As a plus-size shopper, separates are a tricky game: finding denim that doesn’t sag at the knee and gape at the back is a constant plight, I have yet to experience tailoring that contours my curves in a well-fitting way, and I have never met a co-ord that doesn’t make me look like a human Flump.
But dresses can be good to me. That said, a lot of plus-size designs on the market in the high street are, well, quite crap. They are frumpy, ill-considered and not fashion-forward or exciting. Which is why this summer I was inspired to launch a collaboration with dress brand Rixo – a 16-piece collection of size-inclusive dresses that evoke a sense of freedom, the idea that with one swish of a great dress over your head you are handled, you are stylish, you are good.
Before I designed my own collection (I have found myself living in my floral design for most of the summer), I had to think carefully about what plus-size shoppers need from a dress.
I know that dresses can be generous in silhouette, so I am not always restricted to those few that are actually in my size. Searching for kaftan-style or even just oversized options, and going into stores to examine the shape has proved fruitful in my search for dresses that may not have been specifically made for me. For example, a lot of high street retailers have a high summer rotation of oversized dresses, including a tie-dye tunic from Zara (£69.99) that I recently tried on in store and, to my surprise, walked away with.
Online is a more perilous battlefield to navigate unless you have already had a touchpoint with the brand and know how their sizing tends to run.
I know that The Frankie Shop is typically generous in its sizing, so I didn’t hesitate to add its oversized shirt dress (€245, or about £210) to my basket. Understanding brands, and knowing that sizing isn’t always as straightforward as what you see on the hangar, led me to find a dress that became my “made it” moment. It is a butter-yellow satin, floor-length Bernadette dress (£815), which was a size 14 and still fit my size 24 body.
The Fashion Awards are the biggest red-carpet fashion event of the year in the UK and, by virtue of my job as a fashion journalist, I have been fortunate enough to attend many times. However, in previous years I have never walked the red carpet. I never deemed myself, or my dress, worthy of standing in front of a wall of photographers and holding my head and shoulders as if I belong with all of the other brilliantly and beautifully dressed attendees.
That was until last December, when I wore that yellow Bernadette dress and felt – perhaps for the first time in my life – that I was as worthy of being in that heralded space as everyone else. The dress was cut so that a sliver of shoulder was on show, it drifted over my shape rather than clinging to it, it nipped in under my arm so that it still gave me an element of shape, and the colour received more compliments that I could count.
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On a side note, if you’re looking to dip into the mellow butter-yellow trend, Never Fully Dressed has whipped up a dress (£129) that is size-inclusive and ideal for any and all summer soirees.
Don’t get me wrong – I still stumbled and fumbled on the red carpet, and barely took a breath as I heard the shutters of cameras clicking (in shock that they were pointing at me), but in that dress I felt good. Good enough to take up space, good enough to walk through the world carefree, good enough to walk through previously unopened doors, and good enough to belong.