Foxy Finds

As well as flamingoes and of course cats, I also love foxes. They're my spirit animal I guess. Well, specifically this particular fox:

I'm known to some as "Derpy fox", a name which I think suits me rather well.

I thought that I'd therefore show you a few of my foxy fashion treasures.

First up is some items very close to my heart. A good while ago, a friend of mine held a fabulous housewarming party for which the theme was noah's ark crossed with the roaring twenties. There were already flamingoes going, so I decided to be a red fox with the help of etsy. I bought this beautiful mask and tail combo from a lovely shop called Opposite of Far. Sadly Jessica (her surname is Near, hence the gorgeous name of the shop) doesn't seem to be selling anything at the moment, but if you're after a nice handmade mask, I'd highly recommend her. She was super helpful with all the questions I had- I was worried that the ribbon on the tail might be too small for my massive hips, and she was so sweet and reassuring, and can even change the colour to go with the dress that you're wearing.

The mask has sort of become a signature piece of mine as I use it as my Twitter avatar on my Super Sekrit account. 

Next up is my slightly gruesome, though rather cute scarf. 

That colour scheme sort of makes it look like our poor vulpine friend has been squished. But I loved him so much when I saw him that I had a minor fight to grab him in a John Lewis sale. 

I've made some really wonderful friends through Twitter over the years, one of whom is the truly wonderful @Jackpot73. She was kind enough to send me a super special present the other day.

It's a beautiful little ginger glass fox necklace. It's so cute and stylised, I love it to bits. This might sound weird, but because its glass it's also very tactile. I have a habit of playing with my jewellery a lot, and I just love the feel of this- its sort of comforting. I love that she saw this and thought of me- she's such a good friend, and I can always rely on her to bring a ray of sunshine into my life whenever we chat :)

Finally, we recently moved and bought a new bed. And of course no bed is complete without a lovely new duvet cover. When I saw this Mr Fox bedding set from Scion, I just knew I had to have it. 

I've also very sadly just thrown out my Little Miss Sew fox cardigan. I've had it for years and it never quite fitted right, but since I've put so much weight on lately it was just getting depressing, so unfortunately it had to go. It was super cute in its day though, even if the fox was a little evil looking. 

A Sunday Stroll

I have a severe over-reliance on jeans for pretty much all daily activities except for work and nights out. I'm therefore trying to make a concerted effort to vary what I wear and to stop being such a scruff all the time. I guess that with all of this extra weight right now, I'm starting to not feel that comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt.

So today I decided to wear a dress for a nice Sunday Stroll through the park, even though it is only Saturday. Honestly, I've been convinced all day that it's Sunday.  

There I am, waving at you. Simon the cat decided to put in a little appearance too. 

Dress: Club L#

Belt: Goodness only knows, Its the tie from some other top that is probably by now long forgotten.

Tights: Primarni

Shoes: New Look, with pink laces from a Kawaii Box.

Disclaimer: I am wearing shapewear under this dress, so I have a much smoother silhouette than I would usually. I've had this dress for ages, but I very rarely wear it because it is so unforgiving. Its also actually quite see-through- bra outlines and patterns are quite clearly visible through it, though I'm not convinced that's a totally bad thing. Shapewear is a new area for me, and I'll be talking more about it in future posts. The contraption I've been wearing today is actually quite comfortable, and I do feel miles better in it. It hasn't rolled up or down too embarrassingly, but my goodness it's a right faff on whenever one needs a tinkle. 

I put a bit of effort into my hair today, trying a little quiff and scarf combo. Normally these are things that I like the sound of in theory but in reality they don't tend to work too well. Whenever I try to do a decent quiff thing I usually chicken out and end up brushing it out, but today I went for it and even got a compliment on it. 

Its been very cold and pretty breezy out there, so lets check how this hair is getting on after today's excursion. 

Hmmm, its actually not too bad, A good few strands out and about, and the quiffy bit has drooped a bit, but it could be worse. My makeup hasn't fared quite so well, but it never does. 

Post the first

Well hello there.

Today's post is about the picture that gave me this daft blog idea in the first place.

I've been getting quite interested in vintage sort of styles of late. But given I'm a decent size 18 nowadays, and I have a rather ample bosom, there have been a good few false starts in the past. I've ordered countless dresses and pretty things online, only to excitedly unwrap them and find out that I have no hope in hell of even getting one boob into the space designed for two. Either that, or I try on the wiggle dress that looked so sleek and elegant on the plus size model, only to find that I have fleshy splurgy bits poking out all over the place in a horrific manner. Luckily, I seem to have found a good, reliable source of lovely dresses in Lady Vintage, who just yesterday fleshed out their plus size offerings with the launch of Lady Voluptuous. 

So last Sunday, the sun was shining, and I was waiting for my parents to turn up to go for Sunday lunch at our new local. This is not a dressy pub by any means, but I just felt like putting some effort in and whipping out a pretty dress for the day.

I popped on my navy blue spotted Isabella dress. It fits beautifully, with that lovely flattering neckline. I reached for the nearest cardi, which happened to be red, and paired it with my little thin Asos Curve belt. I felt pretty swanky, if I'm honest, especially after applying some rarely used red lippy. So swanky, that I thought I'd be brave enough to take a picture of myself and let Lady V know.

Swallows Necklace: etsy, yonks ago

Cardigan: Uniqlo, even longer ago

Belt: Asos Curve

Dress: Lady Vintage

Tights: Primarni's finest, with a hole at the top of the thigh for good measure

Shoes: Marc Jacobs (courtesy of boyfriend, who is blooming marvellous and aware of the importance of animal shaped shoes.)

It got a whole load more likes than expected, and a couple of nice comments too. So I guess maybe there are a few of you out there who care about what I'm wearing every now and then :) 

I noticed after I had posted my photo how dowdy it looks in comparison to some of the others that people post. Posed girls, with perfectly quaffed victory rolls, tasteful photo backgrounds, and accessories styled to perfection abound. I, however, have a shoddily taken selfie with an ancient, horrible old lady headboard in the background that has since been gotten rid of.  They look fabulous, and they make me envious, but I can't help but wonder if there isn't more of an interest in more...normal, day to day women. So here I am, ready and willing to fill that less glamorous, more pragmatic gap in the blog market. I'm here for the women who are ten minutes late for work and whose cardigan that matches perfectly with their outfit is still in the wash. The people whose skirts ride up uncomfortably, whose make-up is trashed by the time they get to the bus stop, never mind arriving at the party, they're my type of fashion icons. 

See you again soon

Hxxx