Diesel Chunky Knit Dress

Super chunky knits are filling the highstreet rails faster than ever and all the celebs are wearing them too. For a big statement look, its better to go for a bright colour or bold pattern. That’s why I’ve chosen this one from ASOS. The contrasting blue and red aztec stitching is an instant eye catcher.

It is made by Diesel and has a discreet metal branded disc on one of the cuffs. Knits are strictly for daywear only, so don’t try and pull one off for the evening. Now make sure you balance the oversized top with either skinny jeans or tights on the bottom, and for curvier girls, you should belt up with a waist clincher to create an instant shape. This chunky knit dress will set you back £120.


http://www.fashionchicks.co.uk/category/dresses/

Taffeta Cocktail Dress

A friend of mine wore this gorgeous dress to the National TV Awards yesterday evening and it looks so much better on than it does in this picture. The colour is stunning and the material silky, it has to be the ultimate dress of the season. The colour is more purple than how it appears in the image, much more vibrant and flattering.

The top of the dress is tight like a corset to hold you in firmly and the skirt puffs out slightly from the hips giving the illusion of a tiny waist. That’s what we all like to hear!

Try pairing with some black peep toes, a stylish black cardi and a clutch for that super sexy style. The dress is from Oasis and can be bought on line or in stores for £65 – not bad for such a beauty! Oasis has a fantastic range of purple designs this Autumn/Winter in the form of dresses, jumpers, tights, tops and jackets.



http://www.fashionchicks.co.uk/category/dresses/

Evening Dress

Obviously, none of the above mentioned clothing would be any good for a grand soiree or rout. For an important haut ton event, something truly special was required.

Unlike afternoon dress, for evening it was quite proper to show one's bosom. Indeed, some bodices were so low they were in danger of showing even more. Wide scoop necklines were popular for evening wear, as were low squared necklines and low bodices cut straight across. In some paintings of bodices of this type, it's hard to imagine how the sleeves even attached.

evening gown For evening wear, light fabrics were still favored, but they were richer. Very fine muslin, silk satin, duchesse silk and light taffetas were all popular. Braver, older or married women sometimes wore silk velvet. There was an unspoken dress code for debutantes, which applied as much to evening wear as afternoon dress. Young ladies were expected to wear pastels and white. The more sophisticated, darker colors were off-limits to unmarried misses just out of the schoolroom.

Of course, it's important to remember that dark colors would not show well by candlelight; if one wore black, one would likely disappear! To this end, many dresses utilized metallic trim and glass or crystal beading to catch the light. Short sleeves were often seen in evening dress, but long gloves were a necessity. Above-the-elbow was the preferred length. We often think of gloves as either white or black, but many different colors of kid leather were used, including yellow and blue.

Outerwear for the evening included cloaks, capes and shawls. To my knowledge, spencers and pelisses were never worn with evening dress.


http://www.rakehell.com/article.php?id=387&Title=Introduction-To-Regency-Dress

Afternoon Dress

The term “afternoon dress” can apply to many different types of gowns. In general, any afternoon dress is the opposite of a morning dress: it's meant to be seen. Other than that, the type of situation it was meant to be seen in would dictate its style. During the Regency, light muslins were very popular for afternoon dress. In the first few years of the 19th century, so many young women died after catching a chill or pneumonia due to wearing these light gowns in the winter that it was called “the muslin disease”!

During the day, one's bosom was entirely covered (well, unless one were beyond the pale). Even dresses with low scoop necklines were filled in with a chemisette (a dickey made of thin material) or fichu (a thin scarf tucked into a low neckline). Unlike today, cleaveage was NOT a daytime accessory.

A walking gown or promenade gown was meant for – you guessed it! – walking. It would be made in the most fashionable style, with beautiful trimmings, and worn while shopping or walking through the park. A walking dress could also be worn to pay calls on other families. The name is somewhat misleading, because nothing about it made it better for walking than any other dress. When trains were popular for daywear, walking dresses had them, and I can't imagine that would have been easy!

Another type of afternoon dress was a carriage dress or traveling dress. These were made out of slightly heavier fabrics, ones that would resist wrinkles more than a cotton muslin. Also, they tended not to have as many trimmings, which could become crushed during a long carriage ride.

Riding habits were also worn sometimes for traveling, but more often they were worn for (no, wait, don't tell me) riding. Made out of a sturdy material (like wool), a riding habit consisted of a dress with a very simple bodice and a jacket that was meant to cover it at all times. Imagine it as wearing a sportsbra under a blazer instead of a regular shirt. Sure, it's there, but you're not going to take off your blazer and let everyone see it.

The skirts of a riding habit were also longer and fuller than the skirts for a walking dress or carriage dress. They had to be in order to be draped over the ladies legs and protect her modesty while she rode sidesaddle. Riding habits took many details from men's clothing, the jackets being rather mannish in cut, and even the hats worn while riding were distinctly masculine. Riding habits also took many details from military uniforms, often being decorated with military-style piping or embroidery and epaulettes.

walking dress Outerwear was an important part of afternoon dress, especially if one didn't want to catch the muslin disease! Long hooded cloaks were always popular, as were many different styles of shawls. Some were decorated with classical Greek motifs, others with a paisley pattern (yes, paisley was around even then). The weights of shawls could vary from soft, heavy cashmere to light silk or even muslin in the spring and summer.

Another type of outerwear was the spencer. It was supposedly created by Earl Spencer (a great-great-great… ancestor of Princess Diana) when the bottom of his coat burned off after he'd had his back to the fire. Whether this is true or not, spencers were high-waisted jackets which could be worn over afternoon dresses of any type for warmth.

A close relative of the spencer was the pelisse. pelisse Most pelisses were basically spencers with an attached skirt. They provided more warmth than a spencer, because it would also keep one's ankles toasty. Some pelisses looked a bit more like shorter robes, ending at the knee or so, but to me these seem to defeat the purpose. One's ankles would freeze! Both spencers and pelisses took many details from men's clothing, and often had a military theme. Because of the War with Napoleon, military details were extremely popular for most of the Regency.

Other must-have afternoon dress accessories were gloves, muffs, bonnets, caps or hats, and of course appropriate footwear. But that is a story for another day



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Morning Dress

The modern equivalent of a Regency morning dress would be the ratty sweats and old college T-shirt you wear while dying your hair. Fine for around the house, but you'd NEVER wear them in front of anyone. A morning gown worked on the same principle. It was a plain, generally unadorned gown that was never worn out of the house.

Because it was never worn outside, morning dresses were usually made of thin material and had no trimmings. Sometimes, they were made from older fabric, the kind with large flower prints that had been so popular in the last few decades of the 18th century. Most families would have had fabric like this lying around, either in remnants or old dresses. It made sense to reuse this fabric for dresses that would never be seen by anyone outside of family. Why, with all the money they saved in this way, they could buy more fashionable dresses for public viewing!

Other than that, they were pretty much indistinguishable from any other type of dress. They were made in the same style, certainly, with a high waist and long or short sleeves. But again, because it was never worn out of the house, a morning dress wouldn't necessarily be in the first stare of fashion. Morning dresses didn't always have long trains, for instance, even when they were popular. It wasn't unusual for a Regency miss to salvage the trim from a gone-out-of-style dress, use the trim on a new dress, and keep the old one as a morning dress. The modern equivalent of a Regency morning dress would be the ratty sweats and old college T-shirt you wear while dying your hair. Fine for around the house, but you'd NEVER wear them in front of anyone. A morning gown worked on the same principle. It was a plain, generally unadorned gown that was never worn out of the house.

Because it was never worn outside, morning dresses were usually made of thin material and had no trimmings. Sometimes, they were made from older fabric, the kind with large flower prints that had been so popular in the last few decades of the 18th century. Most families would have had fabric like this lying around, either in remnants or old dresses. It made sense to reuse this fabric for dresses that would never be seen by anyone outside of family. Why, with all the money they saved in this way, they could buy more fashionable dresses for public viewing!

Other than that, they were pretty much indistinguishable from any other type of dress. They were made in the same style, certainly, with a high waist and long or short sleeves. But again, because it was never worn out of the house, a morning dress wouldn't necessarily be in the first stare of fashion. Morning dresses didn't always have long trains, for instance, even when they were popular. It wasn't unusual for a Regency miss to salvage the trim from a gone-out-of-style dress, use the trim on a new dress, and keep the old one as a morning dress.


http://www.rakehell.com/article.php?id=387&Title=Introduction-To-Regency-Dress

How To Choose The Proper Exercise Apparel For Your Workouts

One of the most important aspects of working out is choosing the appropriate workout attire that will be comfortable during the exercise you are doing. A lot of this is personal preference depending upon what is comfortable to you. You can’t just look at your workout buddy’s gym attire and then buy the same things they have unless you truly know that those same garments will be okay for you. There are a few things that will help you keep from having to go through the hassle of returns.

One of the first things you want to look at is fabrics that will move moisture out away from your body which will keep you dry and comfortable for long and sweaty workouts. If you are doing high impact aerobics or running you will want a fabric that will remove moisture as well so that you will stay as dry as possible. This type of apparel will be more expensive but it will be well worth it. If you aren’t going to be working out so hard that you sweat a lot then you can go with a blend of polyester, cotton, and spandex.

The next thing we want to look at now that we know the appropriate fabrics is how to choose the right cuts that will be good for the activities you are doing. If you live in an area where it is cool and you will be exercising outdoors you will want to buy the exercise apparel in layers that you can remove as you heat up and tie them around your waist or place in a light backpack. The clothing layer that is next to your skin should be either long sleeve or a tank top depending upon the weather and temperature. You may choose to wear a sweatshirt over the first layer which can then be topped off with an all weather jacket if you are going to be in rain, sleet, or snow.

As far as pants go there are a great number of choices in pants that wick moisture and some of them even come in thermal styles to help keep you warm which can be worn by themselves or with another layer. If you are training in the cold be sure to wear a cap or hat to keep your head warm, much of our body heat is lost through the head when it is cold.

If you are training or exercising in a commercial gym or in your own home it is also smart to dress in layers so that you can remove clothing as you warm up. When weightlifting or doing aerobics especially a t-shirt can become tight and rigid due to being wet and will give you some skin irritation. If you dress in layers you will always be comfortable no matter what climate you are in.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach, Florida. Find more about exercise apparel as well as casual wear at http://www.dressandcasualwear.com



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Wide Collection of Mature Ladies Dresses

There are wide collections of mature ladies dresses in market. Women are just like fine wine. As they get older, more mature, and more beautiful, their inner woman seems to gain a sense of assured confidence, brought on by the years of experience in life. As women get older their sense of fashion seems to mature along with them.

We have to take care on certain points while purchasing mature ladies dresses. We need to keep in mind the fact that as we get older some part of our body tends to surrender to gravity. We need to choose dresses with good support to our body. Full evening dress, or white tie, the most formal civilian dress code, especially in the United Kingdom. An evening gown, the standard mature lady attire for black tie events.

We need to wear dresses with a classic style. Classic styles are called classic because they remain in style year after year. Because they look good on so many bodies! Sheathes, A-line skirts, flat front pants — all tend to flatter a variety of shapes. Covering appropriately is the key to aging gracefully. If your upper arms, thighs, and décolletage have all seen better days, it's time to cover them up a bit instead of sharing the wear-and-tear with the world. Add a beautiful necklace and draw envious glances from women of all ages.

There are enormous range of clothing for ladies aged 50 years and upward, ranging from casual attire through to smart semi-formal and eveningwear and underwear. We need to choose the right size to fit our body. Don’t go for items which fit too tightly. At the same times items which are too loose should also be avoided.

Indu Nair is the article writer for Looking Good. Looking Good is an independent, family run mail order business which has supplied senior ladies with quality merchandise for over 25 years. For more details, please our mature lady dresses online store.



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