Whitby Goth Weekend The outfits!

For quite a while now I have been wanting to go to Whitby Goth Weekend. I grew up in Yorkshire but never quite managed to make it to Whitby for one of the bi-annual goth weekends. We have been to the Wendyhouse in Leeds often (playful alternative night! the music - nothing kinky -naughty!)

Since it was my birthday weekend we decided to book a little b&b and head up to Whitby to do some marveling at the costumes. I do love to dress up and at one time I was quite into gothic Victoriana, alas the opportunity to goth up does not arise too often now a days and I didn't take the corsets! I kept my outfits fairly simple going for generic vintage rather than full on goth. Here's my Friday night outfit. You have already seen this dress (I wore it for Plus London last year):

Dress @ Get Cutie

Shoes @ New Look

Necklace - Whitby Jet

During the day I thought I'd wear something fairly easy to toddle around in (again nothing new here!):

Cardi @ H&M

belt @ Next

Jeans @ evans

shoes @ New look

Onto the main event I did get the sewing machine out and run up something a bit different. It was hard to photograph my efforts but here it is:

Dress DIY

Jacket @ New look Inspire (old)

necklace and bangles @ Next

Yes it's a home made 50's inspired dress with miniature glow sticks all over it! They are actually night fishing floats and are probably not intended as club wear but sometimes you have to break the mold right! This dress got a lot of love in Whitby town. It was awesome to wear and I had a lot of fun making it.

I have to say that the most weather appropriate outfit was this one though - brr!

Whitby was great and the costumes and outfits were amazing maybe next time I will dust off some of my more goth stuff!

Something to note is that there were loads of awesome plus size ladies rocking corsetry and steampunk. Next time I will pluck up the courage to ask for some photos of the awesome goth babes! For now I'll just leave a few links:

Facebook Page

Open Facebook Group

Daily Fail, but some nice pics

Real Whitby

flickr

There are many many more pics on line a google will reveal lots and lots!

Project/D for Simply be Review

I have such a special dress to share today!

 The fabulous Em got in contact with me to ask if I would like to review a dress with her and three other bloggers. I decided that I was a very lucky girl to be invited and jumped at the chance! The dress in question is the Carnegie Strappy dress by Project/D London for Simply be. I love the idea of five different takes on the same garment especially since this dress comes in black and white, which adds a different dimension and of course we are showing you both!

The other ladies are:

Em from Oh, the places You'll Go!

Lauren form Pocket Rocket Fashion

Amy Simon from These Girls Turn Heads

Georgina from Cupcake's Clothes

so go and check their styling out.

So on to the lovely dress:

First of all apologies for the chicken indoor shots! It was still a little too cold for outdoor posing, also I wanted to show how gorgeous the scalloped edge of the dress is and the white background is  just the ticket.

Sizing: This dress is a size 24. I refer you to my blog title for my measurements! The cotton is not stretchy but there is a sheared panel at the back which adjusts the fit. This dress is a good fit on me, there is some extra room on the bodice at the back and sides on me but the waist fits about right. The waist does stretch but only within the shearing zone- which is actually really clever since you get to keep the lovely fitted structure at the front. The dress is very comfortable and wearable. If I had been in a shop trying this dress on I would have tried the 22 as well since I didn't I cant tell you how they compare but I would say stick to your normal size with this one.

The Broderie Anglaise is so pretty and delicate

Also the structure of this dress is fantastic there's a line of Broderie Anglaise which wraps around the dress from the top at the back to the front and joins the waistband, it's a small detail but it does make the dress feel special.

The waistband on this dress is not straight it dips around the sides so sits really well on the hips. The pleating on the skirt is concentrated around the back and sides but there's not much around the centre front I really like this detail as the dress doesn't feel bulky around the front.  

Right on to some more snaps of me wearing the dress:

The skirt is just lovely its so cute and girly! I should also mention that the straps are nicely placed and fit beautifully over bra straps. I should have moved my hair out if the way in the shot below so you could see the waist a bit better, It's getting a bit long!

As for my styling I decided to go with neon bling! I love all the big flashy neon and diamante jewelry that is around at the moment and this dress gave me a perfect excuse to acquire some! The bangles and necklace are from Next I had such a good time choosing a colour they had pink, blue and orange all as equally neon and in your face! Since I already owned the ring I went with yellow/lime. The nail polish was harder to track down but I came across this Accessorize one in 'Carnival'.

Dress Project/D at Simply be

Shrug @ Evans

Bangles @ Next

Necklace @ Next

Ring @ H&M

Shoes @ New Look

I suppose the last thing to mention is the price of the dress at £90 in this challenging economy I reckon it is a bit pricey. On the other hand this dress is a designer dress and is certainly an investment piece. Since it doesn't strongly confirm to any fashion fad it would happily sit in your wardrobe and come out for the next few years without looking dated. I could (and did!) accessorize this dress differently with different colour shoes accessories and belts. I guess when it comes to the cost of clothes everyone knows what they can afford and justify spending, so If you fancy a pop at this dress I would recommend give it a try and decide for yourself!

OOTD: New Look Maxi Dress

The country has been gripped in freezing weather for what seems like ages now. A couple of weeks ago whilst there was snow on the ground I took myself down to the shops, I popped into my local (Inspire free) new look and saw this maxi dress I decided I liked it so I took an 18 into the changing room and prepared to be disappointed!  Anyhow to my surprise it fitted perfectly. So there I was in  my snow boots buying a summer dress!

Last year I bought this dress in the 'bandeau maxi' style also in an 18. I'm happy to report that New look haven't adjusted the fit since. Given that I usually wear a 22 and sometimes a 24 in some inspire styles, being able to choose from the main range is refreshing. In fact I could buy this dress or this dress or this dress (OK so I already bought that last one!). 

On to the fit, there's lots of room in the bust and the gathering and elastic means the dress is comfortable. The fabric itself is not stretchy but there's plenty of gathering, It is not stretched around the neckline to a point where it looks like all the stretch has been used up, if that makes sense. There was a belt but of course it was a tad too small, seemingly as in all New Look dresses. 

The print on this dress is such a versatile one, I am really happy with this spring look and I think it will look equally as good with a pair of sandals and a couple of chunky bangles. At £23 this dress is a bargain and is going to be one of my staples for summer.

The jacket is also from New look Inspire and is a size 22, it is real leather and was about £65 which is another absolute bargain. I can't find the jacket on-line anymore but there might be some hanging around in stores still. It's a fantastic jacket for spring and looks great with a shirt and skinny jeans. It is cropped so I think it looks better open, and in these photos I've done the zip up a little bit too far, it looks really good just nipped in at the waist.

Dress @ New look

Jacket @ New look

Bag @ New Look

Necklace @ H&M

Belt @ ASOS

So there you go. It's taken me a couple of weeks to even brave putting a dress on, since I've been really feeling this cold snap. I want to do an OOTD with the blue paisley dress as well but that will have to wait for a slightly warmer day!