Aussie curves pink (and stripes)

I was a bit distracted last week. What with deciding to put my house on the market and needing to do a serious declutter and clean and so stripes week completely passed me by. But more about that later.

This week on Aussie curves is pink week. 

Last year for pink week I had a dess in mind but I couldn't find it. Turns out I had packed away some summer dresses and it was hiding. But now that we are truly in the hot weather my summer clothes are out and my pink dress has been found.

This is mt lovely Michael Kors dress from macys. I probably bought it almost exactly 12 months ago at the Columbus Day sales. So this little number was already reduced to half price from $150 and then that weekend sale stock was 75% off it's marked price. You read right. So this little number came down to $18.75! Gotta love a bargain.

It's great for work and easy to wash and wear . I get compliments every time I wear it. And I have a little smile at my designer bargain.

But wait, there's more. 

This season I bought the beautiful bright pink jacket from city chic. It has definitely been a good investment. On regular rotation for work , it give a professional look without being drab. In homage to missing last weeks post on stripes, I have paired it with my favour item harlow scuba skirt and a striped top from city chic. 

My glitter toe cap shoes get another outing with this. And the belt makes a huge difference

I love pink and stripes. What a combination.

Check out the rest of the Aussie curves women. They have some treat styling going on.

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Aussie Curves Celebrate

Aussie Curves Celebrate

A year ago a courageous and shy young woman had a dream. She wanted to establish a supportive and positive community for plus sized women where is was safe to explore their fashion style and to learn from each other. I wonder if Danimezza had any idea how successful she would be.

I was in from the beginning. 

I wasn't sure if I was what she was aiming for in the demographic , being old enough to be the mother of some of the participants but there are very few middle aged plus sized women blogging about fashion out there and I wanted to have a go. 

And I have gained so much.

My style has changed quite a bit. Admittedly it had started changing before exactly 12 months ago but that was from following Dani and other plus sized bloggers in the months before Aussie Curves started.

So what has changed?

I have confidence to play with fashion!

I accept that my body is wide and I wear figure hugging clothes anyway.

I wear belts to indicate a waist.

And I have found other sources of clothes than just the ones available in the mall so ASOS and  other online sources have pumped up my wardrobe, perhaps a little too much.I also walk into shops I didnt visit before like Millers. I know, not high fashion but I found this lovely monochrome peplum top today and I think it shows the current season trend pretty well.

And who would have ever thought I would wear a leather look skirt? It had been ages since I had worn pencil skirts. I did wear them a lot in the 80s but then I wore very few skirts for 20 years. Now I love them and have quite a few pencil skirts but this lovely Scuba skirt from Harlow is my latest and favourite and I never would have tried it without Aussie Curves.

And then there is colour. Red and black were my colours before and I still love them. But now I am happy to play with pops of hot pink, purple and cobalt blue. Close fitting jackets and peplums are also a big feature in my wardrobe. This one from City chic called out to me the day it came into store and I had to have it even at full price. So glad I bought it because they were all gone 3 days later.

Finally, my DD and I have had a lot of fun playing with photos. She has even offered to take photos for the challenge recently. That is truly something to celebrate. It is always lovely to work with your children using the creativity that you both can bring. Today we were playing with lighting. I think she is getting better and better as a photographer. Our garage is making a pretty good studio.

Isn't she beautiful?

So Happy Birthday Aussie Curves and thanks to Dani and all the other participants. We really have something to celebrate

Aussie Curves Feminine

So sad that I have missed recent challenges. Green, spike and  leather were all challenges I could have done but didn't because of time and the fact that DD is the best photographer in the house and she was busy writing essays for uni.
Feminine was initially a challenge in my head. I think of feminine as creamy lace, pearls, florals and frills. Not really my style. Don't get me wrong, I dressed my kids in beautiful hand made by me smocked dresses and have made some lacy Christening gowns in silk but when it come to what I wear, pastels just don't do it for me.
But then I realised my style has changed quite a lot and the majority of what I wear is feminine. When I started my current job over 10 years ago one of the (male) partners made a comment about how I never wore skirts. And he was right. My look was pretty much loose pants and t-shirt type tops with drapey vests or jackets over the top. And I made a lot of my clothes too because there was much less plus size clothing around.  But in recent years choices are so much better. And I wouldn't like to admit how many skirts I own but I wear skirts and dresses twice as often as pants. What a pity that partner is no longer working to enjoy the view! Yes I know pretty politically incorrect wasn't it.
So this outfit is a result of the recent City Chic sale.

I noticed the top the week it came into the store and loved the red colour in the ponti fabric with the drapey sleeves but was reluctant to pay full price. So glad it was in the sale and in my size.

And the skirt is, believe it or not, the ponti pencil skirt that everyone has been raving about. It is fairly high waisted and I am short waisted so it naturally falls high on my waist for me. I don't mind the outcome because it creates the illusion that I am wearing an empire line dress and I can swap the colours of the tops depending on my mood.

The belt is from Asos and I like the girly bow.

Don't you just love the texture of this paperbark tree?

So I just had to wear my pearls. They are the real thing. ( a 21st birthday present a century ago )

Curls tamed courtesy of my lovely hairdresser today.

I tried to get my earrings in the shot but my curls got in the way.

Thanks to my gorgeous girl for the photos.

Check out the other wonderful Aussie Curvettes in the linky below.

Aussie Curves Time Saver

Well here we are again at the end of the Aussie Curves blogging week. This week's theme is Time Saver.

I have to admit that , like many other women, I feel quite time poor. Life is a little less hectic with grown children but I still have to be at work by 8 4 days a week and the other day I am still AT work at 8. So saving time getting ready for work makes life feel manageable.

So here are my tips:

1. Have a basic uniform to vary for work clothes. For me that means usually black basic shell with colourful top layer. Not always but it is a go to when I need not to think

2. Plan what you are going to wear the day before and get it out. ( I don't always follow my own advice but I wish I did )

3. minimal hair bother. I am lucky to have naturally curly hair. I fought it for a long time but now I embrace the curl. I know it can look wild and unruly at times. That's because it is. So, after washing I apply some antifrizz stuff, scrunch my hair and let it dry naturally. This is the most time saving thing I can do and I like my hair curly.

So to demonstrate my tips, here we go. I am using my basic ASOS body con Tshirt dress and styling 3 ways.

asos dress and cardi from Autograph summer 2012. Necklace Lovisa.

Shoes from Evans of course.

I would wear this to work or to dinner.

Same dress and shoes but jacket from city chic.I love this outfit for work. No necklace here bacause the sun was getting low and I had to save time but a red chunky one would be the order of the day.

natural waves in hair. No fuss

For a more casual look I have the same dress but this time with boots from this year's Autograph range and the jacket also from Autograph. Military style ponti jacket. I think I will get a lot of casual wear from this if it ever gets cold enough

The sun was in my eyes but it was nice that it was there for the pics.

Check out the other Aussie curvettes and their time saving tips. We all need them.

Aussie Curves Black and White

This week's theme is Black and White. Now anyone who knows me knows I have a lot of black and white in my wardrobe. It is born of necessity because for ever and ever plus sized clothes have been very limited in the palette to black, black and black. Because, after all, black is considered flattering. And it is flattering to lots of people but mainly people with a winter colouring to their skin and I am more of a summer girl. So White with a splash of red brings my blacks to life.

I even planned a whole travel wardrobe around black, white and red during a trip to Europe 2 years ago which made a very functional travel wardrobe.

Yes, it's the Colosseum.

Herculaneum

But not many photos of that time have me in them for other reasons. It was a great trip but not a great time in my life. And I wasn't too keen on getting in front of the camera. I had many lessons of self acceptance to learn.

On to today.

I love pops of colour now and will take the chance to wear them frequently but there is still the drift towards the black and white when I am out shopping. They can be relied on to look good and not too out there for work.Combine them in a stripe and you could say " you had me at Hello.

So when this chevron stripe skirt came out from City Chic I knew I had to have it.

 I already had the peplum top from Asos but hadn't worn it yet.

I love the combination.

Still need to work on my poses though.

Check out this necklace from TS. I was shopping today and had gone into town to get something specifically from the Virtue catalogue. Unfortunately it wasn't in yet but this necklace spoke to me and said it would finish off my Black and White outfit for this week.

Just one final comment. I applied some pretty significant eye makeup for tonight's shoot. I cant believe how much the lights wash it out. You can hardly tell apart from the brow shaping courtesy of the benefit brow bar earlier today. Gonna have to work on this in the future.

This is a blog hop and as usual I am skipping in at the last minute. Now go and check out the other wonderful Aussie and New Zealand curvettes.

Aussie Curves: the swimsuit edition

Well I have to admit, like many of the other Aussie curves bloggers, this one was the one I faced with most trepidation. I have no problem getting into a swimsuit and in to the water. It is much easier now that I have a backyard pool but even before then, the experience of being in water is just too good to miss out on.

One of my favorite pastimes as a young person was to get into the surf and jump up and down in the waves. The feeling of cold salt water on the skin so refreshing on hot summer days. Of course, with my fair skin it had to be at either end of the day but I was lucky enough to live VERY close to the beach so heading down twice a day in the holiday was not an issue. And I NEVER had a bikini body. So I had to deal with it. Once you are in the water who cares anyway?

But putting it out there on the internet. That is another thing.

I have been bullied in a swimsuit. At our local public swimming pool I would go past young men as I kept an eye on my children and hear comments about whale and fat. It did upset me quite a lot. But then I thought who are you to stop me and my children from being in the water? In my line of work I encourage many people to enjoy the healing power of exercising in water and have heard so many times of the shame of exposing an overweight body in a swimsuit to the world. My answer? It's their problem. They can choose not to look at you but how dare they stop you from enjoying being active in water.

So even though I do not set a good example by keeping my weight under control. I choose to engage in life and not let my weight make that life any smaller than it has to be. So here it is. If you have got this far in my blurb you can now see the pics.

swimsuit Target, sunglasses Equip

I love a colorful suit. They are hard to come by in plus size but I like the crossover feature of this one. It is my favorite style because it feels secure in the surf.

A pashmina for a sarong goes double duty for sitting on the sand and keeping covered up at the beach.

But I have another cossie that makes me feel glam. So I decided to bling it up and channel the retro glamour that a cruise inspires. This Tankini from Citi chic is gorgeous. Even though I am not extremely well endowed in the bust department it gives a lot of shape. The bottoms are from Ezibuy the Sara range.

Swimsuit City Chic, necklace and hat Eumundi Markets. lipstick Maybelline

A nice wide brimmed hat and my lovely red shell necklace which I have worn before on Aussie curves and we complete the picture.

I must say I never wear red lipstick in the pool but this suit kind of demands it. Makes my backyard pool seem like it is somewhere dreamy. Now all I need is the lounge chair, the cocktail and the partner to share it with.

Phew, that's done. Now be nice in the comments and check out the other brave, gorgeous Aussie Curves women in our blog hop.

Aussie curves blue

Here's hoping this posts. I just love blue. Especially the shade I am wearing. I often wear red white and black but blue is my second fave and I have been drawn to a lot of it this season. These pics were taken two weeks ago as we prepared the picnic post as well.
This jacket is from city chic. I thought about it for weeks before I bought it and even tried it on three times. I figured after 3 try ons I definitely needed to have it. I love that it is made of heavy jersey so even though it looks smart enough to be corporate like how I have styled it this time, it can be dressed down with a pair of jeans or skirt and look great as well. It's very similar to the stripy jacket from my stripes post.

 I have to say that after taking these photos I wore it with black long stretch pants, cotton Lycra long sleeved T-shirt, black riding boots and a navy and white spotted scarf to fly across the pacific to New York. It was the most comfortable flying outfit I have ever worn. I was so grateful for it when the cabin got cold. I like to look smart when I fly and this was just the ticket.

Aussie Curves Stripes

There are a lot of supposed "rules" for over sized girls. All designed to somehow "flatter" us. Wear lots of black is one of them. And another is "never wear stripes"
Well we women at Aussie Curves are here to disprove the theories. So this week's theme is "stripes".
I love stripes. Have quite a few pieces in the wardrobe. The most recent is this lovely Jacket from City Chic.
It's called Jailbird and it's made of ponte which is a nicely weighted knit material. Very comfortable to wear and great for adding that extra layer to give something a bit of class. I love that I can wear it to work or with jeans.

I didn't get to participate in the Red challenge so today I am wearing my red Sara jeans with a ballet tank from Virtue ( last years collection ) and a red necklace from TS14 plus. Red is my fallback colour.

Love this jacket. It is coming with me to the big apple.
On a side note. It is a big challenge for me to post these photos. The person I see in the mirror is not the person I see in the pics. The person in the mirror is much slimmer. It is like the reverse of the eating disorder when a skinny girl sees a fat one in the mirror. But the photos show the real me so posting them is a step towards accepting myself. This is who I am. Only I have the power to change it. If I choose. But the first step is to accept myself right now and work towards the person I want to be inside and out. Big changes have happened in my life in the last 2 years. Some initially looked to be very disappointing but they have led to a lot of personal growth and a huge amount of self acceptance. The inside of me is much happier. Just have to reconcile the outside. Thanks to all in Aussie Curves for the accepting community you are. It makes a difference.