Lips and a yoke

I ordered the Swan by Clements Ribeiro shirt dress as soon as it came online. In all honestly I didn't like anything else from the collection - the prints are great, but the cuts are just not for me. As with the last 2 Swan collections I think everything is too boxy. I just don't understand how clothing (apparently) specifically designed for fat women has ended up being tight and clingy on the belly / bum / hips. It may be a cut that works for girls who are a sort of upside-down triangle shape, but on me it's an absolute disaster! Sadly my experience with this particular collaboration's dresses have always been bad, but when I saw this shirt dress I thought aha! Finally C&R have tried a different shape! I had to give it a go....

In all honesty the first thing I thought when I took it out of the bag was 'wow, that is very flimsy for £45!'. The fabric is sooo thin - I would say that it would be amazing when it gets hot but it's synthetic so not really. I like the feel to the touch, but I definitely would have liked something this thin to be made from cotton, or if synthetic then something a little bit more sturdy. Nevermind. I went for a size 24 in this, as there was no way on earth I'd get a 22 done up over my baps!

Cut-wise the top half is lovely - bit of gaping in the centre of the bust but I always get that and I'll just pin it. I LOVE the length of the arms, and they fit quite well considering I have sumo wrestler arms! The bottom half isn't quite so good because we're vearing back into the old swan problem - it's a much less generous cut on the belly & hips. On a positive note the neck is a good size so I don't feel choked with it done up!

 As you can see this is actually quite short on me. I'm not mad for the elastic on the back because it rucks up under my back fat (yumyum!) and I feel like I'll have to wear shaping undies with it to make it sit properly. All in all I like this dress enough to keep it - and in a cynical way I know if I wear it and then decide it's not comfortable it will be very easy to sell!. I'll certainly be wearing it with leggings, but for me the best thing about it is the print and the ombre background. It's really cute, so I'll work around the bits I'm not so keen on. This one has sold out (not surprisingly!) but they still have a few of the heart print version available here.

When I ordered this I also sneakily ordered a dress from the Evans sale..............

 LOVE! I seriously cannot believe how much I love this Yoke dress - I have 2 vintage Evans dresses but not a single modern Evans own-brand dress. This is an anomaly! I knew I'd like it the moment I saw it.

 This is a size 22-24, and is way longer than it looks on the website. I think I probably could have fitted the smaller size too, I'd say it's pretty flexible. The main body of the dress is soft stretchy jersey fabric, the shoulders and section on the hem are chiffon. The waist is elasticated and had a tie belt.

Yes yes yes. I would have loved it as a midi dress, but I think the maxi length is better because EVERYONE looks good in a maxi dress! I highly recommend this one ladies, I think I'll get a lot of wear out of it! It's £30 in the sale but I there are a few discount codes floating around. Get it here xx