Lush last-minute party dresses

The party season is in full swing, giving me license to stock up on fabulous dresses at every opportunity. With the office Christmas parties done and dusted and one of my favourite events of the year just days away, I decided it was time to turn up the glamour to maximum for Christmas and the New Year.

Having scoured most of the shops online and in Leeds, I was feeling a bit stuck for inspiration. Lucikly, I had one of those ‘OMG moments’ recently, when I went on a night out and saw my friend wearing one of her gorgeous dresses from Warehouse. So, I thought I’d get my fash-sleuth on and see if I could track down any similar gems for my own wardrobe from the dresses that they had to offer.

Warehouse have got so many amazing party dresses, I was pretty spoilt for choice. The good thing about shopping now is the fact that a lot of parties are done and dusted and so the sales have started, meaning you can grab a bargain to wear on Christmas eve or New Year’s Eve, and spend your savings on cocktails…

The ultimate Christmas Eve outfit

Regular readers of my blog will know that I’ve got more than a small obsession with glitter. If you can’t get the glitz out on Christmas eve, when can you? This stunning gold cutout sequin dress is perfect, with more than its fair share of sparkle to make you really stand out at your Christmas eve party. Bare legs (if you dare brave the December cold) and skyscraper platform heels will let the dress do the talking – keep accessories to a minimum when you’re wearing this many sequins!

My perfect Christmas Day dress

Christmas day is all about family, fun and indulgence. This cute green skater-style dress with its lace bodice would look fab with opaque tights and maybe a string of pearls to give it a bit of a vintage feel. The pleated skirt is bang on trend, too. Plus, the colour is festive without making you look like an extra from Elf…

New Year’s Eve glamour

If Christmas eve is all about sparkle, then New Year’s Eve is about sizzle. It’s the last blast before those new year’s resolutions kick in, so dress for misbehaviour! This 1920s style drop-waist embellished dress from Warehouse is absolutely drenched in luxury. Intricate beading on the top gives way to one of this season’s hottest pieces: the sequin skirt. This item is from the Warehouse Luxe range, and it’s easy to see why. Teamed with a sequin headband and a faux-fur stole, I’ll be rocking 1920s glamour as I see in 2012:

Fash-sleuth success! I’ve got my dresses sorted for the next few parties and they’re sure to stand me in good stead for any soirees that crop up in 2012. With a bit of clever styling I can tone down the festive feel of these dresses, turning them from one-wear party dresses into investment pieces.

I can already imagine wearing the green lace skater dress in January with chunky, shearling-lined boots and a duffle coat for a trip to the outdoor ice rink in Leeds, before hitting the January sales…

I’m dreaming of a bookish Christmas

Everyone knows that books are the best Christmas gifts, whether giving or receiving. Well, imagine how awesome it would be to have your wrapped presents sitting happily under this awesome Christmas tree made out of books:

Imagine that little beauty nestling in the corner of your living room (or, if you’re living the dream, your library):I’m going to make it my goal to collect old books over the next year and make one for Christmas 2012.

The party dress edit part 1: the high street

I love dresses.

I love parties.

I love Christmas

So it’s only sensible to (rightly) assume that I love Chritsmas party dresses. You simply cannot beat the feeling on getting ready to go out to an awesome party, especially a festive one. It’s a legitimate reason to wear as much glitter as your body can handle, what’s not to love?

So, getting ready.

You put some music on (this year I will be telling people I’m listening to the She and Him Christmas record when really I’ve got Michael Bublé on repeat), pour yourself a glass of fizz and then spend hours in the bathtub making sure you’re primped, scrubbed, moisturised and shimmered into oblivion. You then proceed to make sure your hair and makeup look amazing and you’ve probably spent time beforehand getting yo’ nails did. Then for the best part: it’s time to get dressed and to climb onto those shoes that are so high they come with a health and safety warning. Now, I’m not much of a shoe girl. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a nice pair (wheeey!), but for me, dresses are the real coup de foudre that make an outfit.

Here are some of my favourite festive high street party frocks that I’ve spied this season so far.

Madam Rage is a good option for ladies who want a bit of sparkle on a budget.  This star print dress, £25 would work well for those from-office-straight-to-town Christmas lunches, wear with opaques, a leather jacket and chelsea boots to give it a bit of an edge.

This dress is an awesome way to channel the star-print trend that was trailblazed by Lily Allen, Anne Hathaway and Jessie J when they were styled for their cover-shoot-offs for Elle, Marie Claire and Glamour magazines earlier this year.

Personally I think Lily pulled it off best, but I digress.

This multi-coloured sequin dress is by Lipsy, which is somewhere I wouldn’t normally shop, but it’s amazing. And at £100 it’s cheaper than the French Connection number I’ve got my eye on. I’d dress this one up with bare legs, minimal acessories – maybe a black clutch and sequin barettes in my hair – and jewels on my eyelashes.

Speak of the devil, here is the offending article from French Connection, the gold sequinned Samantha dress; weighing in at a hefty £165. It’s a beautiful dress but is it £165 beautiful? Probably not. Think of all the cheap and cheerful wear-once-then-swap-for-something-new-to-you dresses you could buy with that. Not to mention all of the Christmas cocktails you’d have to forego if you blew your budget on this.

I couldn’t do a Christmas party feature without including a dress in one of this season’s boozy hues. Not because I’m a massive lush who loves wine, but because the burgundy shades that are everywhere at the moment are so festive. This bodycon dress from Miss Guided could be dressed up or down, depending on where you were going. Wear with a big cream circle scarf/snood over tights with brogues for daytime, or don a tuxedo jacket and black courts after dark (I don’t mean like, 3pm in the office, that’d just be inappropriate, darlings).

I could go on and on like this forever, but I’ve leave you with those favourites for now. Expect more in the run up to the party season, I’ll be looking at boutique, designer and second hand (it’s not vintage, idiots).

Have you found your perfect Christmas party outfit yet?

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Advertising: Marks and Spencer Christmas TV ad 2011

I saw the 2011 Marks and Spencer Christmas TV ad tonight for the first time.

Even when I didn’t work in advertising, I always looked forward to the annual ‘fabulous-off’ from the big brands, and of course I always anticipate the Christmas Coca-Cola TV ad featuring those wonderful red trucks. When you hear ‘holidays are coming’, you know that holidays are actually here.

So, in the ads of tonight’s X Factor, I saw the new M&S Christmas ad:

Now, whilst I don’t particularly rate the idea of using the, ahem, stars of this year’s X Factor as I think it’s severely limiting the amount of people they’ll appeal to, I do think the ad is beautifully shot and the styling is pretty decent given that they had to dress such a wide specturm of people spanning several different ages and styles. Although I suppose that’s the whole point of the advert, really. I can imagine them writing the brief:

“Key message: Marks and Spencer offers a wide range of clothing and accessories to suit all age ranges, tastes and styles.”

Which kind of makes me think that whilst the advert does convey its point, is it a little bit too obvious? Am I the only one who doesn’t want ads to be too literal, that a degree of subtlety gives a bit of credit to the imagination of the audience?

That aside; it gets things right of the aesthetic front. The lighting and those lense flares look lovely, and I adore Mischa B’s eye makeup at the end. It probably won’t make me shop at M&S but it’s different, at least.

I think M&S have probably taken the celebrity style thing about as far as they can, to be honest. It’s wearing thin not only for advertisers, but for retailers too. Where people once looked to Heat Magazine to analyse Cheryl Cole’s latest outfit, I think the advent of Twitter and the narrowing of the gap between celebrities and ‘normal people’ means that people are finding their style inspiration elsewhere, either from each other or from blogs. And let’s face it, X Factor contestants probably sit closer to the ‘normal’ side of the fence than to the celebrity one. No one really looks to Kitty Brucknell or Frankie Cocozza for fashion tips, surely?

What do you think? Is celeb style over? Have M&S got it right this year or does this latest ad fall flat? Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

A Very She and Him Christmas

Just because it’s 100 days until Christmas, and because I’m generally a festive nightmare as soon as the nights start drawing in (but I do not allow actual Christmas songs or Christmassyness until 1st December), I thought I’d share this with you.

She and Him, of awesome indie tweeness and Zooey Deschanel loveliness are doing a Christmas album!

According to Pitchfork, A Very She and Him Christmas will be released on 25th October and the tracklisting is:

01 The Christmas Waltz
02 Christmas Day
03 Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
04 I’ll Be Home for Christmas
05 Christmas Wish
06 Sleigh Ride
07 Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
08 Silver Bells
09 Baby, It’s Cold Outside
10 Blue Christmas
11. Little Saint Nick
12 The Christmas Song

Actually hyperventilating over Zooey Deschanel signing Baby it’s Cold Outside. I actually love her. Look at her beautiful hair!

Fabulous festivities

Here’s wishing that Christmas brought you everything you wanted.

Not just in terms of gifts (although these are clearly amazing) but also in terms of happiness, serenity, wellbeing, perspective, all the things that we’re sometimes too busy whizzing around to notice/get/appreciate for the other 364 days of the year. I feel really calm, calmer and more relaxed than I have done in months and I think it’s because of having such a lovely Christmas. This Christmas has been really laid-back, not too lairy and generally wonderful and lovely. I’ve spent some real QT with la familia, met up with old and new friends on Christmas eve and had a lovely afternoon today exchanging presents with the chap.

I’m planning to do a full run-down of my top 10s of the year (music/games/books/etc.) and will probably pen this mid week, so stay tuned. In the meantime, have some photos…

Critchmas tree