Wedding Guest Dresses (to suit your body shape)

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Triangle (or Pear) Body Shape

Dresses which help to:

1. Broaden the shoulders and add balance to the hip area

2. High-light defined waist through tailoring

3.Slim hip area

Option One: http://joythestore.com/Louche-Folded-Neckline-Dress.html

Wear with bronze clutch and bronze heels. Heels should ideally have a v-shape at the front or open toe to elongate and slim the legs

Option Two: http://www.lkbennett.com/clothing/dresses/DRDELTA616COTTONMIX

Wear with black clutch, black heels and sparkles!!

Option Three: http://www.selfridges.com/en/Womenswear/Categories/Dresses/Evening/Corseted-prom-dress_227-83037373-CT15538457/

Wear with baby pink or nude clutch and heels

Inverted Triangle Body Shape

Dresses which help to:

1. Draw the eye away from the broadness of your shoulders (due to shape of neckline)

2. Give balance to hip area to create illusion of hourglass figure

3. Define waist

Option One: http://joythestore.com/Satin-Tape-Detail-Dress.html

Wear with black and sparkle

Option Two: http://www.lkbennett.com/clothing/dresses/30513VIOLET

Wear with black or silver (sparkle optional)

Option Three: http://www.coast-stores.com/GARDINIA-STATEMENT-DRESS/Dresses---view-all/coast/fcp-product/2224688639

Wear with silver or baby pink clutch and shoes

Round (or Apple) Body Shape

Empire-line dresses which help to:

1. High-light the slimmest part of your body

2. Slim your silhouette generally and create the illusion of an hourglass figure

3. Show off your shapely legs!

Option One: http://www.coast-stores.com/SYMPHONY-SHORT-DRESS/Dresses---view-all/coast/fcp-product/2224683560

Wear with black, silver (or even deep purple) clutch and heels. Best to avoid stilettos and go for a slightly chunkier heel in order to add balance to your overall shape.

As it’s sleeveless it’s most suited to a slimmer round figure.

Option Two: http://www.very.co.uk/stripe-satin-dress/698645594.prd?browseToken=/b/1661/o/2/r/100&prdToken=/p/prod2190745-sku3329631

Wear with plain, understated, black clutch and heels

Option Three: http://www.very.co.uk/contrast-tie-occasion-dress/627774722.prd?browseToken=/b/1661/o/2/r/100&prdToken=/p/prod1941697-sku2982463

Wear with black clutch and heels and sparkles!

Rectangle Body Shape

Dresses which help to:

1. Add curves through feminine detail and tailoring

2. Define waist to create the illusion of an hourglass figure

Option One: http://www.coast-stores.com/VERONA-TIPPED-DRESS/Dresses---view-all/coast/fcp-product/2224689770

Wear with black patent clutch and shoes.

(most suited for slim rectangle figures)

Option Two: http://www.coast-stores.com/MYLEE-ONE-SHOULDER-DRESS/Dresses---view-all/coast/fcp-product/2224686184

Wear with black or silver clutch and shoes

Option Three: http://www.coast-stores.com/MERENGE-DUCHESS-SATIN-DRESS/Dresses---view-all/coast/fcp-product/2143402870

Wear with black clutch and heels

Hourglass Body Shape

Dresses which help to:

1. Emphasise your shapely figure and show off your waist

2. Maintain balance between hips and shoulders

Option One: http://www.lkbennett.com/clothing/dresses/30500LOTUS

Wear with grey or silver clutch and heels

Option Two: http://www.coast-stores.com/MERENGE-DUCHESS-SATIN-DRESS/Dresses---view-all/coast/fcp-product/2143402848

Wear with black clutch and heels

Option Three: http://www.very.co.uk/bow-front-dress/658508978.prd?browseToken=/b/1661,4294958681/r/100&trail=1589-1655-1661-4294958681&prdToken=/p/prod1583195-sku2366315

Wear with black clutch and heels

Clothes Shopping On-Line vs In Store

I have a friend who’s an E-Bay addict, let’s call her E-Holic.

E-Holic buys 80% of her clothes from E-Bay (usually designer) and anything she doesn’t like or that doesn’t fit she re-sells on E-Bay – often for more than she paid for it.

Please note that E-Holic is a shopping demon, and slim with an hourglass figure, so luckily for her she can get away with a wider variety of styles than the rest of us. She also knows her own personal style very well and rarely makes the wrong choice.

E-Holic uses a bid sniper service - I forget which one. In case you’re not familiar with them they are often low cost and put in a bid for you at the very last moment ensuring no one else has a chance to make a subsequent bid. It helps prevent against a bidding war as well, meaning that you are likely to win the item at a lower price.

E-bay, and on-line shopping in general, works well for E-Holic but not everyone is so lucky. I find it a hassle to re-sell on E-Bay and so unless you are selling high priced items personally I just can’t be bothered. It’s easy enough to do but can be time consuming to take and upload the picture; write the description; wrap and pack the item; queue at the post office etc

Shopping on-line can be good for the wallet if you know what you’re looking for but find you get easily distracted in stores. So if you’re on a budget, and a mission(!) then on-line could be the way to go. Beware though that if you’re buying something for a special occasion you’ll need to allow enough time for delivery and to find something else in case it’s not right.

A big advantage of buying in store is of course that you have the opportunity to try things on and so usually when you bring clothes home you already know you love them; that they fit properly and flatter you. When buying on-line you can really look forward to them arriving only to be disappointed when you try them on. If you return the item/s and end up with nothing then you can be left feeling pretty deflated.

Also you can’t feel the quality of the material when buying on-line which, if you’re a touchy feely person like me, is a big disadvantage. Your love of an item of clothing can often be strongly influenced by how it feels against your skin and although the on-line description will tell you the type of material (and sometimes you can watch a moving image of a model wearing it) it can still be tricky to know exactly how it will cling and hang on your body.

Most on-line stores are now very good at making it easy to return items and many offer free postage on your returns. ASOS has to be my favourite and in my opinion has got pretty much everything right from start to finish. The layout of their website is user friendly; they have a wide variety of choice (including designer wear); competitive prices; very quick despatch time; excellent delivery service (with my deliveries they often come back at the end of the day if they have missed me earlier); easy to return; free postage on returned items; quick confirmation of returned items and a quick refund.

No, I promise I’m not working on commission - they really are that good!

A lot of other on-line stores have got it right as well and so on the whole there is no reason to be put off by the hassle of returning unwanted items – most of the time it’s no hassle at all.

When deciding to shop on-line on-line or in store it’s worth considering the following criteria:

a) Do you have a clear idea of what you’re looking for?

b) Do you know how to dress for your body shape and what is likely to suit you?

c) Do you know which colours suit you without trying them on?

d) Are there certain on-line stores which seem to cater well for your body shape?

If you’ve answered yes to most of these questions then on-line is probably the way to go; otherwise take at least 3 or 4 hours out of your day to visit your local shopping area. On-line shopping is very convenient; less tiring on your feet and less stressful if you hate crowds. It can also be a great way to cheer yourself up at the end of a difficult day but on balance I would say that nothing replaces a day out shopping with a good friend.

Alice Treanor © 2010

My Trip to Bicester Village (Outlet Shopping)

I still can’t quite believe that part of my job legitimately involves spending the day shopping at, sorry I mean researching, Bicester Village in Oxfordshire! (http://www.bicestervillage.com/en_GB/)

I arrived early and got myself a coffee and muffin from Starbucks (the skinny variety of course) and sat down to study a copy of the Village Directory in order to plan my day. There really is a fantastic selection – around 90 clothing shops and a further 25 shops dedicated to shoes and/or accessories.

The original reason for my visit was to see the British Designers Collective but it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Being a big fan of Erdem in particular (see for yourself http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/show.aspx/catwalk-report/id,8791#) I was really excited to see his selection. I was expecting something a bit more spectacular than an empty shell of a shop with a few rails of clothes in it – a slight exaggeration perhaps but you get the idea.

I think all the good stuff must have gone, or never made it there in the first place, and the shop assistants were obviously dying of boredom. I overheard them talking about how slow it was and how they “sold 2 items yesterday” – not exactly flying off the shelves then!

Luckily the other shops weren’t as underwhelming.....

Highlights:

· Gerard Darel

Classic, beautifully made, feminine clothes. Great fabrics – everything felt luxurious from silks to wools and would no doubt feel fantastic to wear. Particularly well suited to style conscious 40 something’s who want to look great.

· Reiss

Wonderfully tailored suits, especially the jackets. The place to go if you want to feel sexy wearing a suit – sometimes harder than you’d think. Also have tops, blouses and dresses in great colours and fabrics.

· LK Bennett

Amazing selection of evening / occasion dresses. Love the colours and the way they group their clothes according to colour, making it very shopping friendly for people who know the colours that suit them. Lots and LOTS of shoes – really good discounts.

· French Connection

Exceeded expectations as I’ve been disappointed in the past by obvious poor quality. Clothes are very affordable without looking cheap and they offer a variety of different styles.

· Nicole Farhi

Feminine, original and classy. Expensive but still within reach.

· Theory

Fabulous selection of clothes, bright rich colours which reminded me a bit of Boden. Really stylish work outfits and some great classic cuts. Not overly expensive.

Lowlights:

· La Perla

The over powering stench of perfume hit me between the eyes as I walked in and made me want to walk straight out again. It was too strong to be a customer or shop assistant and must have been deliberate. I really can’t understand why it’s done – it gives the overwhelming impression of cheap and nastiness!! ( I’m not that keen on Abercrombie and Fitch for the same reason). Some quite nice silk nightwear though.

· Loro Piana

Something about this shop made me leave after 30 seconds. The range of clothing depressed me, dull colours and styles and I felt like I’d walked into a time warp!! (not least of all because of a very formal, headmistress-type woman who asked me if I needed help and called me madam!). Having since looked at their website they actually have some quite nice items so perhaps it was just the selection in the outlet store, combined with poor presentation.

· Gucci and D & G

Oh dear... in my opinion both are very depressing shops where people devoid of imagination, but with money, go to try and buy a personality! I got the impression that the customers hoped that by spending money there they would instantly become classy and more exciting.

· Alexander McQueen

I expected to like his clothes a lot more than I did. The truth is that I found them tarty and predictable – a bit like Karen Millen on a bad day (but more expensive).

· Guess

One or two nice items in amongst overly glitzy, garish and cheap (but still overpriced) tat!

Best Reductions:

· DKNY – offering a further 50% off already reduced priced items

· Amanda Wakeley – great offers on evening dresses and occasion-wear (have a lovely v neck dress which comes to the knee in various colours reduced from over £400 to around £100). Would particularly suit an inverted triangle or an hourglass body shape

· LK Bennett – lots of items less than half price

· Hobbs – good reductions on all items – great colours

· Jigsaw – lovely clothes for children, particularly girls, which are discounted by 50% or more

· Ted Baker – good reductions on all items – great colours

· Monsoon – some very heavily reduced items

Shops of Interest:

· Luella

Garish but strangely alluring clothes, many asymmetrical styles and probably aimed at the young - the store was full of mums helping their daughters find dresses for special occasions. But if you’re in your thirties, have lots of confidence and a sense of fun it’s definitely worth a look.

· Mulberry

Bags still very expensive, as you’d expect, but they had a surprisingly nice, although small, selection of clothes which were reasonably priced.

· All Saints

I find their clothes really creative, full of imagination and fun. However I can’t help but feel they mainly cater for the young, perfect and beautiful as some of their designs would be quite tricky to pull off. Having said that they have some great tailored jackets and suit which are more accessible to the rest of us!

· Clarks

I was surprised to see Clarks have a presence at Bicester but the shop was packed and it seems to be thriving. The selection is huge and the shoes are very clearly laid out grouped by size making it very shopper friendly.

My Best Buy:

A large, pure wool scarf from Matthew Williamson http://bit.ly/a9G9Aw. The moment I saw it I had to have it – it couldn’t fail to brighten up the dullest of outfits and was £100 reduced from £200. Having searched on-line it looks like this particular one is only available from Bicester Village although there are some serious bargains to be had on E-Bay if you’re in the market for one of his scarves.

All in all Bicester Village is well worth a visit but due to the huge number of shops it’s well worth narrowing down your choices before you start. Otherwise you risk wasting time in the wrong shops, running out of steam and potentially missing out on some great buys.

Alice Treanor © 2010