DRRRESSES: WANT

I just completed another eShakti survey (that's why they give me those monthly discount codes) and this little number is coming in the fall and I MUST HAVE IT:

http://www.eshakti.com/cpanel/ProductView.aspx?Id=CL0024142

ironically, very similar to the skirt horseshoe just posted ;)

this was another of their new ones which I might also be up for except they want to price it at $90 :P
http://www.eshakti.com/cpanel/ProductView.aspx?Id=CL0024007

I love both of those things!

Yeah, the plus size line is far more demure than the straight sizes. So I guess if I lost 30 pounds and was able to fit into a UK18 it would then be okay/suitable for me to wear skimpy clothes. NOT COOL.

mandee: so so otm; i do not want to look like Maria from the Sound of Music, i want foxy dresses.

Lex FFM: those two are rad. would shop w/u!

i'd be thrilled to wear a dirndl every day to work, but that's a work uniform look
when it's time for foxytime, i wanna look foxy too!

speaking of dresses, i wore a white lace trapeze dress the other day and someone shouted "call me babydoll" OR possibly "call me maybe, dog" at me from a moving car

Sarahell: I haven't been shopping in months because it's so hard to find size 16 anywhere for decent prices. I'm all online. So I guess we can, heh!

it's so hard to find size 16 anywhere for decent prices

my problem as well

Then we are competitors, we can't shop together. ;) Alas!

we can join forces and lobby for more awesome size 16 options

True! Purchasing power! But I'm lazy and get "close enough" cute dresses from eShakti :)

well I went on a search for trampy and bought cutesy instead.

oops!

http://images.asos.com/inv/media/6/6/0/4/2314066/image4xl.jpg

That's cuuuuute, homo! Sorry you couldn't find anything trampy.. but I have faith in you ;D
(Not trying to be an asshole! I love your style!)

eShakti has a buy one get one 50% off sale so I will probably fall victim to them soon. They gave me a $47 gift card because my last order took a month, AND a further $10 off, these people spoil me. I am actually, like a jerk, waiting for the 12.5% code they send every month so I can get two dresses for ~$20 right now.

But now I need to know: WHERE CAN I GET BELTS? Belts in stores never fit me (I'm a large 16) and plus size stores have the worst stuff. Anyone have a good online belt retailer?

I buy the 2XL belts at Target and they fit! Maybe try that?

We have no Target :( Well, not for another year! I should check out our equivalent (Zellers) though.

I'm sorry I can't help with the belt dilemma; I am too busy being completely crushed that the dress I posted upthread is a bit TOO BIG even though the measurements on the site suggested it would fit almost perfectly. the worst part is the colours on the fabric are amaaaaaaazing IRL, it is so so pretty. unfortunately it looks like a bit of a sack on me, I just get a bit engufled in it. SAD :(

(there is no smaller size I can exchange it for anywhere on the internet that I can find)

Awww! Could you get it tailored?

Man, I haven't worn a belt in years. They look weird on me.

maybe! I have a seamstress/dressmaker aunt who is very nice about helping me with these sorts of things but I feel like the side zip + lack of seams along the back + large amount of space between my body and the fabric + lining might be problematic.

either way I think after this I will refrain from buying dresses online, yes.

Arrrrrgh help me I Love Stylers. I have to buy a dress to wear to a wedding and I am rubbish at this.

yay! when is the wedding? season-wise and time-wise? is it formal? what kind of a budget do you have? how would you characterize your style? yay!

It's in a week and a half. If I hadn't left it so late I would have shelled out for a bespoke thing by a designer friend, who I would totally trust to make something awesome. Yes, formal, but not crazily so... Not like tuxes and tails and evening dress only... Budget - about £60? Style - I wear brown corduroy trousers, brown shirts and brown ties, and uh, brown trainers. I like brown, y'know. And I don't dress 'like a girl'. I'm kind of fat but not in the region of 'for larger ladies only', but I don't know what cut would make me look less like an ill-postured overweight scruffy tomboy.

oh man, bespoke dress! definitely do that next time!

do you want to do a fancy menswear-inspired outfit or do you want to wear a dress? i might not be much help with the first option, but it's an option!

(sorry if i'm prying too much; i'm just excited!)

i am going to look on asos and dorothy perkins online because they are the uk retailers i have any familiarity with but i'm sure uk ilxors will be more helpful.

can i ask how you feel about prints? i like a print in a guest-of-wedding dress, but not everybody is into that.

emil.y i think you should wear something really simple, like just a stretchy black dress thing and then wear that marvelous cape you have over it

i guess it's too hot for that though :(

oh that's right you have that amazing cape!

it might be too hot but if you have to go to a winter wedding any time get that dress made for you and wear your cape!

alternately, just wear something super simple and monochrome and dress it up with a decorative scarf

Yeah, I'm going for a dress - I kind of figure that menswear-inspired will just allow me to be my normal scruff self too much, and I want to kind of glam it up for a change. Or, well, 'glam' for me. I had a look on Dorothy Perkins without much success, I have to say. I quite liked this:

http://media.dorothyperkins.com/wcsstore/DorothyPerkins/images/catalog/01000100_large.jpg

...but I'd rather have long sleeves, which seems to make things impossible, argh.

xposts, ahahahaha, yeah, cape would be awesome! Might boil to death in it in August, though.

Eeep, huge, sorry.

Oh I like that very much. You could do that with a cardi for sleeves? A light one? Or a shawl!

or a BOLERO!

i just wanted to say BOLERO!

I should so go for a bolero. BOLERO!

We should ask for an autoreplace like you get with DUMPLINGS!.

when there's a lull in conversation, you will always have your BOLERO!

yes i like that, too! yay prints!

off to look for a BOLERO!

sorry i'm not helping with the dresses
i would honestly just go get something really simple and dress it up with accessories/scarf/shoes/hairdo (your hair is beautiful, consider a pretty hair ornament as a central wardrobe piece?)

Eeeh, hair ornament? I'm not sure where I'd even start with that.

this is totally unhelpful as it is beyond your budget and i don't know if tracy reese has a retailer in the uk, but i went looking for long-sleeved dresses:

http://tracyreese.com/images/product/medium/1302_3_.jpg

the only shrug on the dorothy perkins that looked like it could function as long-sleeved is this: http://media.dorothyperkins.com/wcsstore/DorothyPerkins/images/catalog/28000044_2_thumb.jpg it's available in beige if that coral is too bright for you.

Haha, that dress is hella stylish, but not really my colour scheme either (I don't think Tracy Reese does have a UK retailer, but I'm not that up on these things - it's not one I've heard mentioned before, anyway).

Not convinced by the shrug. I found an ebay BOLERO! that I like but it might be a bit heavy for a summer thing? But then surely the nature of a BOLERO! is that it is light? http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/400238822141?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla

link to purchase that long sleeved Tracy reed dress right now, please.

yes ma'am

it is expensive but some of the stuff on her site is onsale. i will retrieve some sale options

la lechera otm - get a simple monochrome dress in a shape that suits your body type and then glam it up with a diamante barrette or similar and a nice BOLERO! or short cardi (you could buy a cheap cheap cardi and replace the buttons with fancier ones, too).

If you like the short-sleeved dress and nothing else jumps out at you, you could always put a stretchy knit top with long sleeves underneath it. That might be a bigger challenge to find than the dress, perversely, but something in brown/beige/grey/pink/peach with long or 3/4-length sleeves underneath could work.

http://ris.fashion.telegraph.co.uk/RichImageService.svc/imagecontent/1/TMG8407459/m/brown-dress_1863874a.jpg

what about something like this? with a tie? you could wear an ornate tie pin.

http://www.eshakti.com/Product/CL0023238_OS/Swirling-dots-skirt

oh swirling dot skirt, i want you v much

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the cut of that tracy reese, though I don't know if I would be comfortable with the print (love it, too, but just not on plain ole me).