Jersey dresses - ideal for women with curves!

I know from my own experience just how difficult it can be to find dresses that fit properly if you have rather generous curves.  Items that fit the waist are too small for the boobs and the hips, and everything creases or rides up when you sit down.  And yet women with a full hourglass figure, as I do, often look their very best in dresses - particularly slinky ones in drapy fabrics.  In the past these have been rather hard to come by, and I have had to hunt them down and grab them when they are available. 

So imagine my delight, when I visited Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre today, to discover row upon row of lovely slinky jersey dresses in a range of colours, and not just in one shop but in every shop I visited.  I particularly liked the dresses in the Per Una range at Marks & Spencer, which come in more than one length (good for me as I am tall), and in Wallis.  Wallis and Dorothy Perkins also have shorter-length fitted jersey dresses that work well over leggings or skinny jeans, or even (for the less brave) over palazzos.  I also liked - and bought - a lovely knee-length fixed wrap jersey dress in a black and white rose print from Monsoon, which is great with opaques and boots or over leggings.

If your curves are more the rounded variety than the hourglass, jersey dresses will still work for you.  Not all the dresses I saw were fitted at the waist: some were unfitted, swinging straight from the shoulders, and others were fitted underneath the bust - a sort of empire line style that is great on anyone whose waist has migrated upwards with the years! 

If you don't feel like braving the stores at this time of year - and I can't say I blame you - then it is also worth looking for jersey dresses online.  Artigiano is my favourite - wonderful range of excellent quality jersey dresses and tops.  They have a sale at the moment which I mustn't look at or I will spend loads of money!! For larger ladies, Artigiano has a sister company called Spirito which also does a good range of curvy clothes, and Simply Be has a range of jersey dresses and long-line tops in different styles and colours for sizes 14+.  Alternatively, check out the major retailers online - most of them have websites and will deliver either to you or to a local store for you to pick up.

And finally - the only drawback to a jersey dress, given the current weather, is that it is not the warmest fabric in the world and it is awfully tempting to opt for a bulkier, much less flattering but oh-so-warm sweater dress instead.  Ladies, you deserve better than that!  There are hundreds of lovely warm shrugs and wraps out there which are great with fitted dresses: on rounder figures, opt for some of the beautiful waterfall cardigans around.  The stores I visited today had lots of knitwear suitable for wearing over dresses - I particularly liked Wallis's ruffle-edged wraps and Per Una's waterfall cardigans.  Why not treat yourself to a whole outfit for Christmas?

If you're not sure what your body shape is and what style of dress would suit you, or would like to know more, then do call me on 01634 725515 or email me on fmcoppola@aol.com .  A style consultation costs £100 and until the end of January I am including in the consultation a copy of Colour Me Beautiful's wonderful new book, Colour Me Slimmer, which is full of clever ideas for dressing your body shape.

Colour Me Slimmer is here!

Colour Me Beautiful's new book Colour Me Slimmer is now here!  It's a really excellent book, their best yet, and should be on everyone's Christmas list. I'm really impressed with it - wonderful pictures and really good advice for everyone.

So, ladies, whether you have a curvy or straight figure and whatever your proportions, there's something in this book for you.  It's full of invaluable advice on clever dressing and will show you how to make the most of the good bits, and how to work with the problem areas to create the perfect wardrobe for a slimmer look.

The book is available from me, Frances Coppola, 01634 725515 or email fmcoppola@aol.com.  My price is £9.99 until the end of January. 

It's also available directly from Colour Me Beautiful, http://www.cmb.co.uk/.  Price is £10.99 + postage & packing.


Oh, and by the way - the lovely red dress on the cover of the book (see image above) is still available from Artigiano http://www.artigiano.co.uk/ at the extraordinary price of £19 - limited availability.  It's a great dress for curvy ladies with dark or grey hair.  Blondes and redheads might want to go for the summer version of this dress (also £19) with the optional cardigan(£10), which comes in a friendly mushroom colour which is kinder to those with lighter and warmer colouring.  For more advice on colour and style, contact me on the telephone number or email above.

Boardroom Black

On tonight's episode of BBC's The Apprentice, I was struck by the uniformity of the business dress adopted by the seven remaining contestants. All the boys wore dark blue suits with blue ties: all the girls, black or black and white.  They were all very well-groomed and well presented, but the overall effect was funereal.  Is it really necessary to adopt a monochrome dress code in order to succeed in business?

There is nothing new about this.  I worked for many years in the City of London, where the prevailing dress code was indeed dark suit and white shirt for both men and women.  It took a break from work to have children to open my eyes to just how bad I looked in black and white, and an image consultant from Colour Me Beautiful to show me alternatives that were equally professional and far less draining to my face.

Business is hardly a fashion show, but people do succeed better in business when they look healthy and attractive.  Black can look stunning on people with dark colouring, such as The Apprentice's Liz, but fair complexions such as Stella's can look very pale in unrelieved black.  Blondes and redheads could try grey or light navy as an alternative to black, or break up the black with a light colour near the face.  Black and white create a sharp contrast which is great on people with striking colouring but less kind to those whose colouring is more subtle, who would look better in a mixture of medium-depth neutral colours.

Black, dark blue and dark grey are all authoritative colours that give the wearer gravitas and creates a trustworthy impression.  It is no accident that police uniforms are dark in colour! However, in business we may want to give other messages: for example, if you wish to seem friendly and approachable, for example in a situation where you have to work well in a team, then a combination of a medium-depth neutral with one of your best colours creates a friendly yet professional image.  

Most business suits are neutral in colour - it is a brave person, man or woman, who will wear a bright colour in a jacket!  However, that does not mean that no colour can be worn.  Shirts and ties (for men) and tops (for women) in a range of colours can be worn with neutral suits.  Many people favour blue in a business environment because of its calming effect - but if everyone is wearing blue, the mood can be calm to the point of depression!  Red livens things up and can be seen as aggressive - but in small amounts it creates warmth and energy, which can be particularly useful in a sales environment.  I am surprised that The Apprentice's contestants rarely wear red, since selling is so important in this programme: perhaps they do not wish to be viewed as "aggressive" by Lord Sugar!