The equivalent of comfy trousers...
...but in dress form. Needed for nights out like last night when for the entire week I have done practically no exercise and eaten my bodyweight in junk food chased down with a smidge too much wine and beer. I'm blaming the rain. Not of course my innate laziness and pathetic lack of willpower.
Regardless of whoever or whatever is to blame it does throw up that awkward conundrum of wanting to wear a dress out but being slightly concerned that even spanx are no match for an excessive McDonalds bloated stomach. And for those occasions when frankly breathing in all evening is just an unpleasant experience.
The dress equivalent of elasticated trousers is needed. Which I have found. All hail the Shift Dress. Fitted across the shoulders, loose everywhere else, letting you let it all hang out. But not so loose that we venture into Demi Roussos territory - tailored without being exceptionally fitted.
My Boden dress that I ordered in their last sale arrived and last night was the perfect opportunity to wear it for the opening party of a new Sushi bar we have locally. Believe me, this is Big News for where I live. It can even have a licence till 3am on a weekend - we do not know we are born. Think Zuma (ish). Fab night, fab champagne, fab wine, fab music (although not according to The Husband who think dance music is an affront to all the senses. Bless. He did, however accede that the food was amazing.) and a fabulous hangover today to take RR1 to hockey at 9am.
I am now officially addicted to these dresses and need another one (at least) in my life. The other great thing about their shape is that are are also very wearable during the day. I have found an absolutely great selection (I think - I certainly would wear practically all of them) and am making great inroads in compiling my Sale list (which is code for what I shall buy next week). These all look fabulous with ankle boots and a little biker jacker slung over the top.
Starting with the one already in the bag.
Boulevard Tunic Dress in Dalmation Print now only £50.19 as there is 22% off at Boden for the next 5 days - should work by using that link.
Regardless of whoever or whatever is to blame it does throw up that awkward conundrum of wanting to wear a dress out but being slightly concerned that even spanx are no match for an excessive McDonalds bloated stomach. And for those occasions when frankly breathing in all evening is just an unpleasant experience.
The dress equivalent of elasticated trousers is needed. Which I have found. All hail the Shift Dress. Fitted across the shoulders, loose everywhere else, letting you let it all hang out. But not so loose that we venture into Demi Roussos territory - tailored without being exceptionally fitted.
My Boden dress that I ordered in their last sale arrived and last night was the perfect opportunity to wear it for the opening party of a new Sushi bar we have locally. Believe me, this is Big News for where I live. It can even have a licence till 3am on a weekend - we do not know we are born. Think Zuma (ish). Fab night, fab champagne, fab wine, fab music (although not according to The Husband who think dance music is an affront to all the senses. Bless. He did, however accede that the food was amazing.) and a fabulous hangover today to take RR1 to hockey at 9am.
I am now officially addicted to these dresses and need another one (at least) in my life. The other great thing about their shape is that are are also very wearable during the day. I have found an absolutely great selection (I think - I certainly would wear practically all of them) and am making great inroads in compiling my Sale list (which is code for what I shall buy next week). These all look fabulous with ankle boots and a little biker jacker slung over the top.
Starting with the one already in the bag.
Boulevard Tunic Dress in Dalmation Print now only £50.19 as there is 22% off at Boden for the next 5 days - should work by using that link.
Sandwich Painted Dot cowl knit dress £79 This is the perfect dress to take you from day to night. Unless I want to start calling myself Cruella, I should probably limit my dalmation print dress quota to one.
Ted Baker Adsila Print Tunic Dress in dark green £129 This definitely won't be everyones cup of tea but I'm strangely drawn to it.
Hobbs Fountaine Dress £149 A lovely twist on a classic black dress.
This would work on so many different occasions. For me this fits back into my favourite hole of dresses that you can have on during the day but also work really well at night. Plus I think it would be perfect for the Spring/Summer as well with bare legs. (yes, check me out - already planning on whipping the legs out next year as well.) I may well be ordering tomorrow.
Another Mango Gem - I love this one. This has me written all over it and again I will have to order it to scratch that itch. I may even wear it to bed. This is assuming of course that it covers my behind. Which apparently doesn't look 40 but still does not mean that the entire world needs to see it in all its pancake glory.
Staying with the black theme - Jaeger Boutique have now brought out a black version of the orangey red one I featured last month. As much as I profess to love a bit of colour, in all honesty I feel far more comfortable in a black dress. I have a feeling the Mango dress above may be of Tinkerbell proportions and so this is probably a far better bet for me.
Ok so it's a bit more black but this has to be the bargain of the year. A leather dress for £95? This surely has to be too good to be true but must be worth a punt.
ASOS Swing Dress with pockets and long sleeves £28 This is on the cusp of being dressy enough for an evening out but certainly I'd like to give it a go with a huge statement necklace.
ASOS Shift Dress in Animal Print £38 Goes without saying how much I love this one. However slightly concerned at moving into Wilma Flintstone territory with my leopard print obsession.
ASOS Shift dress with tie waist £42. We're back to black but this is just such a useful little dress. And whilst not properly shift to my mind, I think you could tie it loose over the front hiding a small multitude of sins. The exposed zip at the back is such a gorgeous extra detail, belying the fact it's only £42.
Great Plains have a great print shift dress that they also do in a top - The Birdy Dress for £65
Another lovely and easy to wear dress from Great Plains is the Music Melody Duo Printed Dress £55
Finishing with a Jaeger number that has a belt so really goes against the grain of what I would call a shift dress but it is a) such a bargain and b) I'm so so in love with this print that I had to include it.
So we have me in mine from last night.
Boulevard Dress in Dalmation - Boden
Black Margo boots - Sam Edelman
Black diamante large earrings - Forever21
And today for the hockey run, coffee and then hanging out at home with the family and my sister in law who stayed for the weekend. We recreated Sat night on Sunday afternoon after they all got back from rugby - ordering pizza, crashing on the sofa watching Strictly and X Factor. Absolutely marvellous.
White longsleeved tee - Topshop
Charcoal harems - Toast
Silver jumper - Zara
Black wrist warmers - H&M
Black Diego bag - Alexander Wang
JetStream wedge trainers - Russell & Bromley
Hot Air balloon scarf - Lily & Lionel
Busy busy week ahead - really getting into the groove with my Winter Wardrobe even though I'm off to see more S/S previews this week. Still got to bring you news from Boden and Next from last week. Have got my Christmas hat on with some dressy ideas (fear not, there is no Christmas jumper post) and of course we should really start thinking about presents shouldn't we? Hope you all had a great weekend. xxx
Just purchased the asos swing dress with pockets grrrrrrr you bad little enabler you.
ReplyDeleteBeen following your blog for ages and I love the way its written, your pictures and mostly your style (god sound like a proper creep) (i'm not - honest) Anyway just want to say I think its great, well done.
Lindsay x
http://linzylabellevie.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you thank you thank you - what a lovely lovely comment to read. Hope you like the swing dress! xx
Deletehey nice post Kat. I love your style of blogging here. The way you writes reminds me of an equally interesting post that I read some time ago on Daniel Uyi's blog: Reason Why You Still Can’t Achieve Success .
Deletekeep up the good work.
Regards
Hi Kat, the dress arrived this morning and it's fab. Think I will be wearing it tonight, meal and cinema with the husband (date night) might even take a few snaps and post them on my blog. So thanks for recommending - its perfect.
DeleteLindsay x
linzylabellevie@blogspot.co.uk
Perfect timing as always - have been looking for a long sleeved short shift dress to wear to my daughter's bday party. Something I can run around in but that will still look smart. But I have the opposite problem in that a lot of these dresses will be too long as only 5ft 3. The ASOS ones may be the shortest- absolutely love the leather but fairly impractical and can almost hear it rip schleping my youngest around! So maybe the ASOS tie waist shift or the Mango pleather sleeved - off to investigate! Gorgeous outfit for your wild night out - sounds way better than my Saturday night. Gravity (yawn) followed by a curry and a walk home in the rain!
ReplyDeleteI am paying for Sat night believe me. Actually I have developed the head cold from hell although The Husband didn't look too impressed when I said I was going to be working from home all day (ie on the sofa... I am in the kitchen now mind..) Yes, that leather dress is going to be rubbish for picking small kids up. I would say you're better off with something in jersey - check out the last dress threads that I did, might be easier to wear something that isn't going to get rumpled if you've got little ones. The JAeger one would work well though I reckon too. xx
DeleteLove the Jaegar dress and it would probably work better on my hourglass figure than a true shift dress. I love the Boden one, but from reading the reviews, I fear it would be too big on top and tight on the hips. You look like you went bare legged for your fab night out - brave!
ReplyDeleteoh my lord I did have tights on! That's interesting about the reviews - I would have said it was true to size as opposed to being big or tight in different areas. That Jaeger dress would be such a good wardrobe staple, wouldn't it.
DeleteCan't seem to find the fab whistles dress anywhere? Help
ReplyDeleteOh so so sorry - it was in stock yesterday but it appears to have sold out now. Sorry. x
DeleteLove the ASOS dress, what's the sizing like with ASOS though?
ReplyDeletePretty true to size in my experience. x
DeleteFab, just what I've been looking for
DeleteI was just about to say you're an enabler and saw that someone best me too it! Lol! The Asos dress is on it's way! And as I am a redhead with a red lipstick obsession I can guarantee the Wilma Flintstone thing will be more of an issue to me haha! Love your blog x
ReplyDeleteOh I love reading comments like this, thank you so so much! hope you love the dress xx
DeleteOh the leather dress! Can't believe I missed this originally. Xmas pressie time!
ReplyDeleteIt's beyond gorgeous, isn't it. Am so so tempted to try it. xx
DeleteI am so tempted with the Boden dress, although I wouldn't be brave enough to go for the dalmation print (which looks fab on you) Can I ask you how tall you are and whether you went for the regular or long length?
ReplyDeleteI'm 5ft 10 and I went for the long length. oh go on with the dalmation print....!
ReplyDeleteOh wow I love all of the above Kat! There are some gorgeous dresses here! I really need a lottery win & quick! Ax
ReplyDelete