Plus London Two!

Ello lovelies!

Well what can I say, I know I'm late to the parade of posts over another very successful Plus London event, but as they say, better late than never!

I had a really fab time, and my personal highlights were getting to visit the Anna Scholz design studio and my amazing Elomi bra fitting!


Anna Scholz for me has always been a bit of an idol, a designer of plus size whom actually understands plus size! I know it shouldn't really be an issue but understanding the needs of a plus size body in order to be able to dress it well is so important! So many brands get this so wrong because they just don't understand. With Anna, it's not an issue, being a plus sized lady herself, her designs accommodate curves incredibly without compromising on style, elegance and comfort!

Fab printed jersey dress - Anna Scholz

Anna's team were so welcoming and so open to taking on feedback from us, and believe me, we're no shrinking violets! Between rummaging through the rails of the beautiful new Spring/Summer 2012 White Label and Black Label collections, eating gorgeous cupcakes and drinking wine, we got the chance to really get to know Anna and the brand, how hard it has been to get a plus size luxury brand like hers on the map and the struggle to keep it where it is! It makes you appreciate the price tag of each garment so much more when you realise this is a brand that is made out of love and appreciation for their customers and the drive to make it succeed, her clothing is pure quality from start to finish.

Bethany & Amy enjoying cake and looking fabulous!

Anna showing us some more of her beautiful designs.

My personal favourite items are the Double Silk Corset Strap Maxi Dress from her White Label collection, in the most fabulous palm print I have ever seen. It makes me long for holidays, blue skies and sunshine!


And from her Black Label collection I am all over a fabulous poodle print tunic which should hopefully be online soon! So quirky and fun!

Big thank you to Anna Scholz and the team for being so welcoming and open!

After the Anna event, I hopped off and braved Westfield in Shepherds Bush (I must have been mental!). I had packed a number of dresses to wear to the evening event, but being the typical indecisive Libra that I am, and a serial shopaholic I couldn't help but purchase a cheeky new number from, yep you guessed it, New Look Inspire! I picked up a really cute leopard print dress and due to the heavy snow fall that evening, I whacked it on with my little furry ankle boots, tights and my long standing, very favourite Evans biker jacket! The picture was actually taken at about 4am Sunday morning after an epic bit of drinking fun after the Plus London event, it's the only pic I really have of me in it, apologies!

Leopard Dress - £26.99 New Look Inspire
Biker Jacket - Evans
Tights - We Love Colors
Boots - £39 Evans

Due to adverse weather conditions, we were late to the event and missed the OneStopPlus catwalk show, but arrived with enough time to meet and greet new and old faces! But the night flew by so quickly there are so many of you that I missed! Wendy filled us with amazing cupcakes, Em was on hand dishing out the raffle tickets and Claire was the hostess with the mostess! Well done to all whom made it a really great night!

Claire
Image courtesy of A Monkey Fatshionista & Plus London Two

Wendy & Em
Image courtesy of A Monkey Fatshionista & Plus London Two

Had to include this epic little number of Carla after she bombed my phone.....always a pleasure love!

But, my absolute highlight has to be meeting the Elomi team. I wittered on to Holly (sorry love!) about the constant battle I have with my boobs! I told her my story about how I recently went into Evans for a fitting and was told to try on a 48DD! Now, I understand this whole rule with the numbers and adding and subtracting this that and the other, but someone, somewhere needs to start applying some common sense! There was no way my rack was squeezing into a DD cup bra and Holly and the Elomi girls agreed and were shocked! My terrible experiences over the years with bra fittings have made me terrified! But meeting Elomi has changed that for me!

Image courtesy of SBP Images

Elomi's bra fitter (whose name I have forgotten, I am so sorry!), was amazing! She took one look at me and knew exactly what my boobies needed to be nestled in, a 46G! But here is my problem, for around 2 years now I have been wearing 46G bra's but have been seriously doubting if it was the right size for me due to the constant rubbing I get around the back band on my left side. Over the last few months, the rubbing has become so bad I have broken skin which is so sore some days I could seriously cry. My bra's make me so uncomfortable some days I just could break down. The reason isn't because I am wearing the wrong cup size, or back size, it's because of the quality of the bands, unfortunately my body makes them roll up and chafe my skin and due to having to constantly wear a bra the cycle never seems to stop. The lovely fitter noticed this straight away and even noticed that the Elomi bra she had fitted me in was doing the same thing. She took the feedback on board and really wanted to help find a solution for this problem that I am having. I have been advised to find bra's with wider width bands to help alleviate the issue but in the meantime I know Elomi are going to look into this, fantastic! Do any of you other ladies have this problem at all? If so, get in touch! It is really important that feedback like this is given to brands in order for them to be able to rectify it!

Image courtesy of SBP Images

Big thank you to Elomi for listening and being fabulous! You have made me and my boobies very happy! :)

At the end of the night I was laden with heaps of goodies, including a £25 Navabi voucher which I won on the raffle and can't wait to spend! Thank you Claire and crew for organising another year of Plus London, also a big thank you to the other sponsors involved, Simply Be, Eliza Parker, Bijou Bijoux, Benita Blue, Evans, Domino Dollhouse, ASOS, Masaari I am so proud to be part of this community, you are all seriously fabulous!

Big Love Guys!
xoxoxox

P.S make sure you check out all the other fab write ups by all the other amazing ladies whom attended! Check out the Plus London Two site for links!

Simply Be & Simply Yours SS 2012 Launch

Hi lovelies!

I wanted to put a little post together to tell you about the recent event I attended for Simply Be & Simply Yours! I was invited along for a preview of their 2012 Spring/Summer ranges for both of the brands and couldn't say no!



I am a massive fan of Simply Yours lingerie, with a mahooooooosive 46G bosom myself, I find they are one of the very few brands whom deliver a decent range of underwear to hold my badboys firmly in place and looking lovely!


The range had some really cute quirky pieces such as the Union Jack set which pays homage to the up and coming 2012 Olympic games, exclusive to Simply Yours and there was also a massive nod to much more girly vintagey type pieces which were beautiful.



The Simply Be range was also no disappointment! My favourite pieces being a really fun and floaty yellow star print tunic, which of course, I cannot wait to get my hands on and this beautiful chiffon floral dress, simply stunning for a summer night!




There was a huge emphasis on the colour-blocking trend through their accessories, such as the oversized pink and turquoise clutches and these amazing strappy heels! A great trend all year round, any piece from this accessory line will last you FOREVER! I am primping for the oversized turquoise clutch to put with that amazing yellow star tunic!



But my overall fave part of the collections showcased was the swimwear! SO MUCH UNDERWIRE! YAY!!!!!!!!! As I was being shown the railing of sample swimwear I was so excited to see so much of it with underwire, this is a big thing for me as so many plus size retailers get this so, so, so wrong! The amount of swimwear pieces I have bought in the past which contain padding (I know! WTF!) or no support what so ever is unreal! My size 28 frame needs support for my 46G boobs when undertaking a good old breast stroke, nevermind making me looking like Katie Price or giving me droopy spaniels ear boobies!


My absolute fave two pieces were the leopard print tankini in this fabulous colour scheme, and the gorgeously retro/pinup-esque polka dot mock 2 piece! I honestly cannot wait for the catalogue to come out so we can all have a good old lust after all the fabulous items coming our way! Hurry up Simply Be!



Amongst enjoying coo'ing over gorgeous clothes, I managed to get my mani on, gossip with other awesome blogger girlies and have a good ol' chat with the oh so lovely Charlotte of the Simply Be team! Oh and got mega embarrassed after seeing myself on the promo vid on screen, which was taken after far too many glasses of champagne at their Liverpool store opening (my accent is appalling! Ohdear!).

Thanks for an awesome day Simply Be and Simply Yours! Cannot wait to see more!

Big Love

xoxox

Evans Blogger Brunch Event

Evening all!

Well, last Thursday I was fortunate enough to be invited along to a sneaky preview of the Evans and Style369 Autumn/Winter 2011 range. I haven't been blogging for very long, as you are all aware, so to be invited to something like this was a real privilege for me.

I headed on down to London early Thursday morning; dressed in an outfit I had literally just thrown on, randomly pulled out of my wardrobe 5 minutes before my taxi turned up, after initially spending all of Wednesday evening after work trying to put together the perfect collaboration (FAIL).

When I arrived in London I met up with a group a fabulous bloggers, Stephanie, Claire, Carla, Rosie and Lauren and we all headed over together to the venue where the event was being held, where we also met Laura and Lacara, the venue was merely a stones throw away from bustling Carnaby Street in a really swanky set of studios!

We were greeted by the Evans team whom encouraged us to have a nosey around and take in the new range. The outfits were styled beautifully, pieces which I would never usually be inspired by really caught my attention, like a gorgeous berry coloured pleated maxi skirt which had been hitched up over the bust on a mannequin, styled up as a dress, teamed with a skinny belt, and gorgeously luxurious faux fur jacket.

The very new 'Collection' range will be continuing, and as I mentioned in my recent post on the range that I would love to see more tailoring and structure I can assure that this is being delivered, one of the pieces that caught my eye was a gorgeous tuxedo jacket, which I hope makes it through to the stores in the Autumn. There are also going to be some really interesting changes, which will change the way we all shop, but Ill leave that to be disclosed at a later date ;)

The team discussed with us some of the changes that are going to be happening to the Evans brand, they recognise that they cannot please everybody within the huge demographic in which they cater for and after seriously taking in the feedback they get from all of its customers, the team have listened, (believe me, there isn't a brand I have ever known who care about their customers as much as they do!)

Evans are looking to be known as the grown up, sophisticated store in the future which will address the needs of a certain clientele whom want tailoring, structure and their needs met through quality long lasting pieces. Where as the very recent Style369 is being looked at to cater for the younger of Evans customers, where the emphasis will all be on fast fashion, high street trends and fun! My concern with this (which I did bring up with the team) is that Style369's sizing is smaller than Evans, even though a lot of the clothes crossover between brands. I have mentioned that the brands should take this into account and look to include all of us over and above a size 26 (myself included) when this change begins to happen, as I fear that once again young plus size females are going to be sized out of being able to access trend led clothing, which would be a huge shame!

Overall I had a great day, catching up with other fabulous bloggers, getting to know the Evans team and being able to see the thought and hard work that goes into keeping the label going. Keep your eyes peeled ladies, and as soon as I get anymore info *ahem* gossip *ahem* I will make sure I let you all in on it!

Big Love!

xoxox

Plus London

First things first, my epic, unintentional photo-bomb!

Pic courtesy of Carla, left to right, Claire, Amy, Georgina, Wendy and Lauren

Hello! My name is Naomi and Im the unintentional, photo-bomber of Plus London...lol

How are you all?! Well I hope?

I went along to the daytime event and I have to say, even as chatty and confident as I can be I was so nervous! When I arrived in Evans (late, oops) it was so nice to see an army of avid happy shoppers all chatting and greeting each other. I wondered around the floor for a few mins mooching through the rails and it wasnt long before the fabulous Amy of These Girls Turn Heads spotted me and came over for a chat! My nerves disolved and I instantly felt welcomed by all the amazing ladies.

Daytime outfit

The daytime shopping was fab, I picked up some brilliant bargains, my favourites being a really cute chunky heart pendant necklace from Primark for about £2.50 and an amazing pair of shoe boots from Evans! They were a bargain as they were marked up on the sale rack for £10 but when I got them to the till they were a steal at £5!!! Its the simple things, like this that make me a very happy girly, I cannot wait to wear them!

After a brill day of shopping, I went back to my hotel to get ready for the evening event over at The Strand Gallery. I wore a pretty dress which I found on eBay, which was originally from Evans, a little black glittery cardigan, black tights and some previously posted about black bow peep toe slingbacks from New Look. I left for the night all done up with a slick of red lippy and my new enormous Primark clutch bag (Oh Im so stylish) and was whisked away across central London to the venue.

My evening outfit

Everybody looked absolutely gorgeous, the room was full of women of ALL shapes and sizes, complimenting each other and really enjoying themselves. Quaffing lovely champagne, tucking into delish cupcakes and pouring over the samples of beautiful clothes from retailers such as ASOS Curve, H&M Inclusive, Torrid, Yours Clothing, Carmakoma (Who's gorgeous rep Maria I absolutely loved!!!), I have to say though, the range which wowed me the most and had me absolutely drooling was the Spring/Summer 2011 Anna Scholz range.

The reps from Anna Scholz, Cliff and Sharon were brilliant, you can tell that there is so much devotion put into Anna's clothing and all of her team are so passionate about it, they were full of info on the range and really took the time to get to know us girls and asked us what we thought and even encouraged us to try on! I fell in love with a beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL (Did you get that BEAUTIFUL!!!!) silk maxi dress which was absolutely to die for. The sample size was in a Uk 18, but Sharon and Cliff encouraged me to try it. I was dubious (and also terrified I was gonna rip it or something) but I got my ample size 28 physique into it, and although it was a little bit clingy (well it was 5 sizes too small) I got a really good feel for the dress, even though it was slightly on the snug side I loved it! When I get hold of the pic Cliff took of me in it I promise I will share it. But until then, here are a couple of pics of Anna's samples with the dress in question at the front, the print is a little hard to make out though against the rest of the dresses, so here is a link to the shorter version on the website.

Another dress from Anna's gorgeous SS 2011 collection. A vibrant, fierce, strappy, jersey sundress. I love the prints in this collection, so bold and fun!

I also cannot wait to see the photos taken by the gorgeous Diana of Fashion Loves Photos, who did a great pop-up studio where we all got to go and strike a pose in front of the camera! So glam!

All in all I have to say the day was a marvellous occassion where it was fantastic to see a group of women all bonding and exchanging ideas about the plus size industry and fashion in general. Lauren and co, a massive thanks to you all for putting together something which was truly fantastic and so beneficial to the community. I'd love to see this event or one like it put together every year or every new fashion season, maybe in line with London Fashion week to enhance the profile of plus size fashion. Oh and a big thanks for the awesome goody bag! Loved my sunnies!

Anyway, Im gonna round this up with a few of the snaps that I got of the day. I will try my best to include all names and links to blogs but if I miss anyone or get anyones name wrong please get in touch with me and Ill update!

Plus London in pics, the Naomi perspective....

Katrin, Donna, Polly

Amy

Sophie and Stephanie

Carla

Sian, Polly, Anika

Lauren doing her speech

Me and Amy

Nadia, Donna, Myself, Polly

Sian, Polly, Anika, Myself, Amy

Anyway, this was Plus London through the eyes of moi and I have to say it was awesome. Im gonna go now cause this has taken me ages to put together, but it was brilliant to meet all of you and I cant wait to do it all over again some other time! If I get any more pics Ill upload them another time, but now...

Night night blogosphere!

Big Love <3