Festival Fashion Timeline by New Look

This summer I will be attending my first ever festival, with just over three weeks until Wireless Festival I am in the process of choosing my outfits and have been having a little look at festival fashion over the years to get some inspiration.

Depending on what type of festival it is you are attending the fashion can be slightly different, New Look have put together this really interesting Festival Fashion Timeline which you can see above, it shows so many different styles within the 'festival fashion' genre.  It was so interesting to see how the festival trend has stayed similar over the decades but still with the same inspiration behind all the outfits.

I have been looking at denim shorts, midi skirts, printed joggers, fringing, floral prints, neon and tribal prints the most but there is so many different options making the final choice is proving to be really difficult.  I am excited to see how the outfits come together, of course I will be sharing them with you so keep an eye out for them!

What key festival trends do you think I couldn't ignore?

Just a few days ago I made a rather large online order from one of my favourite high street fashion stores , New Look, it was lucky that I had a good amount of vouchers to use up or I would have a very sorry looking bank account.

I needed a major overhaul in my wardrobe as nearly everything I owned was either black, white or navy, it was becoming repetitive and I was beginning to enjoy clothes less. Whilst I was double checking my basket there was a very obvious pattern in the colours I had chosen, more than half of them were pastels.  This is not a bad thing as pastels are always great for spring and summer but I was surprised that these were the colour choices I was drawn to as I'm not one to stray away from what I'm used to.

All that talk of finding the perfect little black dress for your shape wasn't for nothing you know, It has taken a lot of dresses for me to decide which suit me best, this outfit was one from along the quest, this girls is, The Perfect Maxi Dress.

I bought this way back in September 2013 and it actually became my Birthday dress but worn more recently on my visit to the Sofitel Essouira, Morocco.  I have only worn it twice and each time I have felt amazing wearing it,  Sexy, Feminine and understated.  It's from the Tokyo Doll range available at New Lookand is now in the sale so you can snap it up for half the price I did.

I bought this in a size 16 as the range does not exceed this but luckily it fits me well and I think the 18 would have been too big around the upper body.  Its quite fitted around the bust, still with plenty room to move around comfortably, I didn't feel restricted at all.  I like that the sleaves are the main feature of this dress its very glamourous but in a sophisticated way.  When I wore it this time I chose a belt, also from New Look to pull me in at the waist slightly but the dress is fitted so a belt is not essential.  The underskirt is the only thing I am not a massive fan of on this dress, it is extremely short and does not stay put, its so floaty It just flys up at any given opportunity.  I wear shapewear with this dress which sits lower than the underskirt so I don't experience any embarrassing flashes.  I do love that it is shorter than the see through outer skirt, I love that I give the illussion of having my legs on show whilst still having that protective layer to cover my upper thighs.  The length is perfect to show off my ankles, with my ankles being on show and my legs being politely exposed it definitley creates the illusion of longer legs, which is always flattering.

I mentioned Shapewear above, until I get myself to a gym for some much needed toning up, this will be my best friend.  The shapewear I chose to wear a full body slip that allows me to wear my own bra, it works perfectly to create flatter, bum, tum and thighs, all the areas that could do with a bit of toning.  I wore my Freya Deco Moulded Plunge Bra set as it is very simple and gave me the smooth silhoette that I needed when wearing this dress and the knickers create no visable panty line.

This is one of my favourite outfits for a special occassion so will definitley be looking at more dresses in this style, I think they are so flattering.

More photographs of this outfit are available on my Facebook Page Button's Blog, so feel free to have a look at them :)

Ladies, don't we spend at least half of our lives searching for the perfect Little Black Dress to suit our body shapes, okay that was a slight exaggeration but it sure feels like it sometimes.  Everytime I trail the high street looking for a new dress I always try to get something with a bit of colour and purchase from a different high street store, the success rate for this is currently non existent.  I always end up back in the store I can trust, New Look and in a colour I can trust, black.  When they contacted me to get involved with part of their latest campaign The Little Black Dress I accepted without a second thought. 

The little black dress is an iconic part of fashion, everyone knows what the letters  LBD stand for and every lady I know has one in her wardrobe.  The great thing about a little black dress is the style can be completely personalised to everyone's unique body shapes.  I have a couple of outfit posts coming up very soon with two of my favourite LBD's ever, very soon, you will not be surprised to know one of them is from New Look.  However today I want to share with you my most admired pieces, from my favourite high street store at the moment, as the ones I have are sadly no longer available online or in store.  By pushing the boundaries as to what shapes suits each body type, I have discovered four dress styles from the New Look Inspire SS14 range, that I feel are very versatile.

I just want to put it out there that from much deliberation and research I believe I have an hourglass figure.  I have come to this conclusion as my body is in quite good proportion large bust, large bum and thighs and smaller waist and décolletage.  I am slightly above the UK average size 14-16. Ranging from a 14-16-18 on top with a 38F bust and a 16-18-20 on my bottom half but it completely depends on where I am shopping.

 The Skater Dress is one of my favourite styles of dresses, the fitted waist and skirt that flares out into an A-line silhouette (reminiscent of a figure skating outfit—hence the name!), are just so flattering on my shape and comfortable to wear.  I like that they extenuate my waist, magically making my chest look more lifted and hide my problem tummy area whilst sitting just below my bottom.  Sometimes the length of skater dresses can be a little too short for me and everytime I bend down you can just about see my bum, although slightly cheeky I always have tights on so it doesn't look ridiculous and I am decently covered.  They say Skater Dresses are best suited to pear shapes or tall ladies but I love the way these sit on me, I would say they are suitable for all body shapes.

Now this one makes me feel slightly less comfortable, the Mini Dress.  Only recently have I even considered wearing a dress of this shape because all you ever read is that Mini Dresses are for small and petite woman, two things I have never been.  Well I disagree, give me a good piece of shape wear and I'll gladly get into one of these tighter shapes.  A Mini Dress with long sheer sleeves was my outfit of choice on Christmas Eve 2013 and I felt so feminine, sexy and sophisticated, yes you can be all three of these things at the same time,  don't worry I will be featuring it here in the future.

Emma Millard from Meet the Millards  was the lady who convinced me to try a Swing Dress for the first time, she wears a lot of these on her you tube channel and always looks so well put together and her curvy shape is dressed to perfection.  Being honest when I seen these on the high street I used to just walk past them, expecting them to make my curvy figure look shapeless.  It was a welcome surprise the day I eventually tried one on, they are incredibly flattering on my least favourite areas, bum, tum and thighs.  Swing Dresses are normally recommended to those with more of an apple body shape but I have seen them on many different shapes and sizes and love how flattering they are on.

Maxi Dresses are 'my thing' at the moment, especially this type that the creators behind the Inspire Plus Size Range have embraced.  Normally I wouldn't count a Maxi dress as a classic Little Black Dress but because these have the tighter under layer and a sheer outer layer I think they can pass for one.  I wore one very similar, from the Tokyo Doll range available from New Look, last weekend as I enjoyed a couple of days luxury break at Sofitel Essouira, Morocco.  I felt like a modern day Grecian goddess with a tiny bit of sex appeal but appropriately covered being in a Muslim country.  More commonly shorter girls with boyish figures suit Maxi Dresses the most as it gives the illusion of a more feminine silhouette.  The sheer long outer fabric of this dress makes it much more suitable for most body shapes, making shape of Maxi Dresses are the perfect in my opinion, I hope they stay on trend for a while.

I now have the difficult task of which dress I should choose to spend my vouchers on, Which one of these dresses catch your eye the most?