Dress, Belt, Shoes: Lane Bryant
This is not exactly the birthday weekend I had planned for myself.
This weekend I was supposed to be enjoying a fantastic, decadent dinner with my girlfriend Lisa, spending a day at Paddington Market, finally meeting Danimezza in person, and celebrating the launch of the Voices 2013 campaign at a fancy cocktail party in Sydney, followed by brunch with my Dad who was planning to drive up from Canberra to spend my birthday with me.
Instead – as you well know if you follow me on Twitter – I’m ensconced in bed after having an unfortunate run-in with a cement floor followed by a trip to the ER.
Le sigh.
To make matters worse, the doctors still aren’t quite sure why I passed out (I’m not pregnant, so just put that out of your mind), but apparently I’m very very lucky to have only done cosmetic damage to myself.
But WHAT cosmetic damage! Holy hell! my eye is a disaster zone, and I’m super self conscious about it, not to mention sore, so instead of my superfunbirthday weekend, I’m having a much more laid-back few days at home being looked after by my brother, my in-laws, and my best friend.
The bruising won’t pass for a few weeks, apparently, so you’re going to get a few wounded-looking outfit posts before things get back to normal, but fortunately I’ve got one or two outfit shots that were taken before The Great Fall.
Luckily for me, my entry for the Lane Bryant “Blog-Off” outfit competition was taken pre-black eye (though I suppose I could have played for sympathy votes!)
As one of the member of the Fashion Front for this year’s Full Figure Fashion Week (and again you guys, thank you so much for your donations!) I was invited to put together a complimentary outfit of top to toe Lane Bryant, to show off the range and versatility of the fashion coming out of one of the oldest and most familiar names in the plus-size fashion industry.
After much, much, MUCH deliberation I decided on the Lace Surplice Dress in an outstandingly hot pink, a patent leather belt and matching peep-toe shoes.
The whole outfit is a summery confection that will be great when I finally hit New York (I’ve been warned that it can get somewhat unbearably hot in summer).
The dress is made from a dense, vaguely geometric cotton lace, and is layered over a contrasting lining of stretch jersey in a bright orange. The dress comes with a grosgrain ribbon sash, which I’m actually wearing in my hair.
Do watch out for the sizes. I don’t have a lot of familiarity with the Lane Bryant brand as they’ve only been shipping internationally for a bit over a year, so I ordered according to size chart. I should sit pretty squarely between a 16 and an 18, but the dress in a size 16 was easily one or even two sizes too big for me. As ever, my recommendation for approaching online stores that you’re not familiar with is to go onto eBay and try to find a similar item from the same store in your size & see what the buyer has said about the measurements.
The larger size for this dress isn’t a big deal, I just hitched the waist a little higher and fastened the belt (which is perfect!) tight. I also pinned the bodice to avoid potential wardrobe malfunctions, and the extra length in the straps meant that I could tie them off at the shoulder, giving the dress a slightly more “sweetheart”-style neckline.
You just wind a little thread around the shoulder straps and tie it off – and if you wind it around your bra strap at the same time it means you won’t accidentally flash your lingerie with the narrower straps.
The belt fits perfectly and seems to be of a good durable quality. It’s nice to see such a big range of styles and colours on the Lane Bryant website.
I’m not a huge fan of sling backs, or of peeptoes, so the shoes were an odd choice for me, but I actually quite like them in person. They’re designed for a wide foot, and fit me perfectly. The patent finish means that they’re easy to dress up or down, and I think it’s nice to have shoes that are quite open for hot summer days. so I expect I’ll get a lot of wear out of these come the warmer months.
The earrings are Lane Bryant also, the braided rhinestone earrings, and are satisfactorily sparkly, adding just a touch of bling to a sunny summer’s day outfit!
Come June the Fashion Front will have the opportunity to meet with some of the Lane Bryant designers, try out the brand’s famous range of Cacique lingerie, and suss out the store’s new flagship NYC store. I’ll be interested to see what else Lane Bryant has on offer, and to get a better idea of my size.
In the meanwhile stay tuned to LB’s Facebook page for the launch of their style-off to see some of the outfits other bloggers have put together. I’ve had a sneak peek at a few of the other entries out there, and there’s some amazing ensembles on offer! (I’m kind of in love with fellow Australian Olivia’s look)
That colour looks amazing with your skin tone! And your poor face!! But at least that’s all you hurt. I hope they find out why you fainted soon. I last fainted in the line for the post office at Christmas – and got “caught” by the guy behind me. SO embarrassing! The shop was packed – and I overheated.
oh my… 🙁
Happy Birthday anyway! I know such events are always happening when you desperately want something else, but pfff…
How is your blood pressure and sugar level? Did the doctors made CT? Maybe you are just overworked or maybe it’s lack of sleep?
Sigh…
Holding thumbs, please take care of yourself!
Love this look! I haven’t shopped at Lane Bryant in ages. When my mom took me to their shop front at the mall when I was in high school was the first time I realized that there was plus-sized clothing that wasn’t neon muumuus. I had the same experience with sizing, though. I was just on the top end of regular sizing – usually fit a 16 – but Lane Bryant’s 16s were a little too big on me.
oh, sweetie, your poor face =( What a lousy birthday present. Hope it heals quickly.
Love this outfit, such a great color for you. I have lots of experience with Lane Bryant (I live in LosAngeles) and they do run pretty large in most everything and have a more “missy” fit than much of the plus size market. Definitely meant more for coverage than for sexy.
heal fast!
You poor thing! Hope you feel better soon. And happy birthday! P.S. – that pink looks great on you 🙂
1) THAT LOOKS AMAZING ON YOU! Color, fit, styling – it’s all so perfect it’s crazy. You need to wear that outfit in NY, to blow The Husband’s mind! 🙂
2) I’m so sorry! Hope you heal fast, & hope you find out the cause. I fainted backwards once onto concrete & got a major concussion, & 10 years later I’m still dealing with after effects of the concussion. Extra healing powers to you, dear!
The colour is beautiful on you. Gorgeous.
Your poor eye! I am so sorry you hurt yourself. Thank goodness you didn’t break anything.
It reminded me of my lovely friend that I used to work with has epilepsy and used to have seizures all the time. He fell at work and broke his jaw on a cupboard. It was truly horrible as I couldn’t stop him from falling….he’s 6’3 and I’m a midget. Worst work day ever.
Please look after yourself sweet lady.
Love you in this dress, absolutely perfect. Get better soon you have to go to New York
Oh dear.
I had a very similar looking black eye following a face plant (mine was totally self inflicted in my younger and sillier days.) and it was easily coverable by end of week 2 ish.
I hope you find the same, meanwhile, you look gorgeous in that hot pink!
Firstly- you look beautiful. I love that colour on you.
Secondly- pregnancy was the first thing I thought of when you said you fainted- so thanks for the confirmation!
Thirdly- 9 times out of 10, there is no apparent reason for a faint, it just happens, particularly in healthy young women. So unless you have more episodes you don’t need to worry.
Fourthly- ow! Black eyes suck 🙁 I face planted in gravel a few years ago. Big hugs xxxx
Wow what a gorgeous outfit- that pink is beautiful on you- makes everything sing! Gorgeous!
Feel better and look fwd to postponed bday celebrations!!
I am so sorry that you had such a mishap, and will be sending prayers your way for quick healing and an answer to medical questions. As for the post, you look absolutely fabulous in that color and I especially love the hairband. Very 1960s and the pink looks stunning against your dark hair. Love it!
Ohmygoodness! That’s terrible – hope you find out the cause soon (my mum had a similar thing happen and it seemed to be exhaustion and over exerting herself – so here’s hoping that’s the case for you too!) The dress is fabulous, that colour is just perfect on you.
Take care!
As in – here’s hoping that’s all that’s wrong, because it’s a lot more easily fixed (sorry – that sounded terrible above!)
Firstly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Secondly, you look lovely! I’ve never heard of Lane Bryant before, but I spent all night looking at the online store!
Lastly, that’s one helluva bruise! I’m so sorry to hear about your fall 🙁 Glad you didn’t hurt yourself more seriously though. Hope you feel better soon xox
Maybe you’ve got a bit of an iron deficiency? That sort of thing can creep up on you slowly because the body has stores of iron and if you aren’t getting enough iron it keeps using the stores until the they run out.
Happy birthday Lili, and I’m so sorry to hear you fainted! That can be scary, and you’ve certainly ended up with a vivid reminder of it 🙁
Feel better soon, but in the meantime revel in this glorious pink dress! You look fantastic!
Great outfit. And a great tip about ebay – although kinda sucky that you get better info off someone reselling on ebay than the actual company.
What a weekend…but there will be other dinners, darling, and you can wear that hot pink dress! Looks like your eye is getting better and better. Lots of love xxx
Lane look great on you! That brand does run slightly larger than other plus sized fashions in America. Sorry to hear about your fall, the same thing happened to me on my birthday last year. Face planted on a marble floor and broke my upper jaw and three of my front teeth:-( after all the test were back the best any one could tell me was that my blood pressure didn’t regulate fast enough when I got up from the table. I guess no news is good news? Love your blog, speedy recovery.
Ohhh that’s a very pretty outfit. Lovely colour on you and the headband makes it! good job you. But really I stopped by (via Did You Make That and the pj sewalong) to say I also passedout…in April. But on a bus. eeeeek! and for no apparent reason. Sadly I hit a handrail thing, and got 6 stitches in my eyebrow to go with my black eye. double eeeeeeeek! I’m a bit afraid of buses now…..:-)