My Lovely Evans Bargain

There is so much positive stuff on the blogging front about Evans that I have long wanted to join in the fun and write about all the desirable clothes I found in there. Trouble is I could never find anything much to buy there apart from the odd pair of cute shoes. The chain are ever improving though and in a recent visit to their Braehead branch I saw this perfect summer top hanging on the rails.  Priced £29.99 I trooped happily off to the checkout to purchase said item; the lady behind the till scanned the label and asked me for £10. I questioned her mistake and so she checked another of the same item but no, still a bargainous tenner.  I can only assume Philip Green is making so much money off Topshop and the other Arcadia stores that he gives away stuff to needy Evans shoppers for cost price. I'll be back. The top is also available in mid-blue. Can't locate on the Evans website, possibly because of the pricing anomaly.

A quick word on the hosiery front.  I recently tried Scupltz tights and leggings which Planet are selling in their UK stores and found them pretty marvellous. Normally I'd pay what, £6 tops for a pair of M&S opaque tights. These babies cost £22 for a pair of their sheer shaper tights and are worth every penny and more. They fit beautifully have a great true black colour, hold me together nicely and have lasted a few machine washes.  As a late adopter I'll be wearing their leggings (£33) under summer dresses and shifts safe in the knowledge that the knees will not have gone baggy, that's my idea of investment dressing.

Bodysuits

The bodysuit seems to have returned to stores after a twenty+ year absence and I'm hailing this as a good thing. I remember these with great fondness from the late 80's when I had a drawer full of them from Oasis, Next and I think one by DKNY.
They are excellent for providing a nice smooth line around the waist and accentuating the torso. For the past few years we seem not to have been tucking things in but just letting tops kind of fall around that area (or shudder, creating a muffin top). Even if you are layering cardis or jackets on top to me it makes sense to have some neater proportion underneath. I always thought they looked particularly nice worn with a printed a-line skirt.
I first saw these on sale at my local Sainsbury's of all places. They had quite a few colours plus a leopard-print and a striped version all for £8-£10 including their plus sized True range. A net search located a few more sellers including Henry Holland for Debenhams and Oasis but not yet any of the high street sellers with extended size  ranges. They will follow suit soon; just look at the current tragic situation with jeggings.
I think this time I'll be buying mine at American Apparel. Apologies for the cheesy photo but this is from their website

This version comes in four colours and has a high spandex content that will provide a nice bit of support and shaping. It goes up to size XL which should be OK for me as UK size 20. These things stretch trust me. I was also pleasantly surprised to find on the AA website that there are a fair number of styles in 2x and 3xl (not alas bodysuits as yet)

I cannot leave the subject without touching on the oft-commented on problems encountered in the ladies room whilst wearing these items. Again I take you back to the late 80's/early 90's which for me were my serious drinking days. Even through that haze I think I managed to avoid serious accidents and it was simply a matter of practice. Dungarees in my expeirence are far, far tricker to manage.

Yummy Tummy Mummy buys Mac

Today I bring you the mildly exciting news that Boden now sells in sizes up to a UK 22. I found this out when I was searching for a new spring mac and was left in near despair by the unspiring choices available at my usual ports of call. I bought a Betty Jackson short Mac last year which looks fine on the hanger but once on my pudgy form the fabric belt twists and moves around and the shoulder flaps, well, flap. So I was looking for something streamlined but with distinctive styling. When I found this

Seems pretty perfect. Nice big buttons, good length, my favourite princess seaming; it should arrive in about three weeks so I look forward to reporting on its wearability.
I've used Boden a few times in the past, notably for their brushed cotton pyjama bottoms which kept me warm in bed over this last horrid winter. And their kidswear is very durable for those with an interest it that area.
I'm delighted that they are now expanding their range into a larger size; though I couldn't find a specific explanation why on their website, so I'm assuming its demand led. Boden have a niche market providing funky clothes to the middle-class, (approaching)middle-aged market. Their catalogues are always bursting with colour and are pretty things to flick through and their website is easy to use with excellent product descriptions and customer reviews. Its a sensible choice; you won't get the same hit shopping here as you might if you were grabbing a taffeta  skirt in the Vivenne Westwood boutique but they do feature clothes that are classy and fun to wear like the silk dress and cardi combo below.

Colour?

Presenting my new shoes, from Evans which I purchased yesterday. Pretty aren't they. But where the flippity am I actually going to wear them? And with what? Still its lovely to buy something that has a bit of colour to it, prancing about the house in them last night was spirit-lifting in itself.

I have to say sadly these were about the only thing in Evans that I wanted to buy. What with the relaunced blog and images from the spring catalogue that were light years ahead of the usual poly-jersey tat that the shop sells I was hopeful for better things. But I still found the selection very conservative and uninspiring and worst of all the quality of the materials used was pitiful. Print dresses that look pretty from a distance as you get closer show signs of limpness and lacklustre colour that would get considerably worse after a couple of washes (see how middle-aged I am).

I was unexpectedly in search of colour yesterday on a quick shopping trip into town which saw me purchase a green stripy cardigan from Betty Jackson Black (pic hopefully to follow) This makes it the third green cardigan in a row I've bought to celebrate spring. It must say something about me. Also whilst looking at depilators in Boots I was accosted by a young Benefit salesgirl who persuaded me to sample their lovely new Sugarbomb blush 

Four colours in one-how could I resist?  

Anna Scholz-In Black and White

Anna Scholz has announced on her website today that she is splitting her collection in two. From now on there will be White Label using luxury fabrics and detail and selling at familiar designery prices (around £369 for a maxi dress) and more excitingly, for us mortals not posing for a magazine shoot, there is her new Black Label Collection which is priced a bit lower; this lovely poppy print dress is £195.

That's not as cheap as her diffusion collection for Simply Be, nor her erstwhile Debenhams line from the early 1990s which I loved, but its more accessible nonetheless. While I very much like the AS range and  admire it as being one of a tiny number of high-end brands designed for plus-sized women I do feel that the shapes used are a bit repetitive. There is a sense that every collection retreads the wrap dress, maxi-dress and kaftan permutation in every new print that comes into her workshop.  So while I might want to buy one dress for a summer wedding I'm not sure that I'd ever need a second one.

However there are some directional bits in the black label that seem fresh; like a cute nautical tunic which I think is a wise way to go towards developing a clientle.  Also the website benefits hugely from having the clothes modelled on a human being rather than the old dress form. I'd still wish for more tailoring but still this is another reason to feel optimistic about the amount of choice there is out there for non-standard sizes. The range is available from UK size 18-28.

ASOS Curve

It looks like it might be an excellent spring for plus-sized shopping. A few things have converged around just now to make me think things are rosier than they have been for ages. Firstly there was the publication in the Guardian last Saturday (30th January) of Young, Fat and Fabulous a glorious article by Kira Cochrane highlighting the vibrant world of plus sized fashion blogs which thrive despite an (until now) complete lack of media presence. I knew of some of the blogs mentioned such as Fatshionista and Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too but I had no idea of the scale and diversity of what's out there. I'll just mention The Pocket Rocket as one which is beautifully written and laid out for now. I guess the USP of this blog if it has one is that I'm a generation older that most others and I'm desperately trying to avoid the matron look. Not that Hattie Jacques couldn't rock a look, but still. My elusive search is for a middle ground where fashion concept meets quality. If Banana Republic made clothes in my size I'd have nothing else to write about.

From a scan of these blogs I've learned that Evans spring collection for 2010 looks to be a real leap forward in terms of style with delicate frilly dresses inspired by Chanel and Balmain shoulder-padded jackets. I'll look forward to browsing there for the first time in ages.

I'm also greatly inspired by the launch of a new collection in size 20-26 by ASOS called Curve which intelf is a genius name, how come noone did that before? Its a small collection of about 50 pieces including the boring basics like vests and leggings. (I guess we all need them for layering). However there are some fantastic things like a long line double breasted blazer and stone me: for the first time in my life i am considering the purchase of a jumpsuit as the range has a strangely alluring Chiffon cross -front number. It helps tremendously that all the range is shown on a real human model. I have already ordered the navy blue dress shown here to wear with skinny jeans and I'll need to find a chunky gold-chain necklace somewhere to go with this.

Nordstrom now ship to the UK

It is a truth universally acknowledged that there is more choice in plus-sized fashion in the US compared to the UK. This is not something I've always found to be completely correct.  Mainstream mall fashion like Lane Bryant is rubbish and nowhere does the comprehensive basics as well as our own Marks & Spencers do.

However American department stores do score highly in the middle market where there is a complete lack of choice in Britain. Stores like SAKS and and Neiman Marcus will routinely stock clothes from labels like Eileen Fisher and Anne Klein where the quality if not the style are way better than high street equivalents.

Now Nordstrom are providing a mail offer service in the UK . I should say this is across all their range not just plus-size clothing. But some of the clothes they offer are lovely like this dress by Adrianna Papell which is unlike anything I've seen on sale in this country. I need to find an excuse to order and wear it. There is also choice from some designer diffusion lables like Lauren by Ralph Lauren and the skinny-minnys favourite Calvin Klein is represented; check the lovely blue draped dress under this label that I am seriously coveting.