Aaaaaanyway, onto the dresses. I used to do loads of predictions and wishlists when I was at CQ and I continued that over at The Nod, listing the frocks I’d like to see and the people I’d like to see them on. This year I managed to get five dress predictions right. I think that’s a record. I didn’t get the associated people spot-on, but you can never truly guess that. Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Lopez, Zoe Saldana, Charlize Theron and Lea Michele all wore dresses I’d predicted. With varied success. People have likened JLo’s dress to bubblewrap, but I loved it. Charlize, meanwhile, took all the good bits of her Dior Couture dress and ditched them in favour of a boob-rose, shiny prom dress nightmare. Ouch.

My best dressed of the night was easy. Cameron Diaz is so likeable, but she does have a tendency to look a right mess sometimes, and all I want to do is give her a hairbrush. That said, when she pulls it out of the bag, she really pulls it out of the bag…with a bit of help from Oscar de la Renta!

Gorgeous!

But I did want to stop by to quickly mention that I’m currently guest blogging over at the brand new Evans Fashion Fix blog. It was a real honour to be asked to help out with the launch, and I’ve really enjoyed contributing to the blog.

I finish up and pass the baton on to another great blogger at the end of the week, but I will be back towards the end of March when hopefully I will have learned a lot more about the industry. Being involved in this project and throwing myself headfirst into the world of plus size fashion and size 16 supermodels has been a real eye opener, and I can’t wait to really get going with Big Girls Browse in the next few months off the back of what I’ve learned.

I’m still not sure I’ve got the tone of that site quite right, but after many discussions, twitter chats, emails and having read hundreds of amazing inspirational blogs, I think I now know what I want to do to fix that, so keep your eyes peeled!

I’ve also just written a Guest Curator post for the Etsy blog, The Storque. I got to pick some of my favourite things on the site – difficult considering the wealth of amazing stuff that’s available from designers across the globe. Hopefully I’ve done some of them justice!

Perhaps. Because I’m at a loss as to what kind of mad brainwashing would cause people to make ridiculous comments like this…

“As gorgeous as she is – she is overweight. Double standards here. I doubt we would ever hear you say, “XXX looks amazing with her protruding collar bone”. No wonder women are confused about what weight / shape is healthy.”

That comment was in response to this…

Now I know I’m at risk of turning this blog into a Christina Hendricks shrine at the moment, but seriously, that comment is just beyond my comprehension. The reaction to her Golden Globes dress I could at least try to understand. It was a risky choice, a fairly unflattering colour and it was fussy, which some people might argue is a bad choice for someone who’s not Hollywood slim.

But to call her unhealthy and overweight? Talk about going too far. In what possible way is this woman even close being overweight? Christina Hendricks is 5′8. To be even slightly overweight (going by the Body Mass Index, which is also what my doctor’s surgery relies on) she’d have to weigh 168lbs – that’s 12 stone. I can pretty much guarantee you she doesn’t weigh anywhere near that. One website lists her measurements as 36-32-36. I’m sure her waist is much smaller than that, given than mine is 32 inches. But either way, that makes her about a size 12. Hardly obese, is it?!

There’s only one saving grace in this for me. The place where I found the comment was actually The Daily Mail website, which we all know has its fair share of resident morons. The site allows other users to vote on people’s comments. The comment above is the worst rated comment, and for once, I totally agree with the 300 people (and counting) who think ‘FK’ from London needs to get a grip on reality.

When size 12 is fat, we’re all in trouble.

Black gladiator sandals £38 and multicoloured tribal sandals £45 both Next

Can you believe these shoes are from Next? For the first time I might actually understand why people feel the need to queue in the early hours for the sale if this is what they’re bashing out now. Their Spring / Summer collection is absolutely chock full of amazing catwalk inspired styles, and the shoes are some of the best. These over the top numbers are my faves (the tribal sandals are a dead ringer for last Summer’s Louis Vuitton ‘Spicy’ shoes) but also check out the occasionwear styles for diamante studded heels and sandals.

Metallic lime parka £75 Butterfly by Matthew Williamson

I have a weird, inexplicable obsession with shiny parkas. It all stems from a graduate collection I saw a few years ago, where models wore slinky raincoats over floaty tropical print dresses and skirts. It was very ‘gap year’ – the idea of being caught in a rainstorm in some exotic location and throwing on your boyfriend’s coat – and I fell in love with the look. Matthew Williamson did something similar a couple of years ago, and now he’s bought it down to his diffusion line. Score!

Skater dresses £30 each Dorothy Perkins

There’s been a hilarious string of angry conversations via social media for high street brands recently, and it’s all thanks to the fact these jersey dresses are being described as ’skater dresses’. “What is skater about THAT?!” screams angry emo girl #498. Of course, they mean ice skater, in reference to the leotard-style top and flippy skirt. I’m considering a couple of these to see me through the next few months. They’ll look just as good now with tights and a cardi as they will in 6 months with sandals and the sleeves rolled up. And they’re only thirty squids.

Bouquet crepe wrap dress £95 Cath Kidson & Home Front dancing dress £68 Tara Starlet.

Tea dresses may have been done to death recently, but I can’t help but still love them. Queen of twee Cath Kidston is ever-reliable for vintage style dresses, and this season she’s really pulled out all the stops. Meanwhile, retro designer Tara Starlet has a geat 40s inspired dress in everything from pretty florals to functional, practical grey. I like these two because they really look like they might have been unearthen from the back of grandma’s closet, but unlike vintage, they come in more than one size.

Above is at Eric Tibusch, but a couple of days earlier at Chanel, it was the same story and then some…

It’s kind of Varga girl meets Lily Munster. With BOWS. I love it.

Time for a totally self-indulgent WANT WANT WANT post (my blog, my rules).

My beloved Marc by Marc Jacobs handbag finally died yesterday. With a bit of clever sewing I can probably salvage it and carry it for a few more months, but given that I’ve carried it almost every day since October 2006, I think I’ve had my money’s worth out of it and it’s time to move on.

So it’s serendipitous that while researching for work (no, really), I stumbled across Linea Pelle. The brand is fairly unknown in this country, but the bags are carried by various Hollywood PYT’s and girls from The Hills, thus they all have a price tag of over $400. Ouch.

Sadly it’s too late for rational thinking. I have my heart set on one of these babies. I love the way all these bags from the ‘Dylan’ line have the shoulder straps folded over when you’re using the longer cross-body strap. I’ve got my heart set on something with a long detachable strap because I’m fed up of bags slipping off my shoulders all the time (I have crap posture). I like big, slouchy bags with lots of pockets and zips, and I like decent leather that’ll get better with age. These have all of that, plus no obvious branding or logos. I like quality, but I don’t want an ‘it’ bag because it’ll date so much faster.

Sadly, once international shipping and customs charges are lumped on top of the already high price, these babies are completely out of the realms of possibility, so for now I’ll have to continue to look at them wistfully and search UK retailers for something remotely similar. If you know of anything, please do let me know. I don’t care if it’s from Topshop or Temperley, so long as it’s leather, has a detachable cross body strap and looks exactly like the bags above. Not a big ask, right?!

I wish I was Hilary Duff. I bet she got hers for free…

I am convinced that Christina Hendricks is not human. She is a fembot, based on Jessica Rabbit and made specifically to appeal to men and fat women who wish they looked like her (*cough*). Look at that waist! Waists like that just don’t exist any more! I also love her hair slightly longer and straighter. It’s enough to make me reach for the Nice ‘n’ Easy. I have the same pale skin…maybe I could pull it off*?

Speaking of pale skin, I actually don’t think much of the colour of this Christian Siriano gown (what is it with celebs wearing nothing but black or washed-out nudes and peaches?) but I love the shape, I love the ruching and I love Christina for wearing something so dramatic and not just going for slimming black jersey or something. Unsurprisingly, she wins the Golden Globes fight for me.

Anna Paquin came a close second in Stella McCartney, but her shoes were all kinds of wrong.

Highly commended awards go to Drew Barrymore, Sigourney Weaver and Diane Kruger. I spent all morning putting lots more pics on The Nod if you’re interested.

*I couldn’t.

They’re selling half a dozen different dresses with heart-shaped cutouts on the neck, as well as a few variations of the black and silver polka dot print from Luella’s Spring 2010 collection. I’d advocate a good old moan and groan about this under normal circumstances, but given the fact the Luella collection will never see the light of day, it’s the closest we’re gonna get.

Polka dot strapless dress £20 and black heart cut-out dress £20 both from Boohoo.com. More variations here, here and here.

True to their word, stuff arrived a couple of days later, so thank you Very for sorting me out.

The dress they chose for me is unfortunately not really my kind of thing. It’s a semi-fitted A-line shape, which makes me look like a barrel. As you can see in the left pic, I’m not too impressed! I added a belt to cinch it in a bit, but it still does very little for my shape and would be better on someone with smaller hips.

That said, the frills on the top are surprisingly pretty and flattering for a bigger bust. Reading the customer reviews on the site, it seems to be a hit with women who’re bigger up top. I found I liked the neckline much more when I pulled it down to an off-the-shoulder shape.

The dress is well made and fully-lined, and its now in the sale for only £12, making it quite a bargain.

Print-wise, snakeskin is not really something I’d wear normally, and I think a better bet would be the plain coloured version of the same shape with a tie belt for £49, which is part of Holly Willoughby’s collection for Very.

More successful were the accessories they picked out for me.

The bag, which I love, is by Dune and is now £22. It’s satin with a hard frame, a detatchable snake chain strap and a hard diamante bow. It’s much prettier in real life than it looks in the pictures. I carried it on New Year’s Eve, and it was big enough to hold all the essentials. There are even matching shoes.

While we’re on the subject, the shoes Very sent me are from the So Fabulous collection aimed at larger women, thus they’re wide fit. I’ll review them in more detail on Big Girls Browse shortly, but to sum up, they’re comfortable, they’re timeless, they’ll go with most outfits, but they’re a bit too wide for my size 6 feet!