Fabulous festive party style

Well hello there and a happy new year one and all!

Before I get on to all things fabulous, I must admit to landing back on planet reality with a rather large bump this week. Spending the last month eating, drinking and generally being merry with family and friends in Scotland was always going to create a rather large fun sized hole in January, the month most associated with being very poor, on the diet coke and generally feeling meh! Sound familiar anyone?

Not one to hang about for long (no pressure with the ethos of this
blog – ahem!), I have quickly closed the door on 2013 with my focus now firmly on the positives of being in the here and now.

Before I move on completely though, here is my fabulous festive party outfit round up. This year I channeled my inner fabulous with a black lace LBD, my style inspiration being an elegant modern twist on the book/film “The Great Gatsby.”

I always start my hunt for the perfect party dress a couple of months before I need it and this year proved my biggest challenge yet.

This year my sifting was almost exclusively done online and after a flurry of ordering and then immediately returning numerous ill fitting high street party dresses, rather than admitting defeat and settling for the best of a bad bunch (like I all too
often do), I finally bit the bullet and decided to go DESIGNER.

Gulp went my inner moderator! Well here’s my problem….

…although we are fortunate to have a great selection of affordable and stylish high street stores in Glasgow crammed full of party gear, I have become increasingly frustrated with them over the last few years for a variety of reasons.

I guess my biggest gripe is that as a 30+ tall and relatively slim-but-curvy gal, the high street just doesn’t seem to cut it silhouette wise. Here’s why – [shouting] – we don’t all want supermini TOWIE dresses/skirts/shorts (especially when tall), nor do those of us who don’t want them see the only alternative as being frumpy/floaty/maxi-dresses (or any combo of the foregoing)!!

And Exhale!

My worst night out nightmare would be looking like sausage meat stuffed into its skin, which is sadly an all too common sight in this town. The conclusion to this year’s party dress shopping had to be upping the price tag rather than “buy cheap, pay dear” or ending up dressed like my mother for fear of the former!

I have long admired her humble yet iconic wrap dresses and so was delighted when I spied the DVF black lace India detail dress, retailing at £348 on the DVF website. The dress looked almost too good to be true in terms of what I had in mind and what is so great about DVF is that they attach a video of a model strutting her stuff against the garment online so you get a really good idea of the cut and flow of the fabric.

Yes, I had definitely found “the one”…but would it fit ME? A nail biting two weeks later and on the day before the party the package finally arrived. The thing better bloody fit was all I kept thinking having sourced some shoes, a new bag and gel nails to compliment the intended look! Sizing the perfect dress online is always a risk for us tall and curvy dragonflies and is usually counteracted by ordering it in three sizes then returning them all, however with DVF, I need not have worried, the size guide and US to UK conversion proved accurate. Huzzah!

The quality and fit of the material was akin to a glove and the curve flattering body con nude lace panels and long lace sleeves are genius for providing lumps and bumps in all the right places. Blinking lovely!!!

In my view, the slightly elevated price tag can easily be justified on this basis and its timeless LBD quality is sure to make it a firm favourite for any occasion from cocktails with the girls to a ball. I teamed the dress with some velvety heels from Hobbs, a sparky handbag from Oasis and kept it simple on the accessories front with a pair of Hobbs drop earrings. I also went for berry red gel nails.

Next rather fabulous dilemma – the hair. Should I get it “done” and if so, hair up or hair down? In the end I opted for a Gatsby inspired side chignon woven with a French pleat down the right hand side to bring it bang up to date. Thanks to Kylie at Rainbow Room International for the suggestion and Caroline at Saks Aberdeen for implementing it. I was delighted with the result, which is no mean feat as I am always particularly fussy when it comes to the “up do” having fallen foul of a couple of dreadful bridesmaid curly beehive thingys in the past.

It is always soooo important to go prepared with pictures and ideas to a hair up appointment and better still speak to the stylist beforehand so that you are both on the same page. A good hair-upper should have a portfolio of his or her own work on their I-phone and this can really help when combining two up styles as I did here. Sixty seven kirkbies later and hey presto!

All that was left to do was to apply my Bobbi Brown make up and pop on my dress. I opted for a lightly smoked eye with extreme party lash mascara and a nude lip.

Toot toot – taxi for Glasgow Dragonfly!!

We had a great night and the DVF dress and my hair in particular made me feel fabulous and so for that was absolutely money well spent. The dress will get many outings in the future, of that I am certain! I have attached a few pics for your perusal.

Hope you all had a fabulous party time too!

Mwah mwah x