Mabel

I no longer like this dress.

It makes me feel like a middle-aged Mabel with a thick round waist.

Tunics do nothing for me.

If anyone wants to take this dress off my hands then just email me (thesmallfabric@gmail.com) and it could be yours.

Each email request will get a number and the random generator will draw out the winner after the close at midnight tomorrow.

It's a Marks and Spencer size 10.

 

Boots - Clarks

Dress - Marks and Spencer

T-shirt - Primark

Rula

 

I hereby name this dress Rula.

The name represents my response to this stupid survey which I can only assume was compiled by an awkward 20-something who had fallen out with her stylish stepmother.

Who came up with rules such as by the age of 45 you can't wear knee-high boots?

Not to mention the diktats on mini skirts, braids and  red lipstick.

Thanks to Patti for sharing some wonderful examples of why this survey is utter rubbish.

If I used the product the company is trying to market with this survey I would boycott it.

Try dictating those rules to Vix who looks better in a mini than most girls half her age.

Or Catherine whose braids always look sensational.

If I had the hair or legs I would be rockin' those looks too.

Which just goes to show, the only rule I abide by is: "if you've got it, flaunt it."

 

So here's Rula who sets her own rules and if she wants to wear knee high boots then so she should.

 

Boots - Clarks

Dress - H & M

Body - Marks and Spencer

Belinda

 

As soon as I saw the photograph of this dress the  name Belinda entered my head.

Apparently Belinda comes from the Italian, Bella, meaning beautiful.

I am feeling the Italisna vibe strongly at the moment as I have just finished the wonderful novel, The Italiam Matchmaker,  by Santa Montefiore.

Strangely, the only Belinda I have ever come across is Belinda Carlisle.

 

 

Either way this bella dress came from the sale rail at Gap (£9.99) a few years back and has been worn every season since.

 

Don't forget to enter my Cltohes Show giveaway here.

 

Boots - Clarks

Dress - Gap

Body - Marks and Spencer

 

 

Clothes Show Report And Giveaway

I was first introduced to the clothes show in the late 1980s when it existed as a BBC programme.

Barely out of my teens and still at university I had finally found a programme that indulged my love of clothes with a relevant commentary on style and fashion in the form of presenter, Caryn Franklin.

And I was thrilled to discover she would be at the 2012 event.

 

As I boarded the Birmingham-bound coach wearing a coat that was older than most of my fellow passengers I felt reassured that I wouldn’t be alone in the vintage section.

And initially I wasn’t disappointed as the first talk my daughter and I attended was a presentation by Caryn, one of the co-founders of All Walks Beyond the Catwalk , an organisation which celebrates diversity and fashion.

 

She introduced a short film by Rankin which celebrated the relevance of fashion for women of all ages, shapes and sizes.

 I felt exhilarated.

There would be something for me amidst the sea of teenage fashionistas.

As Caryn left the stage there was a polite trickle of applause from the scattered audience and she cut a forlorn figure as she disappeared.

Fast forward three hours later and the seated area around the stage was standing room only as a jaunty model-like presenter introduced the special guest – Amy Childs.

And as the pneumatic red-head shuffled onto the stage Jessica Rabbit-style in her glittery frock I felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness as the crowd hung on her every ground-breaking utterance, from the revelation that her new friends, Jedward spoke to her every week on a shared phone to the "Shut Up" front page news that she had just finished filming a celebrity version of “Wedding Planna.”

 Still it was one show where I got a front row seat, having plonked myself down a good 30 minutes before to rest my weary old legs.

 

Next on the itinerary was the main event, THE FASHION SHOW, which I have to admit was a masterpiece of choreography played out against the theme of a day in the life of a fashion magazine.

However, there was only one walk on that catwalk and it belonged to a world where none of its inhabitants were under 5ft 9 or over 8 stone.

Still, my faith was restored in the form of eccentric inventor and 2011 Apprentice winner, Tom Pellerau who took time to talk to me about the creative impact his dyslexia has had on his career. He was a lovely man.

To celebrate my mixed bag of a day I am giving away a selection of items from my Clothes Show goody bags and a scarf I bought.

 

The contents are below but if you want be in the draw you just have to be a follower of my blog.

So follow my blog and leave a comment in the box.

If you are already a follower just leave your name.

This giveaway is open to international entries and I will do my best to get it to you by Christmas.

The closing date is midnight on December 17th when I will pull out the name of one winner.

 

 Giveaway

Canvas Bag

Tom Pellerau Emergency Stylfile

Sample of Womanity by Thierry Mugler

Pack of 50 Shine Absorbing Sheets

Ice Blue Barry M Kohl Pencil

Coral Barry M Kohl Pencil

Lime Green Barry M Kohl Pencil

Blue Jemma Kidd  Define Eyeliner

Dottie

 

I loved this dress as soon as I saw it in Primark.

The only problem is that it is a little too big.

Two sizes too big in fact.

Unfortunately, they had run out of size 10 and size 12 so I had to get a size 14.

I am hoping that a quick spin in the washing machine may help shrink it.

Still, the belt does help and with  the wintry weather about to come it means I can fit extra layers underneath.

 Linking to Visible Monday.

Boots - Whistles

Dress- Primark

Belt - Top Shop

Colar - Asos

Loulou (Again)

I am off to the Clothes Show today and will be wearing this dress.

I will update this post when I get back.
But before I go let me share some pictures of my Saturday adventures.
I went to New Brighton to meet up with my old pal, Peter Grant.
Peter was a fellow journalist at The Liverpool Echo and we sat opposite each other for several years.
He left the newspaper last year and has fulfilled a dream of opening a second hand bookshop with his partner, Cathy.
Way back in 2008 I wrote about our literary shenanigans here

There was an eclectic mix of folk at the grand opening including the legendary Ken Dodd who cut the official opening tape.
Although he is well into his 80s Doddy regaled us with a sensational stand-up routine.

He loved my red coat and called me Little Red Riding Hood. I was flattered that he insisted on a press photgrapher taking my picture with him.
Peter was showbusiness editor at the newspaper and his contacts are now good friends.

I couldn't leave empty-handed and picked up a Virago anthology of ghost stories.

Peter and Cathy plan a series of literary events at the bookshop and I can't wait to go again.

 

Boots - Clarks

Dress - Boden

Scarf - Tesco

Christine

This jersey wrap dress has something of a seventies vibe to it.

And no name sums up the seventies more for me than the name Christine.

I swear that every one of my friend's mums was called Christine.

I think if I'd been christened Christine I would have opted for Christie.

 

Much better to be associated with a supermodel than a psycho-car.

 

 

Here's another shot of my coat, this time with the hat.

Christine meets Cossack.

Boots - Clarks

Coat - Debenhams

Hat - Asos

Dress- Gap