My Favourite Outfits of 2017

Is it really a new year if you don't do the odd round up post to show your faves from the previous year? I don't think so! I have plans for two favourite blogs, this one will be all about my favourite outfits that I shared on my blog in 2017. I didn't share anywhere near as many as I would have liked, particularly late in the year because of my operation, but hopefully 2018 will be much more fashion themed! So, here's my fave looks that I shared last year.

One of the few 'work wear' looks I've ever done, and a real outfit I wear regularly! 2017 reignited my love of skirts, and got me into shirts, something I had never really worn before. I've worn this look or a variation on it so many times since I first photographed it!

Quite possibly my favourite outfit of all time! This mesh dress is my absolute go-to for nights out. I damaged the hem recently and desperately got my Nanna to fix it because I am obsessed with this dress. Lace and mesh and a harness, it's a perfect 'me' outfit. Being plus size often means settling for things that aren't quite your style, this look is 100% Kitty with no settling at all. It's me, truly.

2017 was also the year I fell in love with oversized, relatively shapeless pieces. It's one of those things that plus size bodies are told to simultaneously wear to hide their shape, and never wear because it doesn't give the illusion of shape. Bare legs, a comfy dress, and a cameo from my pooch, can't go wrong.

I could easily have included basically every outfit I wore last year that featured Navabi, but this grunge inspired look is my fave. Glittery boots and a dress that matches my hair, love! Navabi are my stand out brand of 2017 for so many reasons (but that's a whole other post) and this dress is one of many reasons why.

2017 was a year of skirts and dresses for me, what items did you fall in love with?

Much love,

Kitty xxxx

My First Lady V London Lyra

Sometimes you see an item of clothing that you just absolutely have to have. I had that moment recently when I saw Lady V London had released a series of new prints in their classic Lyra design. Every single person I've ever seen buy a Lyra dress has absolutely loved theirs, but I've held off buying one for a while not sure if they would suit me or not. Then I saw this print and bam, before I knew what had happened I'd bought it and it was mine.

Skulls and flowers. There couldn't be a more perfect Kitty-esque print! I tend to be a sales shopper, but I was happy to spend £45 on this beauty because I own several Lady V London dresses and I knew the quality would be immaculate. I was not wrong! It's lush. The print is called 'Gorgeously Gothic' and unfortunately as I write this it is out of stock in every single size, despite only being released a few days ago! I'm so glad I snapped it up when I did. They have an amazing new range of prints, including donuts which is just so so cute.

The only thing that had put me off ordering a Lyra before is that everyone I see rock one has a much more traditional hour glass figure than me. I don't have a small waist and big hips, I have a big belly, and I have a small bust. So not the body type I usually see in these. However, I am really happy to report that it fit like a dream! I was concerned there would be gaping at the bust but there wasn't, but it was also clear that there was plenty of room for a much larger bust than mine. The arms are a loose flowing fit that is great for summer.

While I'm wearing leggings in this look, I would happily wear this bare legged. It hits me just at knee level, it was just chilly when I was shooting the dress! I'm 5ft 11 so it would usually be more of a traditional midi length. The crossover section hits me directly under the bust and ties at the back, so you can nip the dress in to accentuate the full skirt.

Now owning a Lyra, I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more fantastic prints I can get my mitts on. I totally see why everyone loves them so much!

Much love,

Kitty xxxx

Our Trip To Cornwall : Colourpop Short and Sweet

Daisy Kinderwhore OOTD

Every now and then I see a dress that I just have to buy. This time, it was ASOS with the dress that had to be mine. It screamed of the nineties and kinderwhore fashion and it had to be mine. And so it was done.

Dress - ASOS £28

Sunglasses - Quay Australia £45

Converses - Old (no longer available)

Kinderwhore fashion was loved by the likes of Courtney Love and Kat Bjelland; it was baby doll dresses and fishnets and boots, the dresses were short and the styling was easy. Kinderwhore was a grunge kick into feminism, it took all the good girl parts of fashion and screwed with them. As a woman who loves punk rock, seeing women in rock and roll be hyper feminine and bad ass made me happy, but as a teenager I never dared look to them for fashion inspiration. But the Kitty who is now 29 (eek) is all that those mini dresses!

This is a more 'casual' version of those classic kinderwhore looks, because it was way too warm for my biker boots and I didn't fancy platforms. I actually wore this dress on mine and Stu's first wedding anniversary for chips and cheese on the beach while we were away on holiday. Top romance!

I love a comfy over size dress and this is a lovely light fabric, so even on the beach it kept me cool. I stayed simple with the accessories wearing all my usual BloodyMary Metal rings and adding a BMM stag necklace. And of course, I had the best accessory in the form of our pooch-face Ashen. I swear, he poses way better than I do!

Maybe by this point he was a little bit fed up of posing! He is a handsome beastie. ASOS have another dress in this sort of loose fit shirt style and I might just have to get my mitts on it. It's definitely become a new fave very quickly.

Disclaimer: I walk Ashen with a harness (he was arthritis and it helps his be more comfortable) and I totally fell over after taking these photos on the wet decking outside our log cabin leaving me with some epic bruises. These photos also really make me realise I need more leg tattoos.

Much love,

Kitty xxxx

Girly Millenial Pink OOTD : Our First Wedding Anniversary

Girly Millenial Pink OOTD

I seem to be on a bit of a roll lately with online competitions, and recently I was lucky enough to win one of Yours Clothing's #winitwednesday competitions on twitter. It was a on a day that's always hard, on my dear friend Jess's birthday who sadly was taken from us when we were 17. We shared a mutual love of butterflies and it seemed like a gift from the universe to make me smile when I suddenly won a dress covered in butterflies!

Dress - Lady Voluptuous for Yours Clothing

Jacket - Matalan (old)

Shoes - Converses

Sunglasses - Sorority Princess by Quay Australia

This dress is quite possibly the girliest thing I've ever owned. In fact, this whole outfit might be the girliest thing I've ever worn! I ended up channelling Amanda Apparel for this look completely by accident. I wore this outfit to a hen do I went on, and when I realised I only had 20 minutes to get ready I gave my youngest step son a bunch of random choices to pick me an outfit real quick. He was feeling the all pink vibes, so all pink it was!

The dress is typical Lady Voluptuous, beautifully made, with a lovely print, and well fitted. Lady V offer dual sizes, and I find them very true to size. This is probably a little more low cut than I would usually wear because I don't have the sort of bust that gives cleavage, but I love it either way and think it would also look amazing on a busty babe too!

The print is a delight, flowers and butterflies in different shades of pinks and hints of blue. The sleeves sit at about elbow length with a fold up that has a really unusual shape, it actually peaks into a 'V' shape in the middle of the sleeves. I really like this detail, it's such a small thing but it's lovely. The top of the dress is a wrap over style, for me personally I might have to pop a stitch in the bust area because it does gape a bit because I don't have much to fill it out, but I don't think anyone with more of a chest would need to do that.

The bottom of the dress is probably my favourite part, the two pleated sections give it a great shape without being too full. You could probably pop a petticoat underneath it if you did want to add more fullness though!

It felt really odd to go out not wearing all pink, but I think the Converses and the pleather jacket made it feel 'Kitty' enough that I wasn't uncomfortable. I might just have to let my step son style me again seen as he did such a great job with this look!

Much love,

Kitty xxxx

Our First Wedding Anniversary : I Don't Want Children And That's OK

Monochrome and Red with Navabi*

When I was a greebo teenager my 'thing' was wearing black with a super bright accent colour. I particularly loved all black with pops of bright pink, purple or red. To this day I still love a monochrome outfit with a single bright colour and this dress was just begging for a bright colour to be paired with it, so monochrome and red it was!

Dress - Sazzmatazz Clothing

Jacket - Zhenzi at Navabi*

Shoes - Converses

I was lucky enough to win a voucher from Sazzmatazz Clothing a little while ago on twitter, so I picked out this fab striped dress that I'd seen them share and everyone who has it looks so great in it. It has long sleeves, stripes in two different directions and POCKETS. I love a dress with pockets and this made me really happy. It's got no stretch to it but fits relatively true to size. I do find the arms a little snug and it's a little tight across the shoulders for me, but I am pretty broad. I'm 5ft 11 and it sits just below the knee on me, so on someone of more average height it would be a true mini length style.

I've been loving denim jackets lately and when I saw this red one on Navabi it had to be mine. It's stretchy and soft and just lovely. With a dress like this I think it works so well as a statement piece. I'd almost be tempted to wear double denim with this being bright red and less obviously denim. Almost.

It's a very classic denim jacket, just in an awesome tomato red colour. I can see myself getting a lot of wear out of this, sometimes in the summer an all black dress feels like it needs brightening up and this will do the job perfectly.

This outfit feels really 'me', I often don't buy things that are monochrome for fear of them not washing well but I do so love them that I really need to give them more of a chance!

Much love,

Kitty xxxx

Colourpop Purple Eyeshadows : Deaf Awareness Week

*denotes an item gifted to me for review purposes, in no way does this impact upon my opinions which are entirely my own.

Pink Linen with Navabi*

You might have noticed that I haven't shared many outfit posts lately, and there's been a reason, it's because my camera decided it didn't want to focus anymore and well, without a camera I didn't feel like I wanted to share outfit photos. I know I could have used my phone, but I'm a stubborn creature so I just sort of stopped for bit. And then suddenly, my camera seems to have decided it will focus again after months of not focusing, so fingers crossed I am back baby! What better way to get back into sharing outfits than with a beautiful dress sent to me by my faves Navabi?

This is the Navabi linen fit and flare dress*, and I've never owned anything like it before. Stu my husband is always telling me how comfy and cool linen is but I've never worn it, so when I saw this dress crop up I figured it was the perfect time to give it a go! I definetly should have ironed it (sorry Navabi!) but honestly I'm super lazy and never iron anything so I didn't. The quality of this dress is something else. It's fully lined and just immaculately made, which is standard Navabi if you've ever tried anything from them. I picked out the pale pink colour (I'm feeling all sorts of inspired by Amanda Apparel's colour palette lately) but it's also available in black and a green that is absolutely to die for. It has no stretch to it at all, so if you are inbetween sizes or are particularly busty, I'd opt for a size up.

To make this outfit a bit more 'me' I popped on a pair of pink Converses and my beloved Plus Equals pleather jacket with zip off sleeves. And of course massive oversize sunglasses! The fabric of this dress means it'll be nice and light and comfy for a full day of wear which for me is always key, I love to be comfy. I've not worn much pale pink but I am loving this colour and think I need more now.

It has no sleeves and a cute little cut out on the neckline that I think it the perfect detail in a relatively simple dress. You could easily add a sequin jacket to this and it's perfect for a summer wedding. How I've styled it is really casual, but it's a versatile piece with a lot of ways you could wear it. Navabi offer something different for the plus size fashion world in long lasting high end designer styles. While their pieces are more expensive because they are high end, I think there's room in the fashion world for every kind of fashion and am grateful to Navabi for bringing this to the plus size world!

I'm so looking forward to warmer days and summer dresses!

Much love,

Kitty xxx

Colourpop Blotted Lips : Sugar & Vice SS17

*denotes an item gifted to me for review purposes, in no way does this impact upon my opinions which are entirely my own.

Thanks For Nothing OOTD*

When it comes to wardrobe staples, a denim jacket is something I always come back to. A good denim jacket lasts for years and is so versatile, I wear mine with everything from a casual every day look to the most glam of dresses with heels. 

This River Island denim jacket* is one of the sassiest and most fun things I've ever worn. I love the slogan on the back, and I love the oversized fit. I hadn't worn any River Island before this photoshoot so sized up just in case, but it's actually very true to sizing so I didn't need to size up at all.

The purple top I'm wearing here is also from RI, but has since sold out. I really like mixing casual slouchy items with something more glittery. This is a totally sheer top, so I popped a vest top and a harness bra underneath it for a daily look. 

The detailing on this jacket isn't a print, instead it is painted on, so while it costs £55 this sort of detail is justifiably more expensive. Pale denim is my absolute favourite wash and I could see myself wearing this for years.

Sadly these pieces were only lent to me for the purposes of this photoshoot with the awesome Shannon Swift, but I really, really need to save up for this jacket!

Much love,

Kitty xxxx

Third Bloggerversary : Punky Pins Haul

*denotes an item sent to me for the purposes of this photoshoot, in no way does this impact upon my opinions which are entirely my own.

Floral and Mesh Stripes OOTD*

When it comes to dressing up for more formal occasions, keeping that feeling of 'me' is so important. It can be hard when you have a more alternative style to feel like you've dressed up enough for an occasion whilst still also feeling like yourself. Thanks to City Chic's range at Evans however, I've found some really beautiful pieces that fit the bill wonderfully.

Dress - City Chic at Evans*

Lace Jacket - City Chic at Evans*

I've featured this jacket in another blog post (here) but I totally adore it and always reach for it. It adds an extra layer of warmth but nothing too bulky, and it's a more dressed up way of wearing a biker jacket. I always reach for a biker jacket so this fills me little punk heart with glee. It is SO versatile and I adore it.

This dress has something about it. The print is gorgeous, the floral with mesh stripe inserts is a great combination and the colour tones are incredible. This is a classic fit and flare dress, but they do have this dress in other silhouettes too if something a bit more unusual is more your style. It is so soft and incredibly made, City Chic is a brand I really enjoy and their quality is consistently fantastic. If you like dresses that are a bit different, have a hint of goth or have their own little quirks, check them out. I'm forever eyeing up their range on Evans and wishing I could buy it all!

Just a note on City Chic's sizing, Evans has their XXL listed as a size UK 24, and this is the largest size. However, this size chart has been taken direct from City Chic and doesn't seem to have been converted from US to UK sizes, so their XXL is more of a 26/28, so check your measurements rather than relying on the size conversion they have listed on their website.

These photos are from my photoshoot with the wonderful Shannon Swift. I don't usually share photos of me sat down, subconsciously or not I tend to pose in ways that are more flattering than these photos are. Shannon got me to pose sat down and I love that she pushed me to do something different. And her lighting is EVERYTHING.

Much love,

Kitty xxxx

A Mini George at Asda Homeware Haul : How to Spot Real Fur vs Fake Fur

*denotes items gifted for review purposes. In no way does this impact upon my opinions which are entirely my own.

Leopard Print and Faux Leather OOTD*

One of the things I often struggle with is feeling sexy. I'm not a plus size gal with the traditional hourglass figure, I'm not busty, I don't really have a big butt, all those things associated with being sexy. Society tells us that fat women aren't sexy, and then it tells us that only certain fat women can be sexy, and I don't fall into any of those categories. I'm tall and awkward, I'm clumsy to ridiculous extremes, I stutter over my words some times and I get anxious about everything. But if I want to be, I can still feel sexy. Feeling sexy isn't necessarily something that everyone wants to feel, but sometimes, I want it, and this outfit had me feeling like a siren.

Top - New Look (sold out)

Harness Bra - New Look (sold out)

Pleather Skirt* - River Island

Firstly, this skirt. It is sex on legs. That zip is fully functioning and goes all the way up, so if you were so inclined you could remove this skirt in all sorts of fun ways. It's made of a quite thick and high quality faux leather and all the hardware on it is silver, which is my personal preference. A pencil skirt always gives your walk more of a wiggle, and add in that faux leather and I felt powerful! It fits true to size and sat just at the knee on my 5ft 11 body.

Shirts are sexy. Worn by every gender they just work. I love them. Wearing this unbuttoned isn't something I would have done too long ago. I don't have the kind of bust that meets in the middle and gives cleavage, but just because I don't have big boobs doesn't mean I can't show off a harness bra and feel lush. I don't have the sort of chest that the media might tell us is sexy, but I'll damn well show off my bra and feel like a sassy diva whilst doing it! A good harness bra always boosts my ego, New Look regularly get really lovely bralettes in and this is a prime example. It isn't totally wire free however, I find their mesh styles tend to have the side panel of wiring, so I save them more for special outfits or occasions than every day wear.

Many thanks to the incredible Shannon Swift for these photos of me. I always smile in photos out of habit. I feel prettier when I smile, and because I don't think I generally do sexy well these sort of photos were hard for me. Shannon really pushed me to do something different and I'm so glad she did!

Much love,

Kitty xxx

Dreaming of Denim Jackets : Why I've Ditched Bras for Bralettes

*denotes an item lent to me for the purposes of this photoshoot. In no way does this impact upon my opinions which are entirely my own.