Winter is...over!

A bold claim for someone in the UK, you may think. However this past winter has been akin to the one they keep banging on about in Game of Thrones. Summer didn't make an appearance in Wales last year...it was mostly raining and dull. I specifically remember the few occasions it was warm and dry enough for me to wear 'summer items' and not feel miserable in them.

Last week I decided I'd had enough with living in jumpers, jeggings and boots. The cold weather can get on its merry way now, as far as I'm concerned. I therefore cleared my tiny wardrobe space (which I share with the other half) of all of the items that I am pretty sick of looking at. Gone are the dark, snuggly jumpers and my beloved velvet jeans which I have brought out every winter season since I bought them three years ago.

Usurping their place are lighter-weight colourful knits, neon-trimmed shirts and a frenzy of floral separates. My wardrobe went from dark and brooding to spring-queen-bright in an hour. Do I regret it? Yes in the respect that the office in which I spend 85% of my time these days is bloody Arctic. However I am so happy to be back in my lighter, brighter clothes. Now all I have to do is wait for the sun to make its merry way into my life once more so the hairs on my arms stop standing on end!

Do you have a seasonal wardrobe too?

Waiting for him

Hello all! 

I am still around, it's just been a really busy time for me and I thank you for sticking with me. So, today I'm going to showcase an outfit I'm loving at the moment and hopefully you can all appreciate the new-style photography in this post. I'm trying to step up my game!

I've been obsessed with my disco pant dupes from River Island recently. I have found so many ways of wearing them. I've actually done a Look Book for my YouTube channel to show how I, a plumper sort of lady, wears them day-to-day. I will link it when it's been uploaded.

 Warehouse Shirt | River Island Tube Pants | Primark Bag | HandM Brogues

Would you ever consider high-shine, high-waisted trousers? I don't like my rounded tummy (it was still there even when I was a size 8), but when paired with looser blouses and tees, I feel they help balance out my silhouette. Otherwise I can look swamped and bigger than I am (thanks 36FF's!). Please, please, please, let me know what you think of this new photography style. Should I keep this up and is it more interesting? I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts. Hope you're all well! 

Nicole x

Grasping Summer

Warning: this outfit of the day post features sunshine and a summer maxi dress...in September! It felt odd to have such a hot and glorious day at this time of year, but you will hear no complaints from me. I decided to share this outfit with you, mainly because a sweet elderly lady stopped me in Waterstone's Llandudno to say that she thought I looked beautiful, which made my day! So, below are the pictures. Enjoy!

Dress: Matalan | Bracelet's: Accessorize | Rings: Cut Out and Keep | Flip Flops: Matalan | Hair Flower: Claire's Accessories | Handbag: Matalan

Curvy Cosmo Column

Following on from my Chewing the Fat post, which lamented the lack of 'in-betweener' girls in the fashion blogging community (as in bloggers tend to be one end of the scale or another: large and curvy, or very slim and model-esque), Cosmopolitan magazine has impressed me by bringing on board a new columnist by the name of Laura Puddy. Laura is much like me in that she has no standard size in clothing; pieces in my wardrobe range from a size 12 to a 16. In H&M I'm generally a 14 in trousers or the like and whilst some tops fit me in a medium, some large barely fit over the boys (i.e., my boobs!). In Topshop and River Island I can generally get into a 12 in trousers, although due to the extreme weight loss I underwent five years ago I have excess skin around my tummy and so I usually have to get a 14 so I don't get a saggy-skinned muffin top, but then they don't fit me around my thighs. Sorry, that's probably too much information for you but I have insisted from day one that my blog will be incredibly honest. After all, you see dramatic weight loss on telly, but rarely do they discuss that the skin does not recede, no matter how tight your abs are, if you've been severely overweight as an adult. Spanx are a good friend to me!

I digress! So, Laura's column will be showcasing her experiences as a curvy fashionista in what most people see as a skinny girls industry. As well as outlining what she's been up to, I believe the column will also show a few fashion pieces which are suitable for those of us that have wobbly bits that we want to hide (that's not to say size 10 ladies don't have bits they prefer to keep hidden, let's try to be fair here!). I have only read her introductory column to date due to workloads, however in that feature she also explains why the pieces she is showing us are good for those with big boobs, bums, hips, thighs, whatever! So even if you're very slim but have a pear shape, you might still get useful tips on how to flatter your shape from Laura. I would like to congratulate Cosmopolitan on taking this important first step and I wish Laura all the best with her column. I for one will be hooked to it, I'm sure - even if I am trying to shift the few pounds I've put on over the last nine months of my MA!

Let me know if you read Laura's column and what you think of it.

Nicole x

Chewing the Fat

Today I want to talk about something that most people will roll their eyes at as it's been done to death. "Chubby blogger decries the lack of fat girls in the fashion industry". However, it's not as simple as that. I've been all sizes between an 8 and a 22 (UK) and I am currently a size 12/14 (mostly 16 in dresses as I've a natural 36FF/G bust); I know I look fatter, but that's the truth.  I look much bigger because I've got massive boobs and tops tend to hang down from them, my widest point, and I have a chubby face (if I put on 1lb, I swear it goes straight to my jawline). Also, I am only 5ft 2" so any excess weight looks wrong on me. I know I carry excess weight. I make no excuses other than I love food and being a Masters student my life is spent reading academic books and writing, my portion sizes are too large and I don't exercise enough. I am currently trying to lose half a stone to get within my ideal weight range for my height.

I want to start by saying I am not condoning the use of models at the extreme ends of the scale - by that I mean super thin and morbidly obese. It is incredibly unhealthy to be either of those things and I do not want young girls/women to think it's okay to aspire to either of those ideals, because it isn't. The one thing I always stress is to be healthy. I feel Look magazine has triumphed in its use of models that are more representative of their readership. I appreciate looking at the models that are more like me and seeing the cut of the clothes on them; what's the point in me looking at size 8 girls with no boobs? Simply put, the clothes would not look as good on me. It doesn't make sense that I'm often made to stare at girls whose shape is nothing like my own and expected to be inspired enough to buy that item of clothing; if anything it just makes me feel like as a bigger girl, I don't deserve to own such beautiful clothing. 

I love to look at fashion blogs and be inspired by the beautiful clothes, yet rarely do I find a popular blog that's run by a girl who isn't a clothes horse - wasp-waisted, small-footed, with a nicely proportioned bust.  I can't help but feel sometimes that if I looked differently, I'd have more readers - be that smaller or bigger (I'm not small enough for the fashionistas to welcome me into their clique, not large enough for the curvy girls to embrace as one of their own). I know there are some popular bloggers who aren't minuscule or massive, yet I feel they are few and far between. Us mere mortals who rely on average cameras, a boyfriend that doesn't know how to take the sort of photos I want, a tiny budget (or none at all in my current case), and a witty anecdote to reel people in because we aren't a 'bright young thing' or a 'bubbly smiler', get nowhere. I'm in a weird category; not big enough to shop in Evans or the Curve collection on ASOS, and yet most shops whose clothes are meant to fit me, don't actually fit very well as they won't accommodate a large-busted, small-hipped, bloated-tummied, flat-bottomed woman. Jeans are a nightmare as I need them to fit my stomach, where I hold most of my weight and excess skin from losing too much weight too fast, but then they bag around my crotch (due to aforementioned small hips and bum) and make me look like I'm harbouring a willy when I stand a certain way. Not a good look, I assure you. 

All I'm trying to say is, if you are an "In-Betweener" like me, please don't lose heart. Not all of us that are into fashion are very small or very large. I don't get many views on my fashion/outfit posts and I know deep down, that it's likely that people think I have an awful dress sense and I have absolutely no charisma in textual form. Nevertheless, I keep this blog going because I want the rare girl who is like me to see my blog and think, "She's rounded and she likes fashion, so I can do it too". I want the fashion blogging world to be more colourful and have more shapes in it; there is room for everyone. Yes, I have more clothing restrictions than a smaller girl as I just can't wear certain clothes, but do I not have the right to a voice or to show you photos? Am I not entitled to have fashion bloggers who are In-Betweeners like me to draw outfit inspiration from? I love looking at fashion blogs full stop as I'm fashion mad, but sometimes I wish I could garner inspiration from someone whose size is similar to my own...preferably near to my budget too! Thank you for your time.

Nicole x