Sequins & Stripes - Feat: Simply Be

It has been a beautiful Bank Holiday weekend following a rather steamy and sultry August.  I worked a lot of it but I did have the Saturday off which gave me the opportunity to wear one of the beautiful dresses sent to me by Simply Be to a BBQ.  I chose this beautiful striped, sequined dress from their party wear collection, where it is currently on sale for £24.99 and goes up to a size 32.

I liked this dress as I thought the striped sequins were unusual and a different way to wear sequins.  The sequins were tiny and in a rope like pattern which glittered nicely which doesn't show much in the pictures and I thought it was a perfect mix of casual and dressy.  I sized up in this dress and I didn't find it roomy, so if you are interested in this dress I would definitely size up.  I wore this with leggings as it was very short on me, for reference I am five foot 5.

Accessories wise I kept with black teaming it with my fabulous Blackheart creatives Vicky name earrings and a nautilus necklace my Dad gave me around 8 years ago which I must confess I have not wore as much as I should.  I also had one of my current favourite handbags which is from Skinnydip in the shape of a can of liquid sarcasm, which my friends little girl loved.

As I am still loving the 60's I tried to do a mini beehive with my hair it wasn't as big as I would liked it to be, but passable for a first attempt.

I hope your bank holiday was lovely too, but I am beginning after the sweltering heat of the end of the Summer to long for some cooler Autumn days.

*Although the dress was gifted to me from the lovely people at Simply Be all opinions are my own,

A Rose Like This OOTD

As I wrote about on a earlier blog I attended Curvy Convention which apart from babes, the catwalk models (no so much the clothes) and a few brands was well a bit underwhelming.  However, after spending a long time with the ever wonderful Perelandra I headed to blogger babe and plus size designer Rosie's stall where I saw a fabric of great loveliness with retro swimming ladies on it. Regular readers know I am all about the fabric. so like a dress of dreams I tried it on and god damn it was a perfect fit, so there was never a question it was coming home with Mama.

Luckily I was meeting up with my oldest bestest pals so the dress didn't have to sit in my wardrobe like Miss Havisham too long.

I teamed it with my trusty denim jacket and with a nod to summer a ice cream bag I bought in the New Look sale years ago.  The dress itself reminds me of the 80's with the think black band reminding me of my cheerleader style dresses from back then and 90's grunge with its vintage fabric, leather style edging on the collar and sheer sleeves.  Remembering the 90's I teamed it with clumpy shoes.

With my hair I went sort of big with a Victory Roll. Make up wise I went with a strong eyebrow and lip with Stila's long last lip stain in Aria which I highly recommend as it does not budge.

I cannot say how talented I think Rosie is, there are so many Rosie Originals she has made that I would just love in my wardrobe but for now finances dictate I will have to be satisfied with this beauty.

The Curvy Convention 2016 - Feat a 60's OOTD

So yesterday I got up at unholy O'clock for a Saturday Morning when I am not working and headed up to London for Curvy Convention (or Chubby Con as the Hub called it) and to meet up with the stylish and wonderful Plus size and Proud.  I have known this wonderful lady for a long time on Social media for a long time but meeting in the flesh did not disappoint, I am pleased to report she is a fantastic human being who made me chortle many times.

After finding each other in Kings Cross we headed over to Hackney to St John's church to meet up with other fabulous bloggers attending, which included Katt from a Fat girl for life, Tanya from  secret plus size Goddess, Becky from Does my Blog make me Look Fat?, Lottie from Lottie L'amour and the lovely bra guru Caroline Curvy Wordy.

The venue if I am honest was underwhelming a old church St John's which was nice enough but a huge room, with nowhere to chill out, the music from the catwalk was a bit overwhelming when you were walking round the exhibitors and made it difficult to talk.  The first hundred people were given a goody bag which had some sweets a T shirt and the Programme which was nice.

I am having a 60's period at present and generally want to look a bit like a fat mod or Ronnette, and as the poor women at the Voodoo Vixen stall found out don't get me started on the swing dress.  So I went full on in a half beehive and my Heart of Haute, Doreen Dress in Atomic Chequers.

I have to report this dress is fabulously comfortable and the pockets are functional.  I teamed this with some old silver sandals from River Island that although comfortable are too heavy for a day on your feet, black opaque tights, my Skinny dip raygun bag keeping with a spacey feel.  My headband is a Grown and Glory Glitter band.

On entering the venue we headed straight to the Nicky Rockets stall as I knew I wanted a pair of pants and a Unicorns Tee.  In my haste I neglected to notice the £10.00 sale rack but did end up with the Perelandra Hare Tee, which I think was the experiment as it is on a pink Tee rather than the eco friendly ones, I kind of wish I had snapped up the grey hare one too as it is lovely.

It was lovely seeing Nicky, Baba and Perelandra, so we ended up chatting for the first hour at the Nicky Rockets stall and not looking at much else because they are just so lovely.  I then had a mooch round and we looked at the Voodoo Vixen stall where I moaned at the poor lady about the lack of choice as VV is fine for a swing dress, but what if I don't want a bloody swing dress, there main range does lovely stuff but I find their plus range a bit meh!  Although I do love the Katniss and own one and think everyone I have seen looks great in it.  To be fair the lady I spoke to was Plus sized and said she was trying to make the people at the top listen, but come on VV if Tara Starlet can do so should you.  Anyway to the poor lady I spoke to if you read this sorry for my frothy mouthed rant but I do think a swing dress is a lazy design choice for a fat range still.  However, the discounts at VV were fab and although I didn't buy £30.00 for a dress with the second half price is a fabulous discount.

We had a mooch around, a lot of it was to me not that interesting but I did like Plus|Equals which is a upcycling brand which had some interesting choices. including these maribou trimmed cullotes.

But the star for me was A Rose Like This Designs I could have spent a small fortune on Rosie's quirky one off designs and am still debating buying a lipstick print and sheer dress.  I am pleased to say this beauty did come home with me and I will do a proper outfit post towards the end of the week.

we then hung around to show our support to Rosie and Nicky Rockets who were both showing on the Catwalk,  I did take some pictures but there not great, but I hope this gives you some idea.

The dress I'm seriously considering.

We then had ice cream and a sit around outside, whilst trying to decide what to eat.  We finally decided upon Yardpizza which was local to the venue, it was a tiny pizza place but did do very tasty pizza.  I went for the Chessus Walked pizza with all the cheeses and walnut pesto.  It was tasty but pizza and me don't mix so I think that it may well have been my last dalliance with pizza but at least I did it in fine company,

We then hung out and had a final look around.  We wanted to do the photo booth with Katt but it had packed up which was a bit sad.  I then headed back a bit early as my pizza tummy was kicking in and I felt a urge to get back.  

Would I do Curvy Convention again?  Well, yes if everyone else was and as a social thing but as a event no not really it was a bit poor.  I want a venue with toilets not portaloos and a bit of a chill out area as if it had rained it would have been awful as a lot of time was spent sitting outdoors.  I loved some of the brands like Nicky Rockets and Rosie, but was surprised none of the bigger brands bothered which was strange for a London based event.  So I suppose in general although I had a fabulous time this was more due to some cool people who were exhibiting and the amazing women I got to hang with.

What a Girl Wants?

Today I was scrolling through my face book feed when a lady working as a buyer for a company who is re branding their "Curve" range, posed the question:  "What would I like to see in their plus size range?"  I had a little think as you do, of course I don't want butterflies, hanky hems and those crappy embellishments, because who does? I am fat, I may put too much food in my mouth but I'm not blind and I haven't had a fashion bypass.
Then I felt aggravated in the question, not this ladies fault she is just doing research, but let me explain why, I felt so irritated.  I just think it is a non question really to me it makes perfect sense yes I am fat but I am a regular person.  So here's the thing if you have a decent straigt size range then I am probably gonna want to buy it, if it is a bit rubbish I probably don't so I just want the same sort of things as your average woman whatever that may mean.
I want to be treated well as a customer I want to be able to go in a shop have some choice, try things on, not be relegated to two rails groaning with tunics and polyester black trousers at the back of the store, yes New Look ,when you actually bothered to stock Inspire near me I am looking at you.  Although I suppose there is a worse version where I am barred from entering your hallowed store in person and must shop on the internet and I must say if you do this I am loathe to give you my money as if you treating my wonderful self as a dirty secret, you don't deserve my money, honey.
I also want you to treat my sisters who are bigger than the acceptable face of fat which seems to be size 24 with a bit of respect and stock their size too. whilst we're at it.
So basically what I think is what I want is what your average woman wants and the same respect as your average customer.  It's not rocket science, is it

Plus 40 Fabulous - The Style Council - 0-20.

For this month's Plus 40 fabulous Lee has picked the theme how the influences from our childhood and teens influence our choices today?

Firstly my style is probably eclectic and so are my influences.  My early influences were from old films I used to devour old films on the TV and thought that most of the women in them looked amazing, especially their clothes.  I also had a book of film that was lying around the house and I used to pour over the pictures and wanted to be as glamourous when I grew up.  I also loved Blondie and thought she was the coolest in her white dress looking like she controlled the boys at the back on the front cover of parallel lines.

So from about 0 to 7 my influences were

Influences 7 to 11

My next influences were sassy. naughty girls with big hair.  I really wanted to be Siobhan from Bananarama or Marmalade Atkins.  I didn't do big hair cos my parents cut mine about this time and I didn't know about backcombing, but I did rock fake wayfarers, denim blouson style jackets and oversize T shirts, oh and those fake cheerleader dresses.

Influences 12 - 16.

My next influences I supposd mainly came from John Hughes films, I was sort of obsessed with Andie from Pretty in Pink and dyed my hair red wanting to be her, I also adopted hats, vintage clothes when I could get them to fit and flowery dresses/  I also identified with Ally Sheedy's character from The Breakfast Club, was in love with Tiffany's hair.  I also was a bit of a hippy and would stop around in tassled skirts from the local Indian shop, Karma, anything crochet , floaty and used to go in Oxfam and look longingly at 70's boots knowing they would never fit my chunky calves.  My main influences in this look were probably Melanie and Stevie Nicks.

Influences 16 to 20

I think these have the biggest influences on my dress sense now as I was a Riot Grrl in Doc Marten's and flowery dresses which morphed into Brit Pop and of these it was the retro, nostalgia of Pulp especially in the technicolor Babies video that influenced my style most and I loved everything about how Drew Barrymore looked, even modelling my hair on her at the time and I adored Edie Sedgwick especially in leopard print. 

Me rocking Drew hair

So there you have it a whistle stop tour of my style influences.  They all influence my style now but I guess the styles I was into from 16 upwards probably does the most still, as I still wear fake fur and leopard print, love Peter Pan collars and print frocks (in fact I would go as far to say this is my signature look) Hair clips and skinny logo Tee's are still my jam.  

Yes new influences creep in but I think the essence of me is tied up in these styles.  I am happy that I have had great style icons and whilst they might not be necessarily the most cutting edge or badass, I am happy and glad I have had them in my life.  I suppose the only thing I lament is I never had a fat girl to look up to, never knew that fat could be pretty, stylish and beautiful till I was past my youth and spent so long feeling well fat in not a good way.  I hope in 20 years when other women are doing this, that perhaps fat, stylish women will make their lists.

There are lots of other fabulous 40 plus bloggers taking part in this, please check out their posts:

Cathy: http://www.southernyacht.blogspot.co.uk/
Christy: http://www.sprintingwithscissors.blogspot.co.uk/
Daisy: http://daisysays.co.uk
Kath: https://fatheffalump.wordpress.com
Kellie: http://www.bigfashionista.co.uk/
Leah: http://www.justmeleah.co.uk
Lee: http://www.pinkybellesshed.co.uk/
Lisa: http://www.kitandkoboodle75.blogspot.co.uk/
Mookie: http://www.mookieslife.com/
Nikki: http://www.nattynikki.com/
Perelandra: http://www.pamperandcurves.com/
Sarah: http://www.plussizeproud.co.uk
Steph: http://www.misskittenheel.com
Yvonne: http://woosangwashere.blogspot.com

Normal Service Will Resume

 

Merry Christmas Duckies, apologies for the lack of posts on this my little corner of the internet but I had a yucky throat infection, went on holiday then returned to be blindsided with a cold/flu virus that has virtually knocked me off my feet and made the most mundane jobs feel like climbing Everest - really you should see my house.  However, rest assured in the new year I will be back like Arnold Schwarzenegger sharing my Indie Hits, holiday which involves some rather nice outfits, even if I do say so myself, food reviews and whatever adventures I go on as we all know I am a little random.

I hope your Christmases are all what you want them to be and if it's not don't beat yourself up, it is just one day.  I myself will be working and the Hub is nursing a rather nasty case of Man Flu.  Anyhow whatever your day is I hope it brings you joy.

I have barely been festive this year but I did have a work Christmas meal that I made a bit of a effort for.  I think despite feeling deathly I made a pretty good elf, helped by Primark and Crown and Glory.

And with that I will wish you a Merry Christmas x

Perfect Prints

Sorry for the sound of silence on this Blog, but y'know life and not feeling bloggy.  However, I am am back and those who know me or regular readers of this Blog will know I am potty about prints.  Give me a quirky print and I am a happy girl.  I often have a lust list in my head of what prints I want next, so I thought I would share with you some of my current favourites that are currently making my fat little heart sing.

Usually I go for dresses but I am loving the idea of this Banana crop top and skirt, from Oh My Honey, which I could totally see Paloma Faith rocking.  It costs £59.00 and goes from a size 8 to 20 but fellow fatties do not despair there is a custom order on the site which I am taking to mean that they will do larger but alas I cannot find the crop.

The Cat dress is from Mod Cloth and is very high on my lust list at the moment, when finances allow and I feel brave about possible customs charges I believe this will be my new print frock.  Those who regularly read this blog will know my favourite ever item of clothing is my Get Cutie Gnome dress as featured in this post, with that in mind who could resist in adding to their collection of Gnomes this cute skirt is also from Mod Cloth and is $59.99.

I am loving the Fox Print on this lovely dress from The Victory Parade by Limb Clothing, unfortunately they only go up a size 20 on the site but do know they have sent me a 22 before so I think maybe they may be up for negotiation but at £99.00 it is an investment piece.  If you love prints then this dress is available in loads of fabrics so have a look.

I have included this beautiful Flytrap dress by Deadly Dames at Pin Up Girl Clothing, with more than a nod to Little Shop of Horrors and the punch of the blue against the green I love it, but it is always out of stock! Boo!!!!! However, you can ask to be notified when it is in stock.  At $128.00 plus possible customs and shipping it would definitely be an investment for me but if your feeling rich and brave.

Lastly the dinosaur dress is from Vampire Bunnies I know they only list to a 18 but I know I have several custom size dresses that have been made for me by Ellie, I think generally she charges a £5.00 extra for a plus size and a £5.00 extra for straps or to make it longer and I have to say in my dealings with her she has always been a pleasure. Again Ellie carries loads of different fabrics and is approachable to ask about hunting down a fabric.

I have to say this is a highly edited list but if you love a print and want to check out some other great retailers with fabulous prints I cannot recommend Get Cutie and Silly Old Seadog highly enough.  Debz from Wannabe Princess has also featured some lovely print skirts from E Bay which are pretty reasonable and Betty Pamper has featured a brand called Little Wicked's Emporium which does some lovely prints.  Although Collectif, Lady V London and Hell Bunny are more retro I have seen some amazing prints by them, one of which I will feature as a OOTD soon.

If there are any brands you know that I might love especially if they feature prints not in a 50's retro way, let me know as I am always hungry for prints.

Birthday Take 2

As I said my original day out with the girls came to a bit of a halt when my lovely friend and organiser of the day ended up in hospital.  So what's a girl to do when a celebration has been planned and cancelled, redo it of course!

So three months after my real Birthday like the Queen I trotted out to do a second one.  My original outfit was the Gemma Collins dress I tried on a Bluewater but due to the searing heat body con was out  and my beautiful Lady Voluptuous Phoebe got her first outing.

 I bought the Phoebe in size 22/24 and it is a tad bit too big if I am honest but I don't think a size 20 would have fit me as there is around 3 to 4 inches of material spare at the waist but not 6" which on the size chart is the difference.  I am really hoping that Lady Voluptuous does away with the dual sizing as for me I don't think it is a winner.  The dress itself is lovely and features a little net underskirt which gives it a bit more poof and elevates it from a day dress into something a bit more special.  Be warned though a gust of wind can see you doing a Marilyn in this dress.

I teamed it with some very old Primark Wedges, my Blackheart Creatives Fabulous Forty necklace, some amazing donut earrings that Jenny bought me, My Janine Basil Pixel Cherry clip and a Drumstick handbag also a present from Jenny.  With my hair I had tried to create some ommph and mini short hive as I am growing it but I'm not sure it was that successful, and my lipstick was a Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Ole Flamingo which is a lovely long lasting bright pink.

It was an amazing day full of friends, food, cocktails, cake, gossip, laughter, fun and dancing after we swapped the more serious club for a cheese fest!  I could not have wished for more.

Bluewater Blogger Meet and Boobies

This Sunday I had the pleasure of going to my first Bloggers meet, I have long wanted to join in these fun filled days but I am usually working!  However, this weekend I wasn't and it would be rude not to attend.

It was a pretty intimate get together as it was Father's Day so a lot of people were doing family stuff but the amazing Anne-Lise from Mookies Life, Leah from Just Me Leah, Abi from A is for Abi and Caroline from Curvy Wordy all made it, as well as Leah's lovely friend Rach.  I had never met any of these ladies bar Mookie before but I can report with all honesty that they are totally lovely, gorgeous people inside and out.

First stop was Evans I didn't see a lot that I wanted but me, Mookie and Leah all had a blast trying on this lovely Scarlet and Jo dress in the sale, like a fat bunch of Charlie's Angels.  Leah's friend Rach made a excellent artistic director directing us for our shots and this was the rock one I think you can tell Leah and Mookie are more authentic rockers than me.

I did try on this rather beautiful dress by Gemma Collins that I am kinda in love with, it is a bit different for me as I usually do quirky rather than glam.

Bottom shot encouraged by Leah

Then after Evans we met Caroline, who I greeted by stating: "You're the booby lady, right?  Can you help me find a bra that pushes my boobs together as there too far apart."  The lovely Caroline took this in her stride and said she would and through her I discovered my boobs are 3 cups sizes larger than I thought as through wearing badly fitting bras a lot of boob was living under my arms! (who knew) and that  I had been putting my bra on all wrong for like 30 years!  Although now getting dressed takes a while longer!

We then all headed for a noisy lunch where we chatted nonsense and generally had a lovely time.  Fair play to all the husbands who met us they managed this brilliantly, then took the pictures at our insistence, whilst we posed and mugged for all we were worth.

After lunch Leah headed off for family matters, Rach and her man went off for a wander, whilst Abi, Mookie, Caroline and I headed to Yours and I finally tried on the Tess dress, as I was feeling left out as every other blogger has tried it.

Thanks to Abi for taking this

After that we headed to Marks' for Bras and Caroline helped me with my bra problems, if you don't read her blog do as this lady is a boob and underwear genius and as predicted the husband was appreciative of the new fit.

We then did ice cream and drinks and it was time to say goodbye for me as I had a busy day the next day, but I can honestly say it was the most fun I had, had in a while and proved to me good company is what makes a day as I only spent £14.00 on a bra but it was the best shopping trip in ages, so if more brands could take note so there is a bit more range we could explore whilst out that would be great.

*sorry for the lack of group shots but I am a bad blogger, but if you look on other people's blogs you might see more pictures.

Sometimes I Wish I Had Wingz - A Product Review

Firstly apologies to the lovely Sarah who sent me these Wingz to try out a little while ago and I had meant to review much sooner.  However, life has been kicking me in the arse a bit and if I was the Queen I would certainly be using terms like Annus Horribilis, but things like blogging have been low in my list of priorities as have even hair dying so excuse the barnet.

Now for the Wingz, my husband thought they looked a bit like crotchless leggings but the idea is they give you sleeves to pop on under dresses or tops without sleeves and look a bit like this when on.

Not me - Taken from the Wingz Website

I Chose the 3/4 length fitted sleeve version as I felt this would go best with my style and what is already in my wardrobe.  I teamed these with Vampire Bunnies Star Trek Print Dress with spaghetti straps, I have a sneaky suspicion that a thinker strap might of looked better but here is how it looked.

I found the Wingz pretty comfy to wear after getting used to them, as initially they did feel a bit odd and I liked that you could see all of my dress as a cardigan can hide such a lot and sometimes ruin the line.  I think the weight will be perfect for Spring, early Summer and Autumn although I would maybe want something a bit warmer with this dress in Winter.

If you fancy giving Wingz a go there are several styles on their website - Here

*I was gifted this item for review but my opinions are mine, mine, mine!

She's Not Ashamed To Come Out Of The Water.

Wow!  What amazing time it has been in the Plus Size Blogesphere, with the airing of Plus Size Wars (Ladies you all rocked! and were seriously articulate)  this was followed by Jamelia's very literal body shaming that I should be so ashamed of my size that I should be made to feel uncomfortable when I dare to look for clothes to adorn my body!  Oh bore off, hasbeen!  Katie Hopkins has already been voted the nations number one mouthpiece so that role is filled, try and find a new unique selling point Ms I'm against bullying but it's fine to bully the fat or very thin.  Big thanks to Debz at Wannabe Princess that created the hashtag #wearethethey, a most brilliant response to such stupidity!

Unfortunately throughout this exciting time I was silent as work stuff meant I didn't feel like blogging and was too tired/busy, but I loved reading everyone else's stuff.

Anyhow in celebration of being fine, fat and forty, I intend to parade my fat old body in my first bikini since my twenties and these beauties are the contenders.  The first sites I looked at were the US based sites but around $80.00 is a bit costly for a bikini especially with possible postage and customs.

The first contender is this Avon Bikini, Avon is definitely not even somewhere I think of when considering clothing but this beauty is affordable at £9.00 for the top and £8.00 for the bottoms.  The sizes are up to a 40F on top and a 26 on the bottom.

A bit pricier but also very lovely is this summer rose set from Asos it goes up to 42F on top and a size 28 on the bottom.

I have no idea of what the quality of this would be like but if you are a smaller fat and I would say more modestly sized on top like me, this might work.  It goes up to a size 22 and is under £6.00 on e bay.

This bikini by Liz McClarnon is fun and fruity I can see it teamed with a fun fruity clutch for a day out at the beach.  Although I am pretty confident my only concern it is a bit lower waisted than the others but the print is so fun it could win me over.

So which would you choose and what will you be wearing at the beach this Summer?