cardigan | Frocks & Frou Frou

The plus size striped dress from 17 Sundays

Hands up who knows what bodycon stands for?

Yeah, me neither.

I mean, I know what it IS: a item of apparel that fits close to the body. Dresses and skirts particularly that are usually very stretchy, and very tight.

I’ve never owned a bodycon dress before, but I like the idea behind them because it seems to stands for everything that I like to think I do at Frocks and Frou Frou: No camouflage, no fading into the background, it’s unapologetic and lets the wearer say “hey, this is me, this is the shape that I am, and I’m proud of it”.

Apparently, bodycon stands for “Body Conscious”, which I suppose makes sense, but when you’re a little larger than the average girl on the street you’ve probably got plenty of self conscious awareness about your body already anyway, right? Personally, I always thought bodycon stood for “Body Confidence”, and I think I’m going to stick to that.

This dress is the Body Con Stripe dress from Australian company 17 Sundays and it’s available, with FREE and super-fast shipping, as part of The Iconic‘s exciting new range of plus-size labels.

I was really thrilled to hear that The Iconic had started stocking a range of fashion in larger sizes, because it provides a great one-stop-shop where you can find a number of the best Australian indie labels like Harlow, 17 Sundays, Embody Denim, Hope & Harvest and more. They have free Express shipping Australia-wide, and I know a few people in Sydney who’ve ordered from them in the morning and had their package by the afternoon (!) Impulse shopping for the win!

I haven’t tried anything from 17 Sundays in the past, but The Iconic did a wonderful interview with them last year for their in-house blog where Claire Primrose – one of the founders of the label – said this:

“we don’t really subscribe to dressing for your body shape. 17 Sundays is about confidence and style, if you feel amazing in an outfit, if you feel bulletproof and sexy then it’s the right look for you.“

Yes.

I was keen to try this dress, after seeing both Suger and Dani rocking it on their blogs, and I must say… it does not disappoint.

It’s a really sturdy stretch jersey with bold black and white stripes. The elbow-length sleeves are a versatile length, and the dress can be layered over opaque tights or skinny-leg jeans for more or a tunic look.

If you’re not comfortable with the tight fitting nature of the dress, then it’s a great item for layering UNDER, too.

I often wear tight dresses under long open cardigans, and the 17 Sundays Hooded Drape Jacket teams with it perfectly.

The cardigan’s made of a similar dense stretchy jersey, and I love that the sleeves are long enough to cover my wrists (I think I must have very long arms, because most tops end up at bracelet length on me). It fits slim around the shoulders and arms, not you’re not covered by lots of bulky fabric, but it’s open with extra fabric at the front, giving a drapey waterfall effect that doesn’t photograph particularly well.

It’s just long enough at the back to cover my bum without overwhelming the bold graphic stripes of the dress, and my favourite feature?

The hood.

Shirt: Princess Highway

Cardigan: Crossroads

Skirt: Portmans

Shoes: Chie Mihara

Today’s remix project is my little secret when it comes to button-up-blouses.

Princess Highway and my all-time-favourite cardigan suppliers Friends of Couture are sister companies, and both have an aesthetic that appeals the the preppy, vintage-loving square that I really am. Cardigans and buttons and peter pan collars and polkadots. Yum!

I live just near Brunswick Street at the moment, and almost every day I walk past the Princess Highway flagship store, which can be agony. The skirts and dresses are little too short for my personal taste, but the blouses and cardigans often leaving me yearning.

But yearning’s all I ever do, because the top size at Princess Highway is a 14, and there’s no way a size 14 will encompass the Rack Of Doom. Open cardigans & stretchy t-shirts, maybe. Blouses and shirts? No.

I saw this, most gorgeous, cream blouse in the window a few weeks ago, and I couldn’t resist. I figured as long as the 14 would fit my shoulders, I might be able to perform my favourite remix, the “gapectomy”, and then it could be mine!

What’s the gapectomy? It’s a necessary alteration that I do to 99% of my button-up wardrobe. AKA, the sew-the-front-trick that anyone with a big bust should embrace.

See, this is the Princess Highway blouse BEFORE the Gapectomy:

Boo to you, boobs! Why won’t you let me have nice things?

And this is the same blouse, a quick five minute remix project later:

Yay! Buxom, but modest.

It’s pretty self explanatory, but here’s what you do:

1. Button your blouse up and make sure you can actually pull it on and off without undoing it. There’s no point in sewing up the front of something if it makes it unwearable! If you’re working with a narrow neckline unbutton it until the point where you can fit your head through the hole, then make a note of how many buttons need to stay functional.

2. Set your sewing machine up with thread that closely matches the fabric, and adjust the needle so that it’s closest to the side that the buttons are on. For instance – I buttoned the right side of the blouse over the left, so I had to move the needle as far to the left of the foot as I could.

3. Take your time, sew smoothly and straight down from the collar (or the highest button that you can keep fastened up and still put the shirt over your head) to the bottom of the shirt. Try and sew as closely to edge as you can.

4. And you’re done! No more gapeage!

Frocks & Frou Frou

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Remix: Shhhhirt