told they could keep the clothes as a thank you - blumming generous lot if you ask me!
As you can see, we were a very happy bunch after that news!
Now we were free to enjoy the rest of the day. I managed to sit for all of 5 minutes, before heading off to talk to Tesco for a little bit, getting excited about their work on their plus size 'True' range, and their work in their virtual dressing room.
I was able to get my nails painted (quickly), to match the outfit I'd planned for the evening, and stole a number of fruitella sweets from the Curvissa stall! - I've requested parma violets and macaroons from them next year!
The prize draw was pulled, and so many happy faces as the winners paraded up the catwalk. As we were wrapping up, I suddenly realised who half of the wonderful women were! I am so sorry if I didn't speak to you, or didn't know who you were, I was rather flustered by being in a room with so many amazing and beautiful ladies in it - I did the best I could!
I not only got a goodie bag as a thank you from SimplyBe, but I also got a gift bag from the lovely Plus North team!
Now, the Plus North team. Many things have been said already about the wonderful job these women did of planning this event in 6 MONTHS. Imagine what they could do in 12 MONTHS!
As we were leaving we hastily came up with a plan for tea - Jamie's Italian. We speedily rushed back to the hotel to get freshened up before the table booked for 8:30. Other than a delayed taxi and masses of rain, our night went as planned.
My outfit was arranged in advance: My Collectif top (in a 20 this time), my Domino Dollhouse skirt and my Collectif petticoat for added umph!
I even went bare legged - unheard of for me, but with a bit of Vaseline smeared to avoid chub rub, I was set!
A merry time was had by all, and I have to say, I even stepped up on the Karaoke stage!
When the latest Lady Vintage London prints were released on Facebook I was drawn to the heart print dress. I loved the youthful feeling of the print, the candy colours, as well as the the fact that behind the hearts, was the most delightful red and blue flower pattern. I was hooked!
So when the lovely Vickie asked me to choose one of the above dresses, I was quick to plump for my gut, and go for the heart print dress. I wasn't disappointed!
These photos were taken as soon as the dress had arrived! My twitter feed LOVED the dress, and it didn't take me long to decide that I would be wearing this to Plus North.
I was planning to keep the writing of this post for later, closer to the event, but as the sizes are selling out fast, and because I am so excited about the dress and the event, I got myself all dolled up this morning (and dyed my hair!).
Now, hang on, I know you're wondering how my photos taken in the bathroom mirror are going to be better than the ones I've put above... well, I went and got me a tripod!!
I know the poses need some work, but:
And here we go - an out-take photo!!
I love this brand, and their swing dresses. I have talked about them in a number of posts:
