THE LBD

I have actually been meaning to post this dress for a while now as I did purchase it around two months ago, so I finally forced my boyfriend out of bed to take a few snaps of this outfit before he left to go to work and I was minus a photographer for a couple of days. But I must say considering the circumstances, I am pretty impressed with the results ... 

Dress - &otherstories SOLD OUT (similar here) / Shoes - Topshop / Fishnet socks - Topshop / 

Bag - Mango 

Now onto the dress ... Whenever I'm in London I always make a b-line for &otherstories because a girl has to fulfill her needs, especially when I don't have the access to this store in Leeds. Although it is pretty pricey and I can't always afford to buy things from there, I still enjoy browsing and admiring how immaculate each piece of clothing is. Fortunately, on this particular day they had a sale so I obviously had to pop in and see if I could spot any bargains. 

This LBD was the first thing that caught my eye and it was because of the corset detail running down the centre which adds character to the dress. I am a massive fan of this trend that has been embraced this Spring/Summer and I thought this dress was unusual as I hadn't seen anything like it in any other stores on the high street ... plus it was reduced to around £25. 

At first when I saw this dress I wasn't sure whether the shape of it was going to compliment my body as I have bigger hips and a smaller waist. Therefore I have to be careful when I try on items like this that don't have much shape because I find that sometimes it can overpower my body and look very unflattering. However the fit of this dress is completely perfect. The oversized boxy sleeves are completely flattering for your arms and balance out your upper body with your lower body (great for all the girls that are 'pear-shaped' and want to create the illusion of smaller hips). But what I love about this dress is that even though the sleeves are oversized, the material still skims past the hips subtly showing off the outline of your body and bringing out some curve.

The only minor issue with this dress is that the material is very thick, therefore it would probably work best as a transitional dress from Summer into Autumn. However, with the UK's temperamental weather you could probably still wear it in our Summer. 

To brighten up the outfit I have paired it with my red glove shoes from Topshop, which I managed to get in the sale (another bargain). Also these fishnet socks, which I appreciate not everybody is digging this trend, but I have to admit I am. I think it just adds this unusual edge to every outfit.

Also my Mango bag that yet again I managed to steal in the sale ... which seems to be the recurring trend for this outfit. I like adding different textures into an outfit so this shiny bag seemed fitting to spruce up an all matte dress. When I add a bright colour into an outfit like these shoes it can sometimes take away the detail of other items, therefore I like to balance the colour out by adding a pop of it somewhere else to draw the eyes up and down the outfit... which in this case I finished off the look with a red lip. 

I may not be able to link all of these items as they were all purchased in the sale, however I will link alternatives which are similar to create this look. 

Thank you for reading 

Chelsea x