Where to begin?! I was going to start by saying that Plus London Two is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off, but I stripped off in at least three different locations in front of many, many different witnesses through out the day, so that wouldn’t be entirely accurate! But in all seriousness, it was so much fun it should be illegal.
We began the day at Anna Scholz’s studio in north west London. She is a true inspiration, making high-end, beautiful clothes in bigger sizes. On a personal level, she is gracious, engaging, passionate and everything a modern businesswoman should be. We were checking out her SS12 collection, which was universally stunning. Here are a few snippets of details to look forward to…
This is my absolute dream dress at the moment. I couldn’t stop looking at it, talking about it, touching it. There wasn’t loads of room for posing and photography, so here’s a slightly rubbish pic of me trying it out. I might have to hoard my pennies until I have enough to treat myself. I’m envisaging my All Saints leather jacket, gladiator sandals and rouge-noir lips.
What do you think? Should I dare to dream or am I making a fuss over nothing?
The lady herself chatting away with us, and letting us rant about the problem of poor design amongst a lot of cheaper plus-size retailers.
And now, some pics from the evening event!
I said a couple of weeks ago re: the Gok event that underwear isn’t really my thing. Since that event, I’ve been thinking more about my lingerie and feel I should definitely make more of an effort. Thank heavens for the girls at Elomi for being present last night! Holly and Katie are PR girls par excellence: real passion for their product, real belief in their brand, real expertise to go with it.
I confessed to them that I hadn’t been fitted for a bra since 2005, they gasped, asked what size I was wearing, they gasped again. I was sent off to be fitted by a colleague of theirs who was utterly brilliant (but whose name I didn’t catch, sorry!)- great chat AND bra-fitting skills, and apparently I’ve been doing it all wrong for the last 7 years, and really I’m a cup size bigger than I thought I was! Elomi sent me on my merry way with a gift of a new bra that keeps my unexpectedly large chest in perfect position.
But just LOOK at their wares- for someone who’s only just realised underwear is a thing, I found myself getting extraordinarily enthusiastic.
Cute, cute, girly set…
Another thing I ABSOLUTELY NEED in my life, gorgeous leopard print set. This is my most coveted underwear of the moment and I feel it could be worth my while to indulge…
Let’s talk about swimwear. I can’t imagine anything more me, anything sexier and anything more exciting in the way of swimwear than super high-waisted black bikini bottoms. Every time I see something of this ilk, I swoon. This set was no different. I genuinely cannot wait to get these into my life- anyone fancy a beach holiday so I can make the most of it?!
ASOS Curve brought along some items from their new collection and they were brilliant. Bright prints, gorgeous colours, mixing fabrics: this is what we deserve!
One of the things I was most excited about during Plus London Two was seeing Michelle of Red Bows Boutique! She is a wonderful woman doing a wonderful job of selling plus-size vintage, and I make no secret of how much I adore her stuff! I relieved her of one absolutely brilliant vintage dress that you’ll see on here soon. There weren’t any mirrors in the venue, so I decided the way to find out if the dress looked any good was to nip into the pop-up photography studio and have a photo taken. In the short space between Michelle’s rails and the pop-up studio, I was met with gasps of delight at my cutesy dress. I wholeheartedly approved of the photos, so I guess it’s a winner!
With or without brands, it was always going to be a brilliant night. There were so, so many brilliant bloggers I was excited to meet, and the event certainly delivered!
This is the absolutely beautiful Amy of These Girls Turn Heads. Never has a blog name been more appropriate: Amy is divine, stylish and a joy to spend time with. Just look at her Tatty Devine lobster necklace!!!!
She went outside briefly, and when she came back she had this super-cool addition to her topknot…
Any event where I get to hang out with my bb Lauren of Pocket Rocket Fashion is fine with me. Isn’t she dreamy?!
I know I talk a lot about wonderful women and this post is full of that, but really, one I wanted to give a huge shout out to is Valerie. Ever since the hallowed days of The High Street community on Livejournal (and we’re talking the best part of a decade), I’ve been absolutely in awe of Valerie. She now writes Blog to Be Alive, and is one of the absolute best plus-size fashion bloggers there is. Her style is so consistent, so demure, so chic and so graceful, and she has always been such an inspiration to me. I probably sounded like such an idiot saying ‘Um do you mind if I have a photo with you?!’ but it really was exciting!
Things I learned at Plus London:
Fatshion bloggers are wonderful. We stick together.
No one ever believes I’m 22.
I am a 36E.
Some brands know how to work with their customers and bloggers, some don’t.
I REALLY need to add a lot of people to my blog list on the side of the page!
So a HUGE thank you to Claire for organising the event, dealing with stress from PRs and being let down left right and centre. She kept her head, pressed on and ended up putting on a truly fantastic event for us. We are SO grateful! Look for women’s clothing in larger sizes too!