Lindy Bop Marlene riviera swing dress

When i think Riviera i think of  rugged cliffs, turquoise coves and pastel seaside towns and this dress encapsulates all of this with some added floral.

Where did the role models go?

These days when I read the paper (well the app on my phone) there always seems to be an article about a once fat celebrity who has now slimmed down, leaving us with very few plus size roles models and people in the public eye who are flying the fat flag. I find this quite sad, younger girls will assume that slim is the only way as even people who were once happy in their skin (such as Dawn French, Nigella Lawson and Pauline Qurike) have given in and conformed to the pressure to be slimmer. This is why I feel on-line communities like this are so important for girls, it shows that fat acceptance exists, even if its not in the public eye and gives us role models we are can actually relate to.

Brand Spotlight: City Chic clothing

City Chic isn't that new a brand to us, they have been in Australia for a while, but only became available in the UK via Evans (limited pieces of swimwear and lingerie on ASOS).

 This is what they say about themselves "Too long had we heard a curvy girl's story of a passion for fashion and nowhere to shop the hottest trends. It was time to kick start a revolution….It was time for confidently curvy girls to unite their passion for fashion. With that City Chic grew from 6 to over 100 stores across Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and America, becoming the leading global plus size fashion, denim, dress and lingerie retailer with a unique to chic fit, fabric and print mix."

It is a brand that always catches my eye as they do some really beautiful dresses that fit my retro aesthetic, but also do some edgier pieces.

Love the Sales - Dorthy Perkins

I love a good bargain, but it can be a bit hard to keep track of who is having a sale, and when sale season approaches, my inbox becomes a battleground of discounts flooding in and overwhelming me with where to shop.

Then i discovered Lovethesales.com who aggregate sales from around 500 retailers and display them all on one website. They focus predominantly on fashion, but also cover home, garden, electronics, sports etc

The best thing is they include brands such as Dorthy Perkins curve range and their inbuilt search goes up to a size 30 and you can select from the list of the retailers, making finding affordable fashion in your size easy.