Five Ways To Accessorise A Little Black Dress

The little black dress or LDB as it is otherwise known is the most versatile piece of clothing in any ladies wardrobe. It can be worn as a simple classic day dress or with the addition of a few strategic accessories turned into a Going Out Dress for an evening out.  With so many opportunities to wear your little black dress it is well worth investing in a high quality piece. Another great benefit of the classic black dress is that it never goes out of fashion. Choose a classic style which will always look amazing and flatters your figure. Black is also a really slimming colour so your LBD is perhaps the best way to hide that Christmas bulge caused by a little over indulgence.  

The Perfect Little Black Dress

We choose this 50′s grosgrain Little Black dress by Oasis because it is the perfect combination of modern and retro. We also love the grosgrain texture on it. The flared skirt also adds a little glamour which can work for both day time and evening.

For the office

Cardigan by Great Plains At Coggles

A pair of black opaque tights and mid height heels will easily transform this into  a day dress or work outfit. if you have air conditioning in your office you can also add a neat cardigan in a bright colour or a short black tailored jacket. A business like hand bag that is large enough to carry everything that you need for the day will complete the look.

For lunch with friends

Animal Print Snood – Miss Selfridge

You can really brighten up your LBD with some coloured tights and a bright scarf or snood for a fun outfit for lunch out with the girls. Add some on trend wedge shoes or boots and you have a look that is bound to get you compliments from your friends.

For a lazy weekend

Elizabeth Lau Lottie Red and Cream Cardigan At Coggles

You can even wear your LBD for a stylish but relaxed outfit on the weekend. Try wearing it with some cute knee high socks and tennis shoes for  a fun contrast between smart and casual. A patterned knitted cardigan will complete the look and of course keep you warm.

For dinner with the man of your dreams

Elaborate Metal Draped Collar – Wallis

This is not an occasion when you want to do things by halves. Go for full on glamour with a retro style up do for your hair and some very sparkly jewellery. Add the finishing touches with a great pair of heels and a clutch bag.

For a night on the town

 

Black Elbow Length Evening Gloves by Debut at Debenhams

If you want to look your best, use a trick used by stylists to the stars. What do you like best about your body and which part of your body do you want to draw attention to. Choose an amazing statement accessory to high light this area. How about some red heels to draw attention to your legs or a collar necklace to draw attention to your neck. You could add a pair of long gloves for some added glamour.

London Fashion Week – House Of Holland

House of Holland has become a firm favourite amongst Brits for its fun but wearable women’s dresses, clothes and accessories. They are young and fresh with a hint of that quirky British style. Henry Holland  manages to portray his fun personality through his label which has earned itself a reputation for having a bit of a laugh with fashion. Henry Holland is best mates with Agyness Deyne so you know that he will never be short of celebrity mates to turn up to his shows at London Fashion Week. This year there was Agyness (of course) along with Amber Rose, Lily Allen, Nicola Roberts, Pixie Geldolf and even Kerry Katona.

The clothes shown on the catwalk at the House of Holland show were both fun and frivolous but also incredibly wearable. There were shirts and women’s dresses were adorned with tassels and leather stars, there were also leather pleated skirts, evening dresses, body con dresses and pom pom earrings and accessories. The collection also contained mini metallic leather biker jackets. The look most definitely had a touch of the seventies about it with purples, greens and pinks giving it a colourful feel. It was old school glamour, disco and a touch of New York all rolled into one.

Some of the most noticeable pieces of the collection were the pink and lilac pleated dresses, the sparkly star t shirts and patterned shirts, asymmetric body con dresses worn with knee socks and the green leaf print all in one.

Of course for most of us spring summer 2011, seems like a long way away. Henry Holland’s summer collection would not be warm enough for the the cold autumnal weather that we are about to experience. But don’t worry if you are a big fan of the designer, you can get your fix by checking out the H! by Henry Holland collection at Debenhams. The autumn winter collection contains plenty of warm but fun and stylish clothes including a grey sweatshirt with floral applique writing, an iconic camel coat and some slogan t shirts.

The collection combines amazing value for money with fresh. fun, fashion. There are also plenty of floral, checks and tartans all patterns that are starting to become a real part of the Henry Holland signature.

This multi coloured lip print dress by Henry Holland is striking, colourful and quirky. It is also an incredibly soft piece of knitwear making it extra comfortable. For a super casual look try combining it with a pair of work boots. If you want to keep your legs a little warmer just add some woolley socks.

This khaki draped sleeve maxi dress is a great combination of simplicity and on trend style. The glamour of the maxi dress style combined with the more casual khaki colour make it ideal for both the daytime and evening.

Another fun look is this black dice jumper dress. It is stretchy and comfortable and clings in all of the right places. It has a flattering v neck and elasticised cuffs and hems to help it keep its beautiful shape.

This lilac floral dress is pretty but also very sophisticated with its corset style bodice. Try wearing it with a biker jacket for a rock chic look.

Dresses With Lace To Take You Into The Next Season

Lace is  a massive trend for the summer and if you haven’t invested in any dresses with lace yet, it is still well worth doing as the trend is set to go on until the winter at least. The autumn winter catwalks saw lace used in so many ways from smaller amounts used as trim for lingerie inspired pieces to maxi length dresses made entirely of lace which featured on the catwalks of Valentino, Erdem, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Antonio Berardi and Roberto Cavalli. Whilst black lace was the most popular colour as would be expected there was a surprising selection of other colours including grey at Erdem, navy at Burberry Prorsum, cream at Roberto Cavalli and Lilac at Miu Miu. With just a few notable exceptions the intricate detail of the lace was balanced by fairly simple styles of dress. Much of the lace was unlined and left see through in some cases with underwear clearly showing and others without. The dresses with lace that were shown on the catwalks were suitable for both day and evening from the luxurious floor sweeping gowns to shorter knee length dresses.

The popularity of dresses with lace for this season is perhaps due to the variety of looks that can be achieved from dark romance to pretty and girly, vintage and sophisticated. One of the most desirable styles of lace dresses for the season will no doubt be similar to Dolce & Gabbana’s simple knee length a line dress with long sleeves worn over a fifties style body suit and socks with heels. If you are looking for a pretty alternative to a full lace dress, look for dresses with lace panels or smaller amounts of lace trim.

The Motel Jean Dress Lace is the perfect lace day dress with a simple and flattering sleeveless lace top and jersey skirt.

This Karen Millen Lace Dress is a simple but very eye catching design which makes the most of the contrasting colours of white French lace with a scalloped edge over laid on a black fabric.

The lace panel in the centre of  this Debenhams Debut Black Lace Shift Dress is not only a great way to feature lace but is also very slimming as it creates the illusion of a slimmer torso.

We love the bright colour of this Marks and Spencers Slash Neck Short Sleeve Dress. It has some unsual lace detail down the front, a really on trend way to wear lace.

For a really feminine dress with lace, we love this Marks and Spencers Paisley Print Lace Dress. It features an unusual multi coloured lace and works really well for the day time.

This Jesire Mosaic Lace  Sleeveless Dress at John Lewis is probably one of  the simplest but most wearable lace dresses available. It is a basic high necked shift dress with an interesting and unusual lace design.

This seasons lace dresses need very few accessories as they are already offer plenty of detail to look at. Why not try teaming your black or nude coloured lace dress with just a slick of bright red lipstick for a seductive look.

How To Find The Perfect Women’s Dresses For Your Body Shape

Women’s dresses can be the answer to just about every style dilemma. There are dresses to suit just about every occasion, body shape and budget. Once you have worked out the best styles shapes of women’s dresses for your body shape not only will you make shopping so much easier  but you will always look amazing where ever you are going. When it comes to looking good, it doesn’t really matter what shape or size you are. The important thing is that you pick the right style of dress to compliment and flatter your figure. Areas that you don’t like can be disguised or balanced out and the areas that you like can be highlighted so that they are the first thing that people notice. Clever choice of choice of your clothes whether they are plus sized dresses or petite dresses will make it look like you have your own personal stylist. So here are some top tips that stylists use to dress the four main body shapes.

Pear Shaped

A pear shape is the name used to describe ladies who tend to gain weight on their hips and thighs. They also tender to have smaller busts and waists. Flattering clothes for the pair shape will be those that skim over hips and thighs with nothing too tight fitting in this area but with a fitted top to highlight the relatively slim waist. They will also have dark colours on the bottom half and will concentrate detail and fuss to the top half. Wide or boat necks are great for balancing the hips as are wider hems and detail along the hem line. Probably the most flattering of all styles for a pear shaped lady is an a line dress. The hem should fall at about knee length (just above or below is fine).

With a black a line skirt and white top, this 2 in one dress by Ben De Lisi at Debenhams is a great work outfit for pear shaped ladies.

Apple Shaped

Apple shaped is the term used to describe ladies that tend to gain weight around their middle. They tend have slender arms and legs. Women’s dresses for the apple shape is all about finding styles that skim over the stomach area. Apple shaped ladies should avoid style that have lots of fuss, detail or belts around the torso but instead look for anything that creates a vertical or diagonal line down the torso, and dresses that show off the arms and legs. Empire lines dresses and draped dresses are both very flattering options for apple shaped ladies. The baby doll dress which is a mini version of the empire line dress will also look amazing.

This Cotton Floral Hitched Dress ticks all the right boxes for the apple shaped lady. It had a fitted top and the loose fitting body skims over the tummy area.

Hour Glass Shaped

Ladies with larger hips and bust and a comparatively small waist are described as hour glassed shape. This is a classic curvy and feminine figure that looks great with a variety of dress styles. The key thing to remember for this shape is that fitted dresses are great but they should always skim rather than cling. Hour glass shapes should always wear underwear that gives plenty of support and wear dresses fitted at the waist to highlight the slimmest part of their body. If a dress is not fitted at the waist, it can usually be cinched in with a pretty belt to give some definition.

This Hope Floral Rose Dress by Boohoo looks great on hour glass figures when the waist is highlighted with a belt in a contrasting colour.

Rectangular Shape

Ladies that have little waist definition and curves can be described as rectangular shape. They are very lucky as there is no area that they need to minimise and there are many styles of Women’s dresses that will look great on them. Dresses that help to create an illusion of curves with details like peplums or flared and puffball skirts will all look great on this body shape. Rectangle shaped ladies should avoid low waisted dresses as these can look boyish and straight up and down sheath dresses which can highlight a lack of curves. Instead they should wear bias cut dresses, full skirted dressed and shift dresses with some shape to them.

This Wispa Dress by Motel  was made for ladies with a rectangular shape. The large polka dots add some interest and the slightly flaring skirt adds some shape.

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Grace Kelly – Fifties Fashion and Style Icon

There is currently an exhibition running at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London entitled ‘Grace Kelly – a style icon’ which explores and examines Grace Kelly’s undeniable style which has been admired and copied by so many over the years. The exhibition shows women’s dresses from Grace Kelly’s enviable wardrobe alongside photographs of her retro style. There will also be a number of special events at the museum to accompany the exhibition including films screenings, a film and fashion study day, a short course on 1950s haute couture and practical workshops making Grace Kelly-inspired hats and scarfs.

Grace Kelly first became famous as a film star in the fifties, her style changed through out her life as she moved into her role as Princess Grace of Monaco before her tragic and premature death in a car crash in 1982.  As her style and look evolved of the years she did not loose that iconic status that was partly due to her immaculate grooming and sense of style. Her understated but chic look became known as the ‘Grace Kelly look’  was used by many retailers to sell clothes. In Grace’s movie star days, in the fifties, her signature style was Capri pants teamed with a twin set. This retro style of clothing is still really popular today and in particular, this summer retro style Capri pants are back in fashion again.  She was also well known for wearing simple American fashions such as shirt waister dresses and casual shirts and trousers both on and off set.

These Limited Collection cropped stretch trousers by Marks and Spencer’s make a great classic retro style outfit when teamed with a neat round necked jumper in pastel colours.

Grace Kelly wore so many beautiful women’s dresses in real life and her film roles. This simple black Grecian style dress by Debenhams captures something of her elegance and the simplicity of how she dressed.

As Grace Kelly became part of the Monaco Royal family, her clothing became more elaborate with designer Haute Couture gowns and expensive accessories but she always remained true to her simple and elegant signature style. She often wore clothes by Dior which satisfied the need for formality that was important for a member of the royal family but were also modern and fashionable. Her weeding and clothes for the civil and religious ceremonies attracted a huge amount of attention and she looked just as beautiful and glamorous as you would expect a film star princess to look. Last year Vera Wang designed a variation on Grace Kelly’s beautiful wedding dress.

There is even a very popular Hermes handbag named after Grace Kelly, which was designed after she began carrying her  handbag in front of her stomach when she was pregnant. This changed the way that women carried their handbags and retro style handbags carried over the fore arm are still very fashionable. There are so many handbags inspired by the Hermes Kelly bag including this white mock croc grab bag which is part of the Jasper Conran collection at Debenhams.

Floral Dresses

X-Factor Steal Their Style

Wednesday saw the National Television Awards which brought the posh frocks out on a cold January Night in London.

The Two personalisties that really stood out were the two female judges of the X-Factor!

Yes Cheryl and Danni, not content with batttling it out in the fashion stakes on a Saturday and Sunday Nights, resumed their fashion duel on the TV red carpet event of the year.

Both stars looked equally stunning, and dare I say it, I would even go as far to say that Danni perhaps pipped it on the night (controversial Aye?).

Take a look and judge for yourself?

After recently announcing her pregnancy, Dannii wowed us with a striped strapless fifties style prom dress that suited her perfectly, and the red court shoes just finished it off perfectly. It’ll be a little while before she can get into that again!

Steal Danni’s Style With > > >

• Ben de Lisi black stripe prom dress -£120

• Nine West Red Babealish High Heel shoes £75-£80
• Richard Diamante Daisy Drop Earring – £12

Cheryl on the otherhand went all Hollywood glam on us, perhaps in preperation for her debut on the US version of X-Factor? She graced a floor-length grey maxi dress with a daring, deep V neckline. Lacking her extensions, she wore tousled hair, black heels and a micro clutch completed the look.

Steal Cheryl’s Style With > > >

• Debut grey split front dress – £120
• Star by Julien Macdonald silver clutch bag – £20
• Nine West black Helfire High Heel shoes – £75
  

These looks are all availble at Debenhams where they are currently showcasing their Summer Collections. To See more click on the Button Below:

Debenhams Summer Blue Cross Event

Starting Thursday 25th June Debenhams are hosting their Blue Cross Event.

With all of their Blue Cross events Debenhams offer some spectacular savings, and the summer event is no different.

Debenhams will be offering up 70% off across all departments, and with the main period of summer holidays almost upon us, it’s a perfect time to pick up a bargain for you our the family.

The great news is the event with last all the way through until Sunday 12th July. But as always all the best bargains are the first to go, so don’t wait, go shop Now

Debenhams Chocolate Animal Print Dress Help Profits

A £60 Chocolate animal print one shoulder dress helped Debenhams lift the gloom on the high street as the department store surprised the city by announcing a 10% jump in profits.

The  Chocolate animal print one shoulder dress designed by Julien McDonald who features as one of the “Designers at Debenhams”  sold out even before the dress had been officially launched.

The reason behind the dresses success is that the dress itself , an ideal going out dress is, at £60 a much cheaper alternative to those other similiar fashion dresses worn by the stars  recently at red carpet events in Hollywood, Cannes and London.

Michael Sharpe, Deputy Chief Executive of Debenhams declared that the shops own label designers were proving very popular during the downturn. Regarding the Julien McDonald designed dress, He said “We’ve never seen a reaction like this before. Again, we are putting this and the success of our designer ranges down to the ‘recessionista’ effect.”

The strategy of Debenhams recently has been to bolster it own brand or in house labels such as its “Designer at Debenhams” branding which feature for example the likes of Jasper Conran and Jeff Banks as well as the afore mentioned Julien McDonald, at the expense of concessions in store. This was further underlined earlier in the year after the department store bought the Principles and the Mosiac fashion brands after it went into administration in February 2009.

Debenhams are the latest store on the high street to report better than expected results after discount clothes retailers Primark and Peacocks posted encouraging results.

However as for green shoots of recovery, they seem still to be a long way off after the latest victim came to light with the announcement that Bay Trading company was to enter a voluntary administration arrangement.

Hurry Debenhams 70% off Sale must end Sunday

Debenhams Blue cross event is nearly at a an end, so if you want to bag a bargain, hurry as you’ve only got until Sunday 19th April.

The Debenhams sale, has been an outstanding success so far with savings of up to 70%.

To give you an idea of what are the best sellers online over the past week, we feature the top 14 most popular Women’s sale items, some highlights are No7, 20% off 20% off selected Rocha.John Rocha and J by Jasper Conran handbags
No11. upto 50% off Principles, and No14 up to 20% of Debut Women’s Dresses.

See the full list below:

1. 20% off selected sunglasses
   




2. 20% off selected Summer Footwear




3. £10 off all Rocha.John Rocha jeans
   




4. 20% off selected Womens Swimwear
   




5. 20% off selected Collection Rainwear
   




6. 20% off selected Collection Petite Rainwear




7. 20% off selected Rocha.John Rocha and J by Jasper Conran handbags
   




8. 20% off selected J by Jasper Conran Swimwear and Holiday Accessories




9. 20% off selected Melissa Odabash Swimwear and Holiday Accessories
   




10. 20% off Childrens Swimwear
    




11. Up to 50% off selected Principles lines
    




12. Up to 20% off selected Womens Accessories
    




13. 20% off selected Lingerie




14. 20% off selected Debut Occasion Dresses

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