Slippery character...

I've been a bit busy lately, so apologies for the lack of dress action! I am wearing a dress today, so a photo will follow later.

But in the meantime, I thought I'd talk about the wonder that is the humble slip. Yes, the sort of thing you might imagine someone's granny wearing. Before I bought mine (M&S, black, and reversible so that you can either have a plain V front or a lacy front) I had all sorts of problems wearing dresses with tights - if the dress wasn't lined (or sometimes even if it was) it would stick to my tights and ride up and generally look unattractive. But wearing the slip underneath stops all of that, and it gives an extra layer which is useful in winter and for wearing short-sleeved dresses in spring when the weather's not quite as warm as you think it ought to be. It's also an instant solution for low-cut dresses. In fact, it was the fact that I now have a slip that inspired me to wear the dress I have on today, which is a brown polkadot tea dress in that sort of jersey fabric that has a tendency to cling. Clinging is not good in my book (it shows up the lumps and bumps) but chucking a slip on underneath means that the dress keeps its shape and doesn't grab onto my tights and cling to my hips and stomach. I also don't have to keep pulling my dress down as I'm walking along, which was another problem with this particular dress.

So there you have it - everyone should go out and buy a slip!

Sunday party dress

Dress: Primark
Tights: M&S
Shoes: Clarks
Necklace: Lucy Lockett Loves

I had a book launch to go to on Sunday evening, with a 'smart casual' dress code - I hate it when invitations say 'smart casual'! What does it mean? So I went with this - one of my current favourite dresses. The tights are actually navy blue, although that doesn't show up in the photo, and I had planned to get a navy blue belt to tie the whole thing together (and stop it looking like I'd just grabbed the wrong pair of tights) but typically I couldn't find a nice navy blue belt anywhere, so I went beltless and gave a nod to the navy blue with my gorgeous Alice in Wonderland necklace instead.

A Saturday dress

Dress: Warehouse
Tights: M&S

I got this dress a couple of years ago in the Warehouse sale. I still really like it, but it's sort of gone out of fashion a bit now and that's why I stopped wearing it. It's lovely for a lazy Saturday doing nothing, though!

Friday's dress...

Dress: Primark
Tights: M&S
Shoes: Shelly's

This is one of my favourite outfits at the moment! I love the dress - it fits so nicely and it's very forgiving! And the colour is one of my favourite colours (as you can probably tell from that bit of curtain you can see in the photo). You can just about see my leopard-print flat shoes, too - I got them ages ago and they're incredibly comfortable and go with all sorts of things! I'm currently on the lookout for a similar pair to replace them when they finally give up the ghost...

Thursday's dress...

Dress: New Look
Cardie: Dorothy Perkins
Tights: M&S

For some strange reason, even though it has sequins and it's mainly black, I end up feeling like a bit of a scruff in this dress. Maybe it's because I have to do layers with it - I'm wearing a slip underneath, from M&S, and at this time of year I definitely needed a cardie too, and I suppose that makes it feel a bit ungainly!

I was going to wear this dress today...

...but my day has been spent at home, waiting for a man to come and fit a new gas meter. He was supposed to be here between 8am and 1pm, so I threw on jeans and a t-shirt and cardie, thinking I'd change into something nicer when I left for work. Unfortunately he still hasn't turned up, so I didn't make it to work and didn't wear my dress! It's all glamour here, really it is.

The dress itself is from Primark - I like to think it's one of those Primark items that doesn't immediately scream 'cheap'! They take a bit of finding, those, but it's worth trawling through the really poor quality 80s throwback stuff because every now and then there's a real gem hiding somewhere!

Better photos of yesterday's dress

A couple of better pics of the dress I wore yesterday - it is a butterfly print, and I've also taken a close-up of the lovely buttons on the front!