The Contour Ball With Tutti Rouge

A few weeks back I played Cinderella for the night when I was invited to attend one of the most prestigious events in the lingerie industry’s calender – The Contour Ball. The invitation came from the wonderful Tutti Rouge and I was very excited to meet the team. And so, accompanied by Cheryl and Becky of ‘Invest In Your Chest’ we toddled off to The Savoy to attend the glamorous charity event.

The event itself was a delicious, wine infused affair that raised a great deal of money for it’s nominated charities. I was really grateful to have a chance to chat with Jessica and Mark of Tutti Rouge, and learn a little more about the company and it’s history. The whole of the Tutti team were really down to earth, and so passionate about what they do. I am excited for their future, as they have a winning formula of gorgeous designs, a willingness to listen and evolve for their fans and a real invested interest in their brand.

If you want to see what’s coming next for Tutti Rouge then click here for Cheryl’s post about their Autumn Winter lines – trust me, it’s the closest thing to ‘bra porn’ that you’ll ever see!

Tutti Rouge really are a brand to watch, and I can’t wait to see the rest of the collection start to hit the shops. The gorgeous Liliana is currently available from Bravissimo, and they will be stocking the forthcoming Tutti Rouge sets. There really is something for everyone in the collection!

Here are a few snaps from my night at the ball – thank you Tutti Rouge!

Lingerie Fit For A Queen

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited to Panache’s first ever blogger’s event.

What an invitation! A chance to spend the day at Panache HQ with the lovely Panache team and fabulous fellow bloggers – and look at underwear exclusives! Heaven in a day!

Being quite ignorant I had no idea that Sheffield was! Luckily Cheryl and her car are still lodgering at mine and so we had a bit of a road trip – cue a lot of singing, a lot of giggling and doing our make up in the car park when we arrived only a few hours later!

We were greeted by the lovely Katie from Best British bloggers and met a few of the other bloggers before being ushered upstairs to the main event room.
A feast greeted us – of Panache staff, food and drink and bras and bikinis. So far so very very good.

We all got chatting and introduced ourselves as we tucked into cake and crisps and Pimms.
One by one we were taken off for a bra fitting – I was fitted as a 36HH, a back size down from last event’s fitting of a 38H. The Panache fitters are amazing and really know their stuff. I was jiggled and adjusted and educated on how my bra should feel and fit and it was a great feeling to literally be in the right hands!

We then had a tour of the Panache building, we saw the offices, the sample room – it is a huge building! We met the bosses sons and I was impressed by how it is a family business and they are as passionate about lingerie as I am which is really saying something!

We then were paired up and each had fifteen minutes with the designers from each brand within Panache – Cleo, Masquerade, Superbra and Panache Swim.

It was fascinating to hear all about the creating of the lines. They have a clear image of who the customer is for each brand and they follow up and coming trends to create amazing underwear. I was blown away by the colours and patterns and embellishments that go on the bras. Being a large cupped girl has never been so gorgeous and I’d rather go for that cheaper bottle of wine and be able to treat myself to a stunning quality bra than have to make do with ill fitting cheaper AND less pretty pieces. We even got a sneak peek at some of the SS13 pieces…oh there are some treats in store!

All too soon the day came to an end and Cheryl and I sobbed as the gorgeous fit models put their clothes back on and the food got cleared away.

It was a fabulous experience and great to be given a look around the Panache offices – and we were also given Panache sports bras! I will be sharing my review of it very soon.

Thank you Panache and Best British Bloggers, I can’t wait for the next event.

Debenhams Autumn Winter 2012 Press Event

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Debenhams Autumn Winter 2012 press event.

It was held in the impressive basement of Victoria House and it seemed to go on forever! Displays of clothes, shoes, jewellery, bags… I was in heaven! Then I turned the corner and found the lingerie and the beauty treatments – I don’t know what I preferred!

After having my nails painted at the Filthy Gorgeous nail bar I ventured over to the lingerie room and was delighted at what I found there!

Patterns and prints and silks and bow details. A lingerie lover’s heaven! Unfortunately my laptop went to heaven and I have been unable to retrieve the photos from it, but with the help of some snaps from the Lookbook I should be able to give you a good idea of what I saw there.

Floozie by Frost French is available from 30B-38DD

The Gorgeous range is available in sizes 28DD – 40H.

Presence is available from 32A – 38DD

Reger by Janet Reger is available from 32A – 38E

 

Although I won’t be able to wear any of the ranges myself it does make me happy to see well priced gorgeous larger cupped lingerie available so readily on the high street and online.

I hope that those of you who can fit into the ranges will give some of the gorgeous pieces a go.

For more photos and accounts of the event see the Debenhams blog and Into The Blonde.

Models, Lingerie And Crystals…

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being invited to preview Eveden’s AW12 collection.

The location of the event was the extremely swanky Swarovski Crystal cafe and accompanied by my fellow bloggers Caroline, Sophia, Mhairi, Kitty and Rosie we giggled out way up the stairs to the gorgeous crystal and ice filled room.

We were met by the stunning Alex, the lovely lady who models Elomi for Eveden. Being hugged by a hot underwear model is a goooood way to start the day!

After signing in, hanging up our coats and admiring the cupcakes and mocktails being made by the barman we were shown round the collections by Holly.

I must warn you now that I am not so great on reporting back on the fine details of the collections. I would recommend checking out the earlier linked blog posts or this amazing post from Becky Mount if you want lots of names of bras. My post will pretty much be “this is what I saw and this is what I WANT” and I will possibly leave you in the dark!

The first thing that blew me away about the venue were the little and not so little touches to go with the wintery theme. There were bras and logos frozen in ice.

There were crystals everywhere.

And the adorable blonde models looked glorious in their Russian hats (and of course the ever sexy Alex)

And then there was the underwear…on the underwear…

I love butterflies and so I cannot WAIT for this Freya set to come out, I will even fight my non padded phobia! The lovely Iskra makes it look perfect.

In fact I am loving most of Freya – although no more Decos for me unless I actually start to fit them! (Pssssst, exciting news though – the new Decos will be going up to a GG in the 28 bands! They also have a soft cup Deco!) Freya seem to stop at a GG in so many styles and it’s pretty distressing for me. I am starting to prefer Ewa Michalak and Panache – they do not give me that Deco oomph but I can wear them comfortably without tucking myself in and adjusting myself. Boo. *sings the same old song* Pretty please Freya, I *promise* that there is a market for GG+ padded and moulded bras!

Where was I? Oh yes, Freya. The swimwear, loungewear and lingerie were superb. Freya is the leading brand in the Eveden group and it is obvious why. Fresh funky prints are rare to find when you require bras above a D and they really deliver!

We then moved onto older sophisticated sister Fauve, slightly older bubbly sister Fantasie and little petite sister Huit. I don’t think I saw anything that didn’t make me wish I had brought a bigger bag!

But what impressed me the most was Elomi! I have always thought of Elomi as the shy awkward frumpy cuddly sister of the brands. Elomi bras are rarely sexy or daring or colourful. They serve a purpose but they never experiment. However, thanks to Plus London and the glorious outspoken bloggers, Elomi have had a little makeover!

Wow, would you look at those styles and patterns?! Elomi just got sexy and she really does impress! Later on in the day some of the plus London ladies showed up and they were very happy with what they saw!

My only gripe is that once again it is a struggle to find to get much of the range once you go past a GG, but as Elomi have proven they are willing to listen and so fingers crossed the sizing is something they look at revising.

I then had a bra fitting and was told that I am a 34J! I am a different size in every brand and as Eveden are pretty generous in the band it comes as no shock to me that that it what I should wear with them.

I will be reviewing the bra set I received as well as Elomi’s exciting news and products in some imminent blog posts so stay tuned for them.

I hope you enjoyed perving over gorgeous undies and sexy models. Oh, it is so hard to be a lingerie blogger!

London Edge With Collectif

A few weekends back I had the ultimate pleasure of modelling for Collectif at London Edge. To say I was excited was an understatement! Snow did not stop me, I trekked there in my glittery wellies, victory rolls proudly in place, encased in my Trina dress. The Collectif team were very welcoming and immediately put me at ease. I met my beautiful sidekick Solene Percher and off we went to distribute Collectif bags to the beautiful people of London Edge! The fact that we got to window shop at the amazing stalls at the same time was just awesome and although it was a long day it was definitely worth it! Later on my tiny sexy blogging friend Becky rocked up and we had a good old catch up – a win all round! Not only that but the gorgeous Emmy of Emmy clothing hinted that she might be interested in working with me at some point – fingers crossed! The thing that stood out for me the most was how friendly everyone was and how a lot of stalls were telling me that they were expanding their sizes or had plus size ranges! So here are a few snapshots from the day and the amazing catwalk show.

Gok Wan For Simply Yours

 

So a few weeks back I had the absolute pleasure of being invited along to the launch of Gok Wan’s new shapewear…as you can imagine I was pretty damn stoked! I was up early to make my way to the amazing hotel in London, accompanied by fellow bloggers Caroline, Becky and Laura.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got there but let me tell you, being welcomed by Aunty Gok himself into a room full of my favourite bloggers, many sat on a revolving sofa…well, that was really quite special! After being provided with my hot tipple of choice (mint tea!) Gok beckoned several of us over to show us his “Hall Of Fame” collection. He talked of how annoying it is when you have the perfect pair of shoes or jeans and then they fall apart and you can’t get a hold of them anymore. So he has updated his new line using all of the positive feedback that ladies gave him from his last line. He has created 6 different pieces in Slate, Blush and Crush. The pieces are: the Curve Controller Body, the Pull Me In Pants, the Sassy Slip, the Divine Outline Multi-Way, the Slicker Knicker and the Banger Booster Bra; fantastic names in an amazing spectrum of sizes – 30-46 A-G for the bra pieces, 8-32 for the bottoms. What’s especially great is that he expanded the range by one cupsize so fingers cross this expansion keeps going! Each piece was embroidered with a signature “Gok” logo and displayed on plus size mannequins – amazing!
After that I spent an enjoyable few hours trying to sneak photos with Gok and catch up the lovely ladies, particularly Birthday girl and Fairy Blog Mother Cheryl, Kitty and Sarah.
Here are a few photos of the day and the new collection.

Simply Be And Simply Yours SS12 Press Event

As I am still fairly new to this blogging malarkey I have a right to be amazed at all of these SS12 press events that happen at this time of year – and I am loving them!
Recently I was invited to Simply Yours and Simple Be’s event and with promises of breakfast and a manicure on top of browsing delicious undies, clothes and accessories I could not resist!
I met up with fellow bloggers Cheryl and Rosie and thanks to the gods of sat nav we found our way!
We were greeted at the shop like venue by a waiter offering us juices and smoothies – what a lovely start! We were then introduced to lovely ladies of Simply Be and Simply Yours, including the beautiful Charlotte who I have been conversing with over emails for some time now.
Waiters and waitresses kept coming round with tiny breakfast canapes and fruit salad sticks, the perfect accompaniment to the feast of glorious garments and scrummy shoes that the room contained. From talking with some of the SB and SY employees it is very apparent that they have a massive emphasis on the fact that clothing should express who you are, not hide your shape and size. They talked about how their active presence on their social networking sites means that they can really get a good idea of what is working for them and what isn’t, gauge reactions and desires and just keep on top of what the fans what, which I find really encouraging. A few interesting new ventures were mentioned to me which I am very excited about and hope all will be revealed soon!
But anyway, without further ado these were my favourite pieces from the collection – brave yourselves for bright colours, florals, old classics in new designs…

My favourite piece has to be this patriotic Gossard bra, perfect for next year’s Olympics:

It was a fabulous day and great to meet and re meet some fellow bloggers. We descended on a pub afterwards and then Naomi, Lauren, Mhairi and I descended upon Oxford Street with out Simply Be bags to see what the shops had to offer!

Check out these fabulous posts from hosts Simply Be and Simply Yours.

Curves In Couture

Last Thursday I had the extreme pleasure of attending Curves In Couture as a guest of Evolve Magazine. I wore a black Bespoke Hollywood maxi dress kindly sent to me by those lovely ladies at Simply Be and I felt amazing.

I met up with fellow blogger Rosie and we cautiously tottered our way into the amazing event. We were soon joined by Lauren and Claire and *some* of us enjoyed a cheeky wine and a bit of mingling (and just staring in AWE at Robyn Lawley) before we made our way into the main arena.

I was lucky enough to meet Velvet D’Amour and her friendly enthused nature put me at ease with the idea of the impending photoshoot I had with her.

We managed to bag ourselves some pretty good spots with a good view of the stage and we then started people and celeb watching before the show began!

And then it began…

Models Of Diversity is, of course, all about breaking the mould when it comes to the fashion world. The beautiful healthy models, some with missing limbs were absolutely perfect on the catwalk, definitely a refreshing sight. Some of the gorgeous dresses have made their way straight onto my wish list, particularly a lot of the Anna Scholz pieces. During the show we saw some videos and heard a speech from Linda Scotson of Advance, the charity that the money raised from the show was being donated too. I must confess that hearing all about Linda’s work and struggles, challenges and victories really made me well up and I think it was a perfect cause to be donating too.

I loved the show for what it stood for and I can’t wait for next year’s event. It would be nice to see some models who were more mainstream plus size ie 18s, 20s and so on and maybe some older models, shorter models and many other varieties. The women who graced the catwalk were breathtaking but I think that there is definitely a place for other types of diversity to come out and play.

Here are my rather bad cheap digicam photos from the event. I would also advise checking out Boomband Em’s blog post for another excellent write up on the evening.

Perfect Panache

Last week I was lucky enough to wangle an invite to Panache’s SS12 collection preview.
Panache also make Cleo and Masquerade and I am a fan of all three brands, particularly the luscious Masquerade.
The event was hosted in a gorgeous hotel in Piccadilly and once again I experienced that joyous sensation of being a kid in a sweet shop when I entered that stunning room filled with gorgeous creations and a beautiful 32E model.

I was greeted by the adorable Heather and then showed round the new collections. It was fab to see so many old favourites being brought back in different patterns and colours. There is nothing worse than falling in love with a bra, wearing it to death and not finding anything else like it. Panache never let that happen and styles like the Tango and the Rhea and many more.

The stylish room was filled with sweets and bright posters and as I saw more of the collections I realised how well this fitted in. Panache as ever is the supportive safe range, old favourites and timeless classics. Cleo is the fun young stunning range and Masquerade is the more sophisticated sexy range. Panache are always listening to their customers, bringing out larger cupped padded bras and *fingers crossed* 26 backed bras. As I have said before they are evolving to suit the customers needs and cannot be faulted for that. They have a fabulous Facebook page where they constantly listen and ask the ‘fans’ about what they want and need and they have just joined Twitter. I cannot fault their prices, their designs and their wonderful enthusiasm for the blogging community. A flawless brand.

Getting Into A Flap With Eveden

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of being invited to Eveden’s press event where they showed off their fabulous SS12 collection. The Eveden brands are Freya, Fantasie, Elomi, Huit 8 and Fauve and if you have read my blog regularly you will know that I love and have reviewed all bar Huit 8, this being because it stops at a DD. I was therefore stoked to have been  given the opportunity to browse the delicious new collections. I was especially excited by the invitation, which promised an exquisite day:

I met up with fellow bloggers Kitty and Becky in London and due to their awesome map reading and navigation skills we found ourselves at a stunning hotel just off Oxford Street.

We made our way past the large Freya poster and up the stairs to be greeted with a glorious sight – two rooms full of sumptuous underwear and some absolutely stunning flapper girl models showing just how amazing some of the pieces looked on.  There was such an array of lace, florals, dogtooth, high waisted briefs, suspender belts…we had died and gone to lingerie and swimwear heaven!

Huit 8

The beautiful Alex!

Stunning Fauve

Holly Henstock then officially welcomed us and proceeded to show us around the collections. I wish I could tell you about every single piece as there was nothing that I didn’t love, especially after taking a closer look and being able to touch the fabric. However, I will try to show you as many pieces as possible and interject every so often.

Stunning lace overlay on oyster satin.

Exquisite florals

Red Deco!!!! Eeeek!

Sorbet Deco!!!  Divine!

Ocean Deco!

Such a fashionable tankini with a lingerie feel from Huit 8

Alex models a fabulous turquoise Elomi set

A high waisted bikini…genius!

Funky flirty bikinis from Freya

Divine colours from Fauve

A retro looking moulded bikini from Huit 8

Cute button detailing

Alex modelling more Elomi

A stunning bow set

Beautiful sun dresses from Freya

Leopard print was everywhere…heavenly!

Elomi flared tankinis, perfect for hiding those lumps and bumps.

A sultry leopard print set from Elomi – it has my name on it!

The new Lyla, perfect as nude underwear for darker skinned girls

Whilst we were looking round we were also introduced to big boss Ann-Marie Manley and the lovely Katie Weir, goddesses of the under(wear)world. It was a real pleasure to be amongst such lingerie royalty (in my book anyway!)

If you have any questions or comments about any of the sets then let me know, I will do my best to answer and help you out!

After looking round we were then invited for a fitting and given a complimentary set of underwear.  I was fitted as a 36H in this amazing Lynsey set by Fantasie.

The set was not something I would usually go for at all, but once the lovely fitter had adjusted it and made me try my dress on over the top I found myself really rather liking it.  It gives an amazing uplifted rounded shape and is the perfect mixture of flirty, sexy and girly.  The silky lacey material felt expensive and luxurious on and I loved the three hooks and fully adjustable straps.
All in all it’s safe to say it was an amazing few hours.  I was very honoured to have been given the opportunity to peruse the delightful new collections – roll on next Spring!

Why not also check out the beautiful Kerry’s post and Becky’s post for Cheryl giving their takes and opinions on the day.