The matrix

I don't get on very well with white dresses, so as much as I love the baroque print ASOS curve swing dress I bought a last month I just didn't feel very comfortable in it. I wore it to work, and for lunch with my (not officially) in-laws, but I wasn't really sure about it. When I saw the green and black angle print swing dress I was like DAMN! that one is way more me... so I decided to sell my baroque print dress and buy the angle one.

I noticed that the print placement was different on the regular version for this dress, so I ordered and 18 in asos, and a 20 in asos curve to compare. It's too damn cold to get fully changed so the leggings I was wearing today look a bit odd. Please ignore them!

Curve first...

So the Curve dress is the perfect fit. I'm quite tall so it comes to just above my knee, which is my perfect length for a swing dress. The arms are comfy and it's generally very nice. The only problem is that there is a seem down the back which doesn't match up the print properly. It's a bit of a shame, but I knew from the pictures that this might be the case.

The print placement on the regular asos dress is much better I think, but this size 18 is a bit small for me - it's tight on the bust and arms, and so the fabric becomes a little see through so it doesn't swing as much as like it should!. The length is also too short for me. Shame becuase I think the dress looks better with the print like this.

I've decided to go for the curve version because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.... it's more comfortable too and I feel a bit rock chick-ish in it!

There's no business like show business!

I love this time of year - awards season. Its all about the dresses for me, and now that the Oscars have been and gone I can roll around in all the beautiful dresses! There were some massive fashion crimes committed on the red carpets this year (Jennifer Lopez) but I'm focusing on the positive, so here are my favourites!


Golden Globes.

 Really enjoyed all the high necklines and over the top bead work this year. I also became obsessed with the phrase 'that would have looked so much better if her hair was up'. That is how I feel about this dress - the neckline is so ott that the hair sort of ruins it for me. A big loose up-do would have made this even more special I think.

 Jessica can wear anything she wants, She always looks amazing.

 We had a proper debate in the office about this one. I think it's like a fairytale dress. My colleague thought it was too childish and didn't like the photographic flowers. What do you think?!

 another high neck classic dress. This just screams old school Hollywood glamour to me.

Taking my prize for the best dressed at the golden globes... Helen Mirren hands down. I want this dress for myself. It is perfection!

The Grammys.

 This is the kind of dress I would actually like to wear.

 I wish I couldn't see her pants, because it makes this lovely dress look tacky!

Much discussion was had about this dress. It's another 'should have worn the hair up' situation for me, but I love the actual dress. I agree with my colleague though that Katy might be a bit too pale and to look good in this colour. Maybe it's the back hair? What a figure she has though!

Something else I loved this awards season was all the Art Deco stylings. This dress is like a subtle little work of art!

Too cool for school. Perfect colour, simple style, and neon shoes that seem to be made from lego! I adore this!

 Woah now, love or hate?! The turban ruins this outfit for me, but without it (and with hair up.. again!) I think this dress would have been amazing - It's like something Cleopatra would have worn (or at least the Hollywood version of Cleopatra!). I'd wear this dress, I really would!

Joint 'best dressed' for me were Beyonce in this casual and fabulous jumpsuit...

... and Taylor swifts beautiful gown. Really lovely.

 National TV awards.

This was more of a horror show than a red carpet. I consider the UK to be a real fashion hub, particularly London, but you wouldn't know it to look at the red carpet at our TV awards. The only little glimmer of light came from this beautiful deco and yellow dress from heaven. The rest was like a circus!

Golden Globes.

I was really disappointed by the frocks at the golden globes this year. There was only one that I went nuts for. I quite like Gemma Artentons dress above, but there is a part of me that thinks it looks a bit cheap - almost like jersey... not that that is a bad thing I guess!

Hair up please! This dress looks like a cross between a 70's maxi and a medieval gown. I like it, but I'm not sure why. Probably biased because she plays Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones!

Winner! Classic and simple. Love love love.

Oscars.

I genuinely can't remember the last time I saw Nicole Kidman and thought 'Oooh, nice dress!', but this one really suits her and I would totally wear this.

I'm not sure that this dress really suits her, but I love the dress itself. Deco again!

I really like this dress, I just really don't like the colour!

More deco! Classically beautiful, and the nude colour gives it a sexy feel.

There was so much black this year, but who cares if you get to dress like a dark princess?!

More Deco, really?! I hope this trend reaches the high street because I adore Art Deco. Almost my favourite, just pipped to the post by this one....

Oh this is special! What stunner, quite unusual but looks amazing.

As my blog is about plus size fashion (which seems to be anyone over a size 16 in media land) I thought I'd put up some of the not-a-size-4 ladies frocks. Sadly I think most of them are horrid....

This sequin number is probably my favorite.

 I was so happy to see Adele in something other than a black dress! I don't like the style of the dress, but love the colours, pattern and boldness of it. I think if this has a low neckline it would have been a million times better!

I feel a bit sad that when there are so few plus sized women on the red carpet, the ones who are on there wear disappointing clothes! If some of the bloggers I follow were on the red carpet they would be rocking all kinds of madness, and would look as good as the thin girls, so surely it can be done?! When Lisa Riley went out on the red carpet in the silk Anna Scholz maxi dresses she looked stunning, I know it's a bit bright and funky for the oscars but it's nice to see a big woman in something so eye-catching don't you think?. More of that please!

Lets end on a high note. Can I just give a quick shout-out to Cate Blanchet for always trying new styles and looking not only more interesting than everyone else but normally more beautiful too. She got slagged off for the dress she wore to this years AACTA awards, but I saw it and was like YES! That dress blows my mind!

Who were your favourites?!

Dang it!

This post is for the lovely Rachel from a dress is for life.

I don't really buy clothing from Tesco, because I think their plus collection (True) is almost unbelievably boring. I often like stuff from their regular collection, but as I can't try anything in-store I wouldn't normally risk getting anything non-stretch from there if I can't get it above a size 22.

Anyway, I got very excited when I saw Danielle Vanier wearing this amazing dress at BPSFW (here). I was even more excited when I found out it was from Tesco for only £28, and the size 22 was in stock. Ordered it yesterday, got it today, tried it just now...

Available to buy here

Bummer - it's just too tight for me!

If I could size up in this then I absolutely would, because it's a great dress, but the bits where it is tight (belly, boobs & arms) makes it a bit uncomfortable for me...

.... sadly, although the description says 'thick stretch jersey', it's actually that thick stretchy polyester fabric that vintage clothing is often made of, so although it's stretchy it does not have the same kind of give that jersey does - which allows your sticky out bits to properly stick out! This fabric holds it all in, and I don't like my boobies to be so restricted. FYI this is just above the knee on me, so good length.

Gutted.... really wanted this to fit, because the prints is fabulous! On the plus side Tesco do free returns so it's only the delivery money I've lost... never mind. Maybe one day Tesco (who do seem to be genuinely interested in plus size fashion, judging from their involvement with bloggers and things like BPSFW) will start making this kind of clothing for their true collection, so plus sizes above a 20/22 can buy their cool stuff?!

A bit of perspective

At the risk of exposing my deep seated mental illness too all my readers, I thought I'd write something about one of my 'stop buying dresses' techniques. I haven't done this for ages (which is probably why I have no money and too many dresses!) so today I started up a new note book.

I've been stuck at home with a bad back and the temptation to look at clothes online is almost overwhelming. The problem with having better choices (i.e more than just Evans) and more reasonably priced plus sized clothing these days means that there is ALWAYS something I want. 5 years ago I only saw clothing that I REALLY wanted maybe once a month, but now... I always have a wish list. Last year was an expensive one what with moving and my first beach holiday in 5 years etc, and my clothes addiction did not help the old bank balance, so today I have been taking stock! The picture above is my dress wardrobe. Ridiculous isn't it?!

So to stop my from buying, I sketch all of my dresses. You may think I'm bonkers, but it actually really helps. I do this for lots of reasons...

For one thing it takes up time I would be using to drool over dresses online. I do genuinely look at them sometimes to help me decide what to wear, because staring at so many options in the wardrobe can sometimes make getting dressed much more difficult than it needs to be. It also really draws my attention to how obscene my dress collection is, and therefore shames me into taking a bit of a dress buying break! I currently have 79 dresses in this wardrobe.... but thats not even all of them, I also have a little suitcase full of super summery dresses that I packed away at the beginging of winter. I have of course filled every gap in the wardrobe with NEW dresses since then, but selling shit loads of stuff is helping ease the situation. The size of my collection wouldn't really matter if I were rich, or if I had a huge home with walk in wardrobes etc, but I'm not, so i must curb!

Curbing is hard, but purging isn't - this is one of my old note books, and the dresses that are scribbled out are ones I've sold or given to charity. I use these crappy little sketches to think about what I have and haven't worn / what I do / don't like etc. I've got so much to sell at the moment (thanks to you guys who have helped my cause by buying from my blog shop btw!) and I've also got loads of stuff to give away. I don't actually know any women my size to give clothes away to, and annoyingly I don't have a cancer research shop near me these days (my charity of choice) so without a car it's become tricky to actually donate anything to charity.... might have to investigate their website to see if they do collections in my neck of the woods. Wouldn't it be amazing if there was a charity shop in London that specialised in plus sizes?! One can dream....

Anyway, I find my insane note books really helpful. In fact it has left me with the desire to have a mini wardrobe spring clean, which is what I'm about to do!

7 days of outfits (from last week!)