Yours Clothing, Bluewater

Have you ever had one of those experiences that leaves you beaming with confidence and feeling better than ever?

When visiting the new Yours Clothing store at Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent last month, that's exactly what happened to me.

Yours has such a wide range that this shop is bursting at the seams with a variety of basic and on-trend styles, colours and patterns. The sheer amount of clothing can be a little hard to navigate when you first walk in. I didn't quite know where to start, but once I found my rhythm there was no stopping me as I scurried from rack to rack picking up all manner of things to try on.

The gorgeous Abi (staff member and fantastic blogger over at aisforabi) treated me to the Worlds Biggest Changing Room. Plenty of room for groups, wheelchair users, mums with buggies or a cat swinging convention. Or, as was the case for me, enough space to go crazy trying on too many clothes.

But the size of the changing room isn't what impressed me the most. The greatest thing about my trip to Yours Clothing that day was the people. I've already mentioned the fabulous Abi (expect a blogger meet up in the future, I need to hang out with that girl!) but the experience doesn't even stop with staff. No, it was everyone. The staff made customers happy and in turn the happiness bounced off every single shopper in the changing room.

I felt so good I even put on a maxi dress!
Sadly it didnt fit my 5ft 3in, big boobied frame.

I've never experienced such community in a fitting room before. Everybody was chatting, comparing sizes, giving opinions and tips and swapping clothes. I tried on things I wouldn't normally dare to because I felt secure in knowing that there would be no fat-shaming or body snarking. Everybody was just themselves. (Or a happier version thereof.) I was stripped to my bra and leggings and comfortable enough to let the other women in the adjacent rooms wander in and see how I was getting on. With the exception of my husband and children, it's the most naked I've been in front of anyone for years!

I don't know what happened to this picture- it's so fuzzy-
but I neeeed this blazer.

Thanks to the amazing people at Yours Clothing,  Bluewater, I tried some new things, met some great people and had the best shopping experience possibly ever. Excellent! Bring on the new Ashford and Maidstone stores!

Primark Public Service Announcement

Good afternoon my lovelies,

Please excuse the formatting of this post for I am sat in Costa (in LEEDS! I've never been here before), posting from the app on my phone. I just need to get excited for a moment...

Primark have a maternity range.
Yes! I know! I didn't know either until today!

Now, my twins were evicted from my belly nine months ago. So why am I getting excited? There are two reasons.

1) As we all know, Primark mostly only caters for those under a size 20. So when I saw the maternity range I wondered about the shape and whether my size 22-24 belly would benefit from the extra bump space.

I chose a daisy print swing dress to try on and went for the 20. It was so generous I needed a belt to gather the fabric and take away the tent look. This dress is made of a medium weight jersey cotton with a lot of stretch so I could have sized down a couple of sizes. Where was this dress when I was preggers?!

From the changing room

I also tried on some maternity leggings (not pictured). I like my leggings to stop at my bra so maternity bellywarmers are perfect. The size 20 gave me baggy knees so I went for an 18. And guess what! They are completely opaque! At only £4 they're a complete bargain.

2) The second reason I think we can get excited about the maternity range? Hopefully if the company are starting to broaden their horizons and make clothes for pregnant ladies, maybe... just maybe, plus sizes will be next.
We can but hope.