Swimwear Trends for 2015*

It’s that time of year where we start to crave a holiday. If you’re lucky enough to have already booked your next getaway, you’ve probably already turned your attention to swimwear.
From bikinis to swimsuits, there’s so many styles, designs and prints to choose from. To help you select the best option for your shape, we’ve enlisted the help of Danielle Kisby from leading lingerie and swimwear retailer, Bras Galore. She’ll provide her expert opinion on this season’s hottest trends.
Fringing
Popular in the 80s and 90s, fringing has re-emerged in time for summer 2015. Shorter fringed bikinis are great for adding subtle detail to your swimsuit, while longer styles can create a more dramatic look.
Speaking of the trend, Danielle said: “Channelling boho chic, fringing is one of my favourite trends this season. It’s great for minimising the appearance of a larger bust, as well as disguising those pesky cellulite-prone areas on the hips. A fringed bikini is the perfect alternative to heavily printed swimwear. Choose a plain option to remain subtly stylish.”
High-waisted
Favourites with everyone from curvalicious Beyoncé to athletic Taylor Swift, high-waisted bikinis are a popular choice this season. Offering more coverage than your typical string bikini yet oozing sexiness, the style is reminiscent of 1950s pin-up girls.
“A 1950s-style bikini is perfect for showing off those va va voom curves!” says Danielle. “The high-waisted bottoms are great for highlighting an hourglass figure, and are incredibly flattering across problem stomach areas.
“If you are blessed with a larger bust, choose a bra- or halterneck-style bikini top. These are much more preferable to flimsy string designs, which can offer little support. Ditsy prints like polka dots are an absolute must for this style. You can wear them year after year!”
Sporty
Sports luxe has been a huge trend for a few seasons now, but it seems 2015 is the year it really starts to dominate the swimwear market. Sports bra-inspired high-neck tops complete with mesh detailing are big news, as are bright block colours with contrasting black trims.
Danielle says: “A sports inspired bikini is perfect for lazy days in the sun and splashing around in the pool. However, the shape isn’t for everyone. While they are incredibly flattering for athletic and boyish shapes, the high-neck cut can make ladies with a bigger bust look top heavy.
“If you do have larger breasts and you are considering this style, I’d advise choosing one with mesh detailing to reduce the coverage over your bust. That way, you can have the best of both worlds.”
Plunge swimsuit
If you’re looking for something a little sexier, choose a swimsuit with a deep plunge neck. While you may think you’re covering up in a bathing suit, the plunge neck is sure to grab attention.
Danielle comments: “Plunge swimsuits are great as they can be worn by women of any size. Suits that offer little support around the bust are best suited to women will smaller busts. If you have larger breasts, choose a style that offers additional support to prevent squashing and provide an extra lift.
“Because the plunge adds detail to the swimsuit, choose a classic Ibiza-ready colour like black, white or red. Team with a floppy sunhat for ultimate glamour.”
Which styles will you be hitting the beach in this summer?

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Prom Queen

Growing up my staple movie diet was the romantic comedy. As was the case of many of the main characters I wasn’t one of the pretty, popular girls and feared that I would never meet my true love, or indeed any love. Fast forward a decade or so and I now know that’s not the case, but back then I thrived on seeing these ugly ducklings transform in to a beautiful swan- most notably at their high school prom. In this post I thought I’d share with you a few of my favourite prom dresses from the films I loved, and still love best.

Grease (image) | She’s All That (image) | Harry Potter (image) | Pretty in Pink (image)

I found shopping for my prom dresses really hard. Ten years ago (showing my age here!) it was near impossible to find a good selection on the high street, and they were expensive- very expensive! I think both times I needed to get one I ended up buying from Monsoon at great cost, and despite never needing, or wanting to wear the dresses again I ended up keeping them purely because a large chunk of money had been spent. These days the high street is awash with amazing dresses, far prettier than any I saw back then- I wish I could have my time again as I’d happily skip off to somewhere like New Look who have a gorgeous selection and spend the money left over on attempting to glam myself up a bit!
Which movies did you grow up watching? Which one featured your favourite dress? I think my favourite has to be the one in Pretty in Pink- made in the 1980’s I loved pretty much every item of clothing in the film but the prom dress really was a highlight!

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Post in association with New Look, however I thought it was a brilliant topic and was eager to take part in writing and sharing!

Christmas Party Shopping with McArthur Glen

Sometimes I really have to pinch myself when an awesome opportunity comes my way. The most recent example of this was when the folks at McArthur Glen invited me to their Swindon Designer Outlet centre to shop for the perfect outfit for a Christmas Party- on them! They very generously gifted me a voucher and said I was welcome to bring my Mum along too (to play photographer and help me make decisions) so on Saturday we hopped on the train and ventured an hour out of Bristol to the shops!
The Swindon Designer Outlet is somewhere I tend to visit once or twice a year, usually just after Christmas with my family. I hadn’t been since January and had heard that changes were happening- I’m not usually a fan of change, I like routine but in this case the change was for the better (and things weren’t bad to begin with!). The centre has recently opened the “long shop mall” which is host to many familiar high-end brands including Ghost and Jigsaw- two brand new arrivals to the collection of stores. This post is more about the things I saw rather than what I bought, that I’m saving for another post…
The entire place was beautifully decked out for Christmas, with these amazing nutcracker soldiers all over the place, I couldn’t resist stopping for a quick snap next to one!

Our first shopping stop was Ghost which has only been open for a couple of weeks. Ghost was one of the first brands I ever read about, when I was really quite young. I’ve always associated it with being grown up and sophisticated and I’m pleased to say it lived up to expectation. I loved the red satin maxi dress in the pictures and couldn’t resist trying on this emerald green number- which may or may not have come home with me. The girls in the store were so lovely, probably the friendliest and sweetest out of all the shops we visited; a big thank you for being so damn lovely!

We also checked out Phase Eight which had some stunning pieces (sadly not in my size) and Jigsaw where I fell in love with everything. French Connection had some of the nicest party dresses of them all, the sequin floral number was a particular favourite…
Shoes wise, you’re spoilt for choice at Swindon- Kurt Geiger, Clarks, Pavers, Daniel Footwear and Next had such a gorgeous selection. In the end I picked up a shiny gold pair in Clarks, one of the two you can see in the photos…any guesses which ones I picked and how much of a bargain they were?
I also managed to accessorize with a clutch bag from Fiorelli and picked up some sparkly makeup in the Cosmetic Company Outlet to complete the look. By this point my camera battery was dying (as were my energy levels) but you’ll see photos of those in the next blog post.

Everything at the outlets are 30% off minimum, with savings of up to 70% up for grabs- for those on a stricter budget you can get some really pocket friendly pieces in Next or M&S, but if you feel like splashing out you can make real savings on big name items- the Ghost dress was priced at £50 with a further 10% off with a discount card available at customer information. The French Connection sparkly number was £80 down from a whopping £250! Honestly, outlets are so often overlooked but an absolute treasure trove for special occasion wear and bargain brand buys that otherwise would be out of my reach (and many others I suspect).

We refreshed ourselves with food and drink from the fabulous selection from the Food Hall- between Pizza Express and Wagamamas (with more restaurants to be added soon) we didn’t know what to pick, but ended up with a caffeine fix and a toastie in Starbucks.
I can’t wait to see the whole completed renovation of the Swindon Designer Outlets, due to be finished in the spring time…with a May wedding to attend I’ll be making a beeline to get another snazzy outfit for an absolute bargain price. I even had enough left on my voucher to get a thank you treat for Mum and some cheeky chocolates in the Lindt shop (which smells like melted chocolate and is basically my idea of heaven!)

Stay tuned for the outfit reveal post coming next week- can you guess which dress and shoes I went for? Have you shopped the outlets lately? McArthur Glen have several locations around the UK and I need to know which others are a must visit!

A HUGE thank you to the team at McArthur Glen for making us so welcome on Saturday, it was one of the most surreal yet awesome experiences of my blogging adventures to date! I also bumped in to the lovely Lily whilst I was there, who was completing her shopping mission, I can’t wait to see her post!

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Festive Fashion with Allsaints (guest post)

While it might still seem to be a bit too early to start thinking about Christmas looks and outfits, there’s no denying that the festive season is nearly upon us. As soon as the Halloween rush is over, all the stores are straight on about Christmas Party looks and getting ready for the season.
Personally, dressing up for Christmas is one of our favourite times of the year. There are always a fair few parties, and it’s the prime opportunity to get out all those sparkles and red pieces that you otherwise might not be able to wear.
The Work Party

This is the party where you might need to be a bit more reserved but this doesn’t mean that you still can’t have fun with the outfit. There are some stunning black or silk dresses out there that would be ideal. These are sophisticated pieces that will keep you looking professional enough, but still really stylish. Add in some sparkly accessories and statement shoes and you’ve got a winning outfit. And you’ll definitely need to be wearing that Santa hat.

festivity at office

The Family Party

This is where you can go all out with your Christmas looks, as you’ll have the comfort and warmth of being in at home. Grab something with a bit more colour and print and just put your feet up and enjoy the Christmas meal. Alternatively, you can finish off by adding a Christmas jumper on top of you outfit to give it that extra Christmasy feel. And don’t forget to add in the matching Christmas slippers!

celebrate at home

The Host

When hosting, you want to be as comfortable as possible, while also still looking chic. You’ll be running around all day so you want to make sure that you’re in control and are wearing something practical. Again, a black dress with some colourful accessories and cute flats is sure to keep you comfortable but also looking good. Clinch the look in with a cute and sparkly belt.

hosting

Check out AllSaints for everything you need to look amazing this festive season!

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An evening with Duo Boots #BootTribe

On Thursday I broke out of my reclusive comfort zone and hopped on the train to Bath to meet up with some of my favourite South West blogger ladies and visit the Duo Boots store, or fitting room as it’s properly known as to learn a bit more about the brand and discover which Boot Tribe I belong to.
The first thing you notice when walking in to the fitting room is just how beautiful it is- hands down one of the most stunning and well thought out retail spaces I’ve ever set foot in. The Bath fitting room is the original Duo Boots fitting room and has been in place since the early 1970’s. They later expanded to London and Edinburgh. They specialise in expertly crafted footwear- from work perfect loafers to sexy over the knee boots all designed with comfort and style in mind. With three widths available and 21 different calf sizes for the boots you are guaranteed to come away with footwear that you never want to take off, and with an army of expert (and super gorgeous and friendly) fitters on hand to help you choose your perfect fit it’s a wonderful shoe shopping experience.
On the night we were given tags with our blog names on and left to run wild around the fitting room to choose our Boot Tribe (whilst being fed and watered with delicious food and bubbly- always a winner!). Prior to the event I would have put myself firmly in to the ankle boot tribe, but found myself more drawn to the knee high styles on the night and ended up coming away with the Somerset style, perfect for rather damp walks to work as well as looking effortlessly stylish. It was a hard task to choose though as honestly there are SO many styles to choose from. 60% of the girls opted for ankle boots, including Lily who went for some beautiful sparklers that almost made me change my mind! I was in good company though as 33% of us went for knee high styles, with only 7% putting themselves in the over-the-knee tribe, which I admit I was very tempted to join!
It was a wonderful evening and one of the best organised events I have been to. The girls from Octane PR could not have been lovelier and a special thanks goes to the ladies from the Duo fitting room for being so damn sweet and attentive. It was fantastic to catch up with some of my favourite faces, and to meet some new ones to. I can’t wait to see everyone again (note to self, socialising isn’t as scary as you think) and to have my beautiful boots safe at home with me, ready to be worn to death. I’ve never tried anything that fits me so perfectly- no knee muffin top or gaping calves for this girl! If you’re on the lookout for your perfect winter boots and don’t live near a Duo fitting room then you can check out the extensive range online, you’ll find all the information and guides you need to ensure you get your perfect fit too.
What boot tribe would you place yourself in? Stay tuned for plenty of outfit posts featuring my new pair!

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