Frocks & Frou Frou

Blouse: Victoria's Secret

Cardigan: Glassons

Skirt: Love To Love You

Stockings: Ambra

Shoes: Naturaliser

I told you it wouldn't take me long to rectify the whole no-black-cardigan situation. This one from Glassons is pretty good, though I've found that it stretches out of shape pretty quickly. Glassons is one of those stores where I can just about... sometimes.... fit into their largest size. Which is sometimes (not always) a 16. It's frustrating when I'm loving a top or a dress in there, only to discover that it only goes to a 14. Why do stores do this? Barkins is the same... they go up to an 18. Sometimes. And never in the things I want. 

At what point do the clothes manufacturers go "OK. So only our customers with this bust/waist/hip measurement and smaller are allowed to wear this item." Even my favourite UK store Dorothy Perkins is occasionally guilty of it, and I often hold them up as an example of what I'd like to see all clothing retailers should do (i.e. offer everything in sizes 6 to 22, rather than offering a separate - read dowdy - "plus" range).

The things that most bothers me is when the range that caters only for the smaller sizes is considered to be an exclusive premium range. Better quality fabrics, nicer cuts. There is nothing I hate more than feeling like retailers consider me to be a second class citizen because of my size. Don't bigger girls suffer enough indignity without being forced to forgo the silks, cashmeres and linens of high-end ranges for synthetics and jerseys? 

Blouse: Victoria's Secret

Cardigan: Sussan

Skirt: Tartanista

Stockings: Best & Less

Shoes: Chie Mihara

A nice quiet one today - I've taken a few days off work, which is pure bliss.

Theoretically I'm supposed to be catching up on my reading, sewing my Macaron dress, making tomato relish and maybe an orange poppyseed cake.

Realistically, I'm just hanging about at home having some quiet time to myself before a packed and busy weekend.

I've been looking for ways to wear this skirt that isn't too schoolgirlsy, and I think I've cracked it with this combination of plaid skirt and polkadot shirt.

BTW, the stockings I'm wearing? Fleecy. I kid you not, on the inside they feel like a pair of tracksuit pants - just the thing for these cool winter months.

Blouse: Victoria's Secret

Cardigan: Barkins

Shorts: City Chic

Stockings: Ambra

Shoes: Naturalizer

Right. So. Bought the shorts-shorts (sorry Haz-Mo's Mama).

I like 'em. Especially on hot, hot days. But here's the thing... they don't photograph that well. Or, rather, my legs don't photograph that well in them.

Stockings help, and I've seen so many girls in the streets - different shapes and sizes - rocking the short-shorts with with a pair of semi-opaques recently which I think is a marvelous way of getting double duty out of an item of clothing that usually wouldn't leave the house on anything less than a thirty-degree day.

I was worried that I'd feel self conscious with so much thigh on display, but I didn't attract any unusual attention, and actually I was pretty wonderfully comfortable as The Sophisticate, my housemate and I meandered around the shops today.

Bit of a splurgie weekend actually, but more about that later this week.

Top: Victoria's Secret

Jeans: Embody Denim

Belt: Fiorelli

Shoes: Zu

You know, I've only every ordered from Victoria's Secret once, which is silly considering how much wear I've got out of this one blouse since I bought it way back in 2008.

I think I was a bit disappointed when it first arrived, because encompassing my f-cups it didn't look anything like the image on the website.

But then I should probably accept that the models on the Victoria's Secret website are Victoria's Secret models, and I need to try to blank the fact that they've all got gazelle-like proportions and concentrate on what the clothes might look like with a few more curves inside them.

Because this blouse looks great. It doesn't look like it does on Miranda Kerr, but it's still pretty darn hot, and who's to say that something else might not be equally successful?

Headband: Mimco http://www.mimco.com.au/

Top: Victoria's Secret http://www.victoriassecret.com/

Jeans: Embody Denim http://www.embodydenim.com.au/

Belt: Fiorelli http://www.fiorelli.com/

Shoes: Zu http://www.zushoe.com.au/

Embody Denim is Australia's very own premium plus-size denim company. The brainchild of the gorgeous and curvy model Natalie Wakeling, it's basically the True Religion for the size 14's and over.

Natalie's really gone out of her way to make sure that everyone gets the opportunity to buy jeans that look amazing, and make you feel a million dollars. Most plus-size jeans seem to be 90% stretch, and have a lot of trouble holding their shape after a few wears. My Embody Denim jeans (the one's I'm wearing in the photo are the Bebe) have just enough stretch to make them comfortable. They keep their shape better than any other pair of jeans I've ever owned. The other reason they stand out against other plus-size ranges is that they're not... Nana-pants. They come in low-rises, in skinny legs, and in great washes. Like Svoboda they have low-slung back pockets, giving the illusion of a high butt.

If you have generous thighs like my own it may take a few go's to find the right pair, but Natalie herself really makes an effort to see that you're wearing the best pair for your shape and size.

Price-wise they're not cheap, but they are pretty comparable to other premium denim ranges. And after all, it's cheaper than buying several pairs of inferior jeans that only last a month or so. If the price really makes you blanch sign up to the VIP list, and sit tight for a special offer. It's well worth it.

Isn't it a revelation when you take a chance by buying something - sight unseen, and size unassessed - on the internet, then it arrives, and it's everything you could have hoped or dreamed for?

I've had a few of those moments. Monsoon (http://www.monsoon.co.uk/) is one of those for me. Svoboda (http://www.svobodastyle.com/) is another.

Sadly, Victoria's Secret (http://www.victoriassecret.com/) doesn't look like it will be. Which isn't to say it didn't have all the ingredients of a Good Buy.

My order arrived promptly, the clothing is of decent quality and it didn't cost the earth to ship *coughkiyonnacough*, but I found the fit didn't quite sit right on my frame. Apparently I'm a bit short in the torso, and a bit heavy around the bust for Victoria's Secret.

I ordered from them in the first place because I wanted a white shirt that didn't work it's way out of my waistband when I was wearing a vest, or highwaisted skirts or pinafores.

I bought this one: