Barratts Wide Fit Wellington Boots

With the recent bad weather here in England, my thoughts have turned to appropriate waterproof footwear, and specifically Wellington boots.  I haven't owned a pair of Wellies since I was a child - I haven't really had the need to as I don't tend to go on lengthy walks in the wet.  I will either stay inside, travel by car or just put up with getting wet if it rains when I'm already out and about!!  But, the weather has been so bad lately, with snow, sleet, hail and rain, that I have been thinking about getting some Wellies to keep my feet dry.


A few weeks ago, I was offered the chance to try out some Wellies from Barratts.  I jumped at the chance and ordered a pair of Union Jack-embellished boots.  The boots I ordered from Barratts are no longer available but they are similar in shape to these:

Image courtesy of Barratts

Principles by Ben de Lisi at Debenhams Mac

I have always struggled to find a raincoat that works for me.  Either the waist is enormous but the bust fits well, or the bust area is too small but fits on the waist.  And what about the hip area?  Just as troublesome - either the buttons pull it too tight or there is a ridiculous amount of surplus fabric.

I have tried many different brands of macs over the years but had yet to find anything that worked for me, or that I really wanted to buy.

That is, until February this year when I attended Plus London Two and met the gorgeous Lorna.  She was wearing the most breathtaking coat I had ever seen - a Principles by Ben de Lisi mac.

Image courtesy of The Ginger Peardrop

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Debenhams 'Gorgeous' Lingerie

Debenhams' own lingerie brand, Gorgeous, is a great option for larger busted ladies.

Image courtesy of Debenhams

M & Co Dresses: Summer 2012

Ok ok...so it's rather late in the season to be posting 'summer' dress reviews.  But I wanted to share these with you as examples of some of the great things high street and online retailer M & Co have on offer.

I visited the Tenterden store a little while ago and received excellent customer service from Charlotte who was looking after the changing rooms at the time.  She was sweet and helpful and even paid me compliments on the dresses I was trying on, bless her!

I tried on a variety of dresses, none of which are available on the website any more so I am afraid I can't link to them.

(Sandals from Evans) 

10 Years of Gorgeous Lingerie at Debenhams

You'd be forgiven for thinking I'm having a bit of a love-in with Debenhams at the moment.  I've featured their swimwear on here and written about how they are now stocking Elomi lingerie in selected stores, all in the past couple of weeks.

Well, if a retailer does good things, we should shout about it, right?  Certainly people are often all too quick to criticise so I think it's crucial to make a big fuss when something good happens.

And Debenhams have a lot to celebrate at the moment, especially with their own brand 'Gorgeous' lingerie celebrating its 10th birthday this year!

Elomi arrives at Debenhams

Fantastic news, lingerie fans!  

Plus-sized lingerie brand Elomi have joined forces with high street giants Debenhams in order for their ranges to be sold in selected stores as well as online.  This decision was taken following customer research which revealed that the majority of plus-sized women do all their clothes/lingerie shopping online.  On top of this, many believed that fashionable lingerie sets are not available in larger sizes.  (Interestingly, just today I was having a conversation with a friend on Twitter about Elomi and said friend wasn't aware that they had such a wide range of sizes available!)

Bra shopping for a friend - Debenhams Gorgeous range

I admit it.  I am obsessed with helping people to find bras that fit them properly.  Since I discovered Ewa Michalak and the effect that well-fitting bras have given me, I have been subtly (...and sometimes not so subtly...) trying to spread the word amongst friends, family and even strangers.


I was fortunate enough to go shopping a few weeks ago with someone I have known for many years.  For her anonymity I will call her Liz.  Liz is in her early 60s and has always worn a 36 band - and sometimes even a 38 - despite never being any more than a 34 at the absolute most.  On top of this, she wore only soft-cup, wire free bras, in C or D cups.  I wouldn't say she ever looked bad in her bras but on occasion I have thought that she could do with a bit more support for better shape/uplift and for her own comfort.


This is what she looked like in her 36C soft cup bra:

(Note how she was wearing the band on the tightest hooks - I must admit that I felt rather smug when I saw this!!)


I have mentioned to Liz a few times over the past year or so that her bra might be the wrong size.  It's always a tricky subject to tackle because people often take it personally when you suggest to them that they might be wearing too big a band and too small a cup.  I have found it can be simpler to start off telling my own tale of bra-fitting, how I used to wear bras with too big a back and too small a cup and how my life has been changed for the better since I have fitted myself properly.


Unfortunately my attempts to broach the subject did not go down too well and when I said I usually wear a very tight (Polish) 34 or even a 32 band I was met with a look of incredulity and disbelief.  I know Liz has always thought me to be significantly larger than her so it must have been quite a shock to hear that I was wearing bras with smaller bands than hers.


Some time after this, we went shopping together.  I tried on a top which she thought was lovely on me so she tried one too.  We stood side by side in the changing room, gazing at our reflection.  Although I am fuller-figured than Liz, the top actually looked much better on me because I was wearing a bra that fitted properly and gave my breasts uplift and shape.  I didn't say so at the time but we did have a discussion about how she'd need a different bra if she decided to buy the top as her soft cup bra came up too high on her décolletage and showed underneath the top (which wasn't even particularly low cut).  Suffice to say that I bought the top...and she didn't.


Finally, a month or so later, Liz contacted me to invite me shopping again and to challenge me to find some new WIRED bras for her.  I was so excited I almost cried!  I told her that I wanted to put her in a smaller band and asked her to send me her measurements so I could do some research beforehand using bra size calculators such as this.


My investigations found that she should be wearing a 30GG/H bra.  However I knew this would scare the living daylights out of her, having worn 36C/D for so long, so I decided we'd start with 32Gs and go from there.


I felt it would be best to start off in Debenhams as they had a wide range of own brand and named brand bras available in a good selection of sizes.  As it turned out, we didn't get any further than Debenhams as many of the bras Liz tried were on offer and therefore even more appealing!


We picked a range of styles and designs from the countless racks of bras that were available to us and headed for the changing rooms.  I avoided making eye contact with the salesperson as I did not want her to try to talk us in to getting 'measured'.  We chose a cubicle and I handed Liz her bras, not wanting to invade her privacy by assuming I would be joining her.  However Liz insisted I must go in with her as she wanted me to adjust the straps etc and show her how to put the bras on properly.  I was so flattered by this!


Well, we had so much fun trying on what must have been over a dozen different bras.  Every so often, I would scamper out of the changing rooms to get another selection of styles and sizes.  Some were almost instantly discarded because they were too big/small or the wrong style/shape.  I even managed to get Liz to try on a 30GG - she agreed that it looked better than the 32Gs we had been working with so far but she said it was too tight for her at the moment.  Fair enough - I was not about to force her into something that she was not happy with and in the end she went away with four lovely new Debenhams own brand bras, all in 32G.

(Note again how Liz has fastened many of these bras on the second or tightest hooks - 30GG here we come!!)


Like many women, Liz has one breast which is slightly larger than the other.  By scooping and shuffling when she first puts the bra on, she would be able to minimise this but as we were in a hurry to take the photos (more on this a bit later) she didn't get the chance to do it here.


Due to wearing ill-fitting soft cup bras for decades, Liz has a reasonable amount of migrated breast tissue along her sternum.  Her breasts have started to merge in the middle and that caused us one or two issues when finding a good fit with wired cups as some of them had a centre gore that cut in quite significantly.  I have encouraged Liz to do the scooping and shuffling method when she puts her new bras on and to re-adjust herself several times a day in order to ensure best fit and comfort and hopefully encourage the re-migration of the breast tissue.


Liz's breasts sit rather low on her chest - this is partly due to nature taking its course but also again the ill-fitting soft cup bra hasn't helped.  Some of the pictures above might look as though Liz is wearing her new bras a bit too low but I have encouraged her to pull the wires under her breasts as much as possible and to again adjust this throughout the day when she can.


Finally, it's worth noting that these pictures were taken very hurriedly before Liz's husband got home.  I hadn't set out to write a blog post about our day but Liz very kindly agreed to let me take some pictures of her for this purpose so we tried to take the snaps as quickly as possible.  Therefore, we did not have time to scoop and shuffle or do any adjustment with Liz's new bras before we took the photos so please do not judge too much from them!  They really do fit her very well indeed - apart from the band being a little on the large side.


The other day, I saw Liz for the first time since our bra shopping spree.  She said she was utterly thrilled with her new bras and had even bought herself a couple of other ones (this time from M&S) in her new size 32G.  Her face lit up when she was talking about them so I know she has fallen in love with having bras that fit properly every bit as much as me.  I can't wait to go bra shopping with her again very soon :-)

Shapewear: Maidenform vs Debenhams

One of my friends recently made the mistake of telling me there was a 15% off deal at Debenhams online.  I LOVE a bargain so of course I immediately scurried off and placed a huge order (whoops).


One of the many things I ordered was shapewear.  On a day-to-day basis I wear Matalan shapewear tights or their high-waisted shorts.  However I sometimes find that these items roll down when worn over an extended period of time so I have been keeping an eye out for something similar but with over-arm straps to stop the roll-down.

Debenhams Gorgeous lingerie range

I recently went a bit crazy and placed a huge order for Debenhams Gorgeous lingerie.

(Don't forget that if you buy anything from Debenhams you can get Nectar points.  Just make sure you route through to Debenhams from Nectar and then complete your purchase(s) in the same browser window.  Yay!)