This site will remain with all the old posts and lovely comments, but from now on please update your links:
http://www.pocketrocketfashion.com/
xx!
Pocket Rocket Fashion has moved
July 8, 2010Be Right Back…
July 8, 2010Currently switching over servers to showcase my fab new layout. Exciting!
Fall Couture 2010 – So Far…
July 7, 2010When couture gets it right, it’s everything I love about high fashion – outlandish, crazy, exceptional handiwork. Because everything is individually made designers get much more artistic freedom than ready to wear. And, it also means there’s no size limit. If you had the money everything you see below could be yours, no matter what size you are. (Yes, really!)
There are basically no words for Galliano’s latest. It’s just fantastic. The little picture here does no justice at all, so I suggest you head over to Jezebel who has the pictures in glorious high-res.
Givenchy was exceptional and breathtaking in a completely different way. Completely intricate and detailed, the collection had been reduced to 10 pieces.
Armani Privé’s collection felt a little more standard RTW fayre to me, but it was still sumptuous. I love the caped suit and 40’s glamour feel of it all.
I’m not particularly keen much of this collection, but since fashion tends to follow everything LOLerfeld does then it’s good to keep an eye. The cropped jacket/knee-length silhouette is pretty interesting – I reckon we’ll be seeing a lot of that on the high street soon. Plus size retailers, please take note!
Anything that catches your eye?
Simply Be plus model competition!
July 5, 2010Hey all, just a quick bit of news from me for those of you interested in the modelling and glamourous side of fashion!
You may have seen on the twitter or blogosphere today but if not: Simply Be are hosting an extensive model search with all kinds of glamourous goodies and the potential to go on the books of 12+ Model Management. Exciting, no? The best thing about it for me is that there is no upper size limit. I’ll repeat that: there is no upper size limit! Anyone who’s seen Velvet D’Amour or Rosie Mercado understands that you can be a fantastic model at an extremely large size and it’s great that a retailer understands this too.
For more details on how to apply check out the Simply Be site here.
So, who fancies giving it a shot? Let me know if you apply, I’d love to hear how it goes!
Lauren’s Top 5 – Summer Sales
June 29, 2010Greetings from a transitional layout-ed Pocket Rocket… Will hopefully be getting a sleek and neat new layout soonish.
Today’s post is brought to you with the following (paraphrased – the mag got thrown away) quote from Celebs on Sunday magazine this week:
Any woman can wear my designs, no matter their size, shape or colour. I am very proud that I am one of the few designers who can say that.
Guess who? None other than Julien MacLOLand, bitches! I’m assuming if you’re a size 14 wearing one of his designs in a room full of 8s, you better get the hell out?
Anyway… It’s summer sale time! In no particular order here are my picks – click on the images to be taken to the website. Happy shopping!
Note that you can get an additional 10% off orders over £40 using the code EVPOCKET until 6th July!
FYI: Very’s South range goes up to size UK24. So Fabulous! Is for sizes UK16 – UK32.
Goddamn, I need a job. What are you ladies buying in the sales?
Sonsi Full Figured Fashion Week
June 25, 2010Hey everyone!
The Good…
Evans have reactivated my discount code – EVPOCKET – hurrah! This means if you spend £40 you get 10% off – AND, they have a sale on at the moment so get spending! Offer ends 6th July.
Also, I was lucky enough to be sent some lovely pieces from Torrid which I am going to feature very, very soon. There is one dress that I am utterly in love with and stomped around in all day yesterday!
The Bad…
I also have some super sad news: I’m unfortunately not able to make it to the YFF Conference next month. I am properly, utterly upset about this (I was going to represent the UK! Like in Eurovision or the Olympics!) but my life had to come first, and it’s in a bit of a mess right now. However, the fabulous Nicolette is taking my place, and I’m going to get up at a silly hour in the morning to live chat with everyone at the meet and greet. It really is going to be a fantastic event, I can’t wait to see it all unfold.
And the fabulous…
Speaking of awesome plus sized events, the second Sonsi Full Figured Fashion Week took place in NYC, yay! It gained a lot more media exposure this time around, with articles on the NY Times and Jezebel. Naturally, straight sized fashion fans derided and scorned the event, but I honestly believe the plus sized fashion industry is only just starting to veer into more adventurous territory.
From what I’ve seen of the photos there has been a definite improvement on last year, however I still felt it was a little hit and miss for me. That said, here are a couple of my highlights from the runway:
All images copyright Xtina @ http://musingsofafatshionista.com
L-R: Chan.nel Karama; Susan Moses; Monif C; Pheline
Obviously so much more went on than that! A few of my favourite plus bloggers attended and have given extensive write ups – it sounds amazing, check them out:
Musings of a Fatshionista
Garner Style
Fat Shopaholic
Curvy Fashionista
Les Petriries de Vanoue
The best bit though? Runway News has videos of all the shows here. It’s so much better to see the clothes in motion, as strange as that sounds. Here is the Susan Moses collection:
All in all I think it’s great to see this kind of event happening. What do you all think about the designs? I so wish we could do one over here, it would be awesome!
2 x OOTDs – Yes, Really!
June 14, 2010…Because you miss my mug, right? These pics are special as they were taken by my lovely mum in our garden – so obviously I couldn’t get too Vogue. Apologies for the picture quality – you can click on the images to get the full size versions…
Lace overlay Dress: Simply Be
Shoes: New Look
Necklace: Wee Sparrow
I’ve been buying clothes from Simply Be since I was a teenager, so I was super excited when they contacted me – they sent me this gorgeous dress I’d been eyeing for ages, from their Frock’n’Frill range. Frock’n’Frill is my favourite range in Simply Be at the moment though they have collections by Mica Paris, Anna Scholz and Joe Browns. Unfortunately while the dress was the perfect length on Valerie and a smidgen too short on Dee, I had to lop a good few inches off the bottom! But I think it’s the perfect length now, and I love it so much. It fits like a dream! The shoes are also wonderful:
Vintage style courts from New Look’s Wide Fit section.
I recently won my first ever competition = $50 worth of jewellery from Wee Sparrow – I didn’t even realise I’d entered! But I chose some lovely necklaces and this is one of them.
Dress: ASOS Curve
Heels: Evans
Words cannot express how much I love this dress. I love the fact that ASOS Curve had the balls to make it in the first place – not only do you have the outrageous ruffle, but both the front and back are fully ruched -the detailing is incredible. And you know what? It’s made of thick jersey knit, making it one of the most comfortable dresses I own. I have no idea when I’ll get to wear it in public but I’ll make an occasion if I have to!
Also, on the subject of ASOS Curve you should definitely check out the lovely Vanessa‘s blog – she’s their fit model and has really opened my eyes to the laborious processes retailers go through. Though I feel she should be their actual model as well as the fit model, she’s stunning!
Totally in love with these shoes – again, not only do they look fab, they’re really comfortable! A++, ASOS Curve & Evans!
Lauren’s Top 5
June 10, 2010
Here’s my rundown of favourite fashion-y things this week:
Courtesy of Evans' Fashion Fix
I am super impressed with what Evans are coming up with lately, and these pictures are no exception. It all looks so luxurious and glam – that fake fur coat WILL be mine!
2. The (admittedly rather glum) plus model at GFW
Courtesy of Christopher Moore - http://www.catwalking.com
Tokenism it may well be, and I may not be too keen on the outfit – but cheer up love, you look hot, and Onez Lau thinks so too! Graduate Fashion Week ended today, and a proper post about it is coming soon. I found it completely inspirational, and obviously, a bit bonkers.
3. THAT dress from ASOS Curve
YES, YES, YES!!!! Judging by the reaction to this dress and the amount of people I’ve seen buying it there really is a market for striking and edgy plus size fashion, despite craven retailers’ cries of the contrary. I’ve also bought this dress – it’s beautiful, and something as adventurous as this needs to be bought. We have to vote with our wallets, people!
4. Definatalie‘s pattern upgrade
The ever-amazing Natalie has taken a straight sized tea-dress pattern from BurdaStyle and attempted to scale up for larger sizes, and is looking for people to road test them. Go for it!
5. Simply Be‘s knitted black tunic
I’m especially interested in this as I wore a similar dress in a straight size in Topshop for my Vogue Curvy vlog a couple of weeks back. I understand that it’s harder for ladies of a bigger dress size than myself to walk into a store like Topshop and make things work – however Simply Be go from a UK12 – UK32, meaning anyone can get in on the action, you just need an obnoxious feather cape!
Fantastic Advertorial or Fantastic Tokenism?
June 5, 2010ETA: The gorgeous Amy has alerted me to the fact that this is part of an entire issue that uses ordinary men in their photos as opposed to models, so this isn’t quite as simple as one big guy in a magazine. I’m going to try and hunt it down and see for myself.
Courtesy of Black Book (bbook.com)
I have mixed feelings about it. First of all yes, I’m super pleased that a hot, husky dude is being used in a high fashion spread like this. But I am also aware that it is definitely tokenism, and doesn’t signal any specific change in the fashion industry the way plus sized female models are. It’s also worth noting that Fantastic Man is very much an avant garde magazine, and deviates from the fashion norm where possible. That’s not a bad thing at all – I’ve had the pleasure of reading through older copies and it’s a wonderful magazine – but at the same time, it’s never going to have the global reach of Glamour’s Lizzie Miller photo, for example. There’s nothing to be read into the photos – it is just a model who happens to be bigger than most.
But you know, variety is variety, and I am pleased that there is a spread out there featuring a bigger fella. I’ve noted for a while that male plus sized fashion is severely under represented in the fatshion blogging world, when there are definitely bigger guys who are as into expressing themselves fashionably as all of us. And from what I’ve seen, the choices for bigger mens’ fashion are absolutely dire. A few fellas spring to mind, such as my friend Dan Huntley, Nick A.K.A Mr Definatalie and the occassional sartorially daring big guy on Lookbook who manage to dress awesomely despite this conundrum.
What do you all think? And more importantly, if you’re a bigger fella who likes fashion, I’d love to hear from you! Send your (or your boyfriends/friends/husbands’) outfit pictures to lauren.darling at hotmail.co.uk (clothes on, please) and I’ll do a post showing how cool and fashionable you all are.
Topshop part II – Vogue Curvy edition!
May 28, 2010After a few months of keeping schtum I can finally come clean to you all: I’ve been lucky enough to join the ranks of Gabi, Sakina and Nicolette by vlogging for Vogue Curvy! Oh my god it feels so good to say it loud and proud, haha! You can click the image to go to the page:
Look, that's me! On a Vogue website! Ridiculous!
To view the video make sure you select “Italian” in the drop down box on the top left of the page to view the video, as there’s an issue with the English language one. That’s being fixed as we speak though.
Oh, and I really really apologise for my hair – it was literally the hottest day of the year and my normally quite well behaved hair couldn’t cope at ALL. I do actually own a brush, I swear!
The point of these videos is to show that plus size women don’t have to be scared of going into straight sized stores, and that you are able to find stuff that suits anywhere. As you guys know I am only just starting out on my journey, so I’m pretty much learning as I go along. If you have any questions about the film do ask!
Love you all! xx
Pocket Rocket 