
I’ve written about a lot of beautiful dresses in my time, but I don’t think any has received such a huge (and fast) response as the Lady V London dress that I put in my 50s sundresses feature earlier this week.
My twitter feed and blog comments were full of people telling me they were either buying it or thinking of buying it, and by Friday I even had twitpics of happy customers thanking me for introducing them to the label. In the end, I couldn’t resist ordering one myself, if only to report back on whether it really could be as good as it looks when it retails at only £30!

If you’re one of the manypeople who found this site via my vintage reproduction clothing shopping list, you’ll know I’m a fan of the 50s look. So when one of my favourite reproduction vintage brands, Vivien of Holloway, got in touch to see if I’d like to try out some of their dresses for this blog, I obviously jumped at the chance. I already own five Vivien of Holloway dresses, but these ones are newer styles, away from the classic halter neck shape the brand is known for, so I was intrigued to try the new shapes and see how they looked…

Diana Vickers’ husky voice and propensity to yelp may be something of an aquired taste, but her new clothing range for Very.co.uk is a bit easier to fall in love with. A capsule range of vintage-inspired florals, fities skirts and 60s-inspired separates, it appealed instantly to me, so when Very got in touch to offer an item from their huge range for review, I knew I had to go with something from Diana’s collection.
I picked the Contrast Collar Printed Dress (£49) which I thought was very cute with its big pink buttons and collar. I’m getting to the point where I’m far too old to pull off anything this twee, so let’s call this my last hurrah. I can’t resist anything a bit childish!

I’ve been sitting on this review for months (literally) because I didn’t want it to disappear in the middle of all the Dressember madness, so please forgive the fact I didn’t tell you all about INES Collection sooner! The brand (available at ShopTranslated.com, who ship internationally) offers affordable plus size dresses and blouses with an emphasis on prints – a great move as plus size fashion is so often black, black, black, and while some people can totally pull that off, others want a bit of colour!
I was sent the Graphic Pop dress ($72) and a ruched sleeve peacock print blouse to try out, so read on for how I got on!

At the blogger’s preview of Beth Ditto for Evans I got the chance to see the pieces from the collection up close and there were loads that caught my eye. However, I decided if I was going to give this collection a go, I may as well go for one of the stand-out, ‘famous’ pieces. The body-con domino print dress was the item Beth herself chose to wear to the launch party, and I loved that the super-fitted shape and bold print were so unusual for a plus size range. Beth’s known for sticking two fingers up to convention so I decided to do the same. Keeping away from the pieces that were more ‘me’ (like the strapless stained glass dress) I put in an order for the domino dress. And I must say, it was a novelty to be ordering the smallest size for once!
I'm Gemma, I'm 29, and I'm a writer. Cosmo once called me a 'kick ass woman who's changing the world'. If reviewing mascara and wearing dresses changes the world, then I'd have to agree.
Click here for more about me.