I like Woman Like Us

I'm very much in favour of a newish clothing website called Women Like Us. It features the designs of Tina Malhame who according to the site has designed for the likes of Monsoon and Marks & Spencer in the past and features a small selection of tunics and kaftans in sizes 10-22 which feature a wealth of unusual styling details that lift them into the realm of something a bit special. All their designs have sleeves (hurrah!) and necklines tend towards the modest.  There is also a selection of casual jewellery designed to complement the tops.  I would say that the clothes on the website are design rather than fashion led and would particularly suit those that love the sensual pleasure of natural fabrics and lots of textural effects such as ruffles, seaming and buttons.


I'd like to have reproduced a few images from their website but alas all are published in Flash and I can't grab stills from that format to show you, but I urge you to go and have a browse.

I can show you my new Medici Tunic which I ordered from the store at the beginning of the week and which arrived in the post within 2 days. Its a gorgeous turquoise linen with a really luxe looking bejewelled collar detail. Absolutely the perfect thing for wearing for a night out on a summer holiday.
The colour of the fabric is a bit brighter than the image shows here.

With your parcel you get a free brightly painted wooden bangle which is the kind of girly detail that further inspires  my affection for this brand. I really hope that the collection takes off and starts to include a wider range of clothing.

And this is me

Emboldened by some other bloggers who are far more widely read and better linked to than me I have decided to take the plunge and finally publish a photograph of me wearing some actual newly purchased clothes .

This outfit was bought, believe it or not, because I'm in a quandry about what to wear for a school trip to Alton Towers later this week. Obviously I want to be casual but still presentable at the end of a six hour bus trip to get there. I suspect that I won't wear this altogether and will probably give in to some jeans/tunic type combo but I still quite like the indivdual elements. All of which are from the Marks & Spencer Autograph range. I thought it might be interesting to compare how the items look on me with their model.

These are the Trousers which I really like though you might notice that they are coniderably less cropped on me. They have a cute peg-leg shape which is unlike anything else in my wardrobe and which does give a flattering silhouette.

I'm a bit less keen on this shrug but bought it in a fit of fear of British weather panic, in that I will always need an extra upper layer to ward off frostbite. It is a serviceable rather than a glamourous item but it does look good with the trousers. I'm also suspicious of viscose knits. i have one of those waterfall cardigans which I swear gains two inches every time I wear it out. Incidentally, I hate the way M&S have styled it over a leopard print top which to me just looks ill-matched and ugly.

Finally here is the shirt. Actually this looks better in the flesh than in either picture as it is a lovely silk/cotton mix and the shape is more like a dress with pin-tucks that puff out at the bottom. 

Chafing

This will be the least dignified blog post I am ever likely to write. Dressing can sometimes be a nasty business, especially in summer where the there is no option other than to wear fewer clothes and put more of your body on display. Some of this can be fun, in this category I would put self-tanning, body buffing, scrubbing and toenail painting; some are a bit of a chore, like constant depilation and some when you are my size at least, are just plain embarassing.

I speak of chafing, an inevitable consequence of summer temperatures coupled with the desire to wear a pretty dress. Most times in the past I have retreated into covering up areas which rub together. Evans still sell garments labelled "comfort shorts" which are really just knickers which cover your legs. They are functional but hardly exciting and you do live in fear of strong gusts of wind blowing what little cool you have away should you be caught wearing these in public.

A more modern solution is Spanx and its derivatives, of I which I have a drawer full. These are wonderful for smoothing bulges and pulling bits of you in but they are not something which I would want to wear everyday, especially in hot weather, save them for cocktail dresses and summer weddings.

So I am happy to be able to write that I have found a new option in the shape of Body Glide, a product imported from the US which comes packaged like a deodorant stick and which you simply apply to areas like your inner thighs where you are likely to rub and you can move about in comfort. So far I've used it with considerable sucess, while wearing my denim skirt today. Its not exactly been Saharan in Glasgow this weekend so I've not tested it to the limit of its abilities but I am confident that the product will work even if it needs re application.

The product is avaialble in the UK from Amazon, but I bought mine from a local independent running specialist Achilles Heel (also fine purveyors of FitFlops and Sports Bras) as the product was designed with highly toned athles in mind rather than fatties like me. Nonetheless it does the job.

So now that's out of the way here's a pic of just the kind of pretty skirt I should buy to celebrate my newly liberated legs

This Pretty Flippy Skirt is from Boden for £49.00

Clark's shoes-some summer styles that work

My resistance to gladiator sandals hardens everytime I am in a mixed crowd in sunny conditions. I recently saw an extremely chic woman dressed in a breton top, navy blazer, coral scarf and good jeans all but undone by the ugly flapping straps around her feet. The Sartorialist has yet to feature anyone stylish wearing this item.
So what then to wear on your feet in summer? I have my beloved converse, but sometimes you want to dress up a bit more so I started browsing around and found a few lovely styles, surprisingly perhaps from Clarks, the high-street staple. All are available in UK sizes 4-8, including half-sizes in a standard width-fitting.

I have purchased this pair of gentle navy wedges already. I think they'll look perfect with a pair of cropped trousers from last year and I already have a navy bag to wear with them. The style is called "Pillion Race" which I'm not quite sure makes any sense as a name, can pillions race?

There are plenty of ugly shoes in Clarks so it can feel like finding a diamond in the rough when you see something acceptable on their shelves. I've shown another couple of desirable examples below from the summer collection, all retail for about £50.

This pair reminds me of the kind of thing Faye Dunaway would have worn in Network and to me has a whisper of Roger Vivier about it.

I love the funkiness of this style which is also comes in navy suede. I like it because its a wedge which gives plenty of height but which looks pretty easy to wear.

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.