Date With A Prom Dress

Last month I spent a lot of time trying on clothes in Evans (as can be evidenced by my From The Changing Room post) but I was stuck with the dilemma of only being able to take home one item.

I tried on dress after dress, even a pair of trousers! And what did I choose?!

This!
The mesh insert prom dress has flown off shelves and it's easy to see why. The quality and attention to detail in the Scarlett & Jo dresses make them many fatshionistas favourite brand and one of the main reasons to visit Evans.

This dress has a mesh panel which reveals a gorgeous sweetheart neckline and an elasticated waist which gives this dress the signature Scarlett & Jo Prom Dress look.
Lucky for me this dress is also lined with a net petticoat which helps it retain some shape even on the most blustery of days!

My biggest little was feeling a little left out and joined me for a photo. Check the hands on hips pose!

Sadly our photo session was cut short thanks to the wind and a shaky tripod. Perhaps he'll join me again soon, who knows!

Outtake anyone?

Unfortunately this dress is now sold out but Evans currently have a fantastic sale on and many gorgeous Scarlett & Jo pieces have been slashed in price.

Evans - From The Changing Room

Last week I visited Bluewater with my mum and we spent a crazy long time in Evans.

The staff were absolutely tremendous, picking up on cues of what we like to wear and filling our changing room with goodies until the clothes pegs we're fit to burst with an array of styles and colours.

I wanted to push myself a little outside my comfort zone on this trip, not just going for my usual skater style dress with leggings so I bit the bullet and grabbed the Scarlett & Jo trousers and a tshirt. Its the first time I've worn trousers in about a year and a half so it felt pretty good! Unfortunately the proper photo of this ensemble is too blurry to share so instead here's a rather attractive outtake!

Sticking to the Scarlett & Jo theme (because I'm ever so in love with the current line), I next tried on this mesh insert dress. I've always been a huge fan of the 2-in-1 style dresses with the thick elastic waist defining bands so this one was a definite win for me! The mesh providing a bit of modesty and the jersey top giving enough stretch to accommodate any chest size. Perfect!

The above dress came home with me instead of the following one for two reasons. The first being because I somehow managed to get makeup on it (oops) and the second being the sizing.
I am 100% blown away by how gorgeous this rose print prom dress is. From the length to the sleeves and the sweetheart neckline. There is nothing about this dress that I don't like. As I said, my only issue was the sizing. I tried my usual size but it was a strangely tight (there was some misplaced stitching which could explain away some but not all of the squeeze) and the size up (pictured below) was a little too loose around the waist for my liking.

I won't lie to you, I have been pondering over a lifestyle change following some health issues and I'm tempted to buy the smaller size as it's currently in the sale at only £35 and it's Just. So. Gorgeous! We'll see.

Back to the very first outfit, the #stylehasnosize tshirt is only £16 and ALL profits go to the Rainbow Trust Children's Charity. What's not to love about that?!

From The Changing Room - Scarlett & Jo

Yesterday I returned to my former people-watching haunt, Bluewater shopping centre. Over the past year they've improved their Evans store and relocated it to right in front of the food court which pleases this fatty greatly.

Although the new store is bigger than it's predecessor, it's still not exactly huge but it does have a rail for Scarlett & Jo stock. To my joy I found two of the latest S&J offerings from their recent blogger campaign.

First up was this fan print 40s inspired dress designed for Hollie at Pretty Big Butterflies.

Normally I don't like this kind of fabric. It clings to my lumps, shows off my bumps and gives me a VBO that I am not entirely comfortable with. But this dress lays to rest those issues. The cut is wonderful; I love the wrap top with the tie-up neckline (although as with all wrap front dresses I appear to have my bra on show, whoops!) and it hangs in such a fabulous way that it skims over my belly with relative ease.

I should point out that I was wearing fat pants that even Bridget Jones herself might be horrified by. That would be fairly standard for me in a dress like this though.

The second of the new blogger inspired dresses was this gorgeous 2-in-1 lace prom dress.

This is the first time I've tried on one of Scarlett & Jo's infamous prom dresses, for no other reason than they're generally a little over my Stay At Home Mum budget. But oh my goodness I need to get me one of these!

It's beautiful, it's flowy, it's fully lined and it feels amazing. It feels glamorous and comfortable all at the same time and LOOK!

A WAIST! The elasticated band is a thing of miracles. I'm blessed with an hourglass-ish (ish!) figure anyway but the way the waist is defined by this dress is glorious.

And the lace! Oh the lace just gives the entire dress that extra oomph. I adore the black overlay on the vibrant blue dress and it's perfect for those who might want to cover their arms a little without wanting to take away from the outfit with a shrug or a cardi. I'm in love.

So far the new Scarlett & Jo collection is far exceeding my expectations and I simply cannot wait to try more. Big cheers for all at Scarlett & Jo and even bigger cheers for the bloggers who took part. Hurrah!