... this blogger gave to thee...
... six party dresses...
... five gold rings!..
... four silly socks...
... three Etsy shops...
... two tuneful gizmos...
... and a great soup for cold winter days.
Dresses, dresses, dresses! My sisters favourite post of the 12 days, and normally I would post this pre-New Years, this year, well despite it being well past, I'm still using it as my excuse to fantasies about wearing pretty dresses and sequins, when I live in jeans and jumpers. The closest I get to wearing sequins out is when I've been tidying and the things just seem to appear in my shoes. Sequins and glitter, the STD's of the craft world.
But they are pretty...
Sequin Chiffon Maxi Dress by Topshop via Topshop
... so we'll be starting with sequins. Bet you guessed I would. But I can't help it! They're so shiny and pretty and every year I pin a load of dresses for consideration and mostly when it comes to picking seven, I get drawn in by the sparkles and this Topshop dress was the first I chose because of that. Given the dress is smothered in gold sequins, I actually feel like this one of the more understated ones that you could wear. The black chiffon inter-spacing the stripes of gold dampens down the glitz in just the right way to make it wearable and not just full in your face blinding sparkle.
But who says we don't want blind our love ones as much as the haters?
Camille Metallic Silk Chiffon Midi Dress by Saloni via Moda Operandi
This Saloni dress, while not sequined, subdues its intense metallic sparkle but having again with black chiffon. It gives such a beautiful muted multicoloured sheen that I think if you wore this you'd be in a state of constant gentle motion, in order to keep the skirt swinging and sparkling in the light. Did I mention I got distracted by sparkles?
Briefly moving away from sparkles, let's try another staple for party dresses, lace. Another staple is a green dress, it wouldn't be the festive season without dresses in the following colours: green, red, gold, silver and black. I'm not saying there aren't others, but face it, these are always going to be there, year on year, decade after decade, these five colours are synonymous with Christmas. This ASOS DESIGN dress is a really pretty example and the lace, covering the plunging neckline, takes what could have been a really exposing dress to being really demur and elegant.
Gigi Tartan Midi Dress by The Pretty Dress Company via The Pretty Dress Company
Now for the red dress, from The Pretty Dress Company. And no, while I'm Scottish and celebrate Hogmanay rather than just New Years, I'm not pandering to my identity with a red tartan dress, though, while the Boyd clan has had their own tartan since the 1956 (as a little bit of googling tells me), it's designed to incorporate the tartans of the two clans they descend from, the Hay's and the Stewart's. This dress is - I think - essentially the Stewart tartan.
That's just interesting, the real reason for it's presence on this list is that I kind of love tartan* dresses like this, and this old fashioned shape I find so incredibly elegant and beautiful. Plus, this is the kind of dress which you could definitely dress up or down.
Voluminous Metallic Silk Midi Dress in Metallic by Hussein Bazaza via Moda Operandi
I'm sneaking in a little bit more sparkles again now. But this is another dress I think you'd be inclined to keep in motion in order to maximise the sparkles from the stripes of gunmetal metallic and the sheen from the satin, but mostly because of the volume in the skirt. There's something about a circle skirt which I think just makes you want to sway. This Hussein Bazaza dress to me is beautiful, and part of that is down to it's the combination of colours the designer has used. Muted nude peachy pink with antique gold, black and burgundy with stripes of what is almost a lilac gunmetal silver, which I would never had put together, but I think in any other configuration wouldn't have been quite as attractive. You'd need a small loan to buy a dress from Moda Operandi, but every one's allowed to fantasies about going full glam once in a while.
I think this is the first time I've ever gone skirt and top over a dress for this post. But there's something wonderfully retro about the combination of the tulle skirt and knitwear, that I enjoy... then you smother it in glitter starts and I'm a goner.
Seriously though, if you ever need to distract me just through a mermaid sequin cushion at me, much like the cat when you chuck his catnip laced squirrel toy at him, I'll quite happily entertain myself with one of those for a couple of hours.
Those are my picks.
Now, this week, since New Years Day in fact, my little sister has been unwell. Somehow she managed to get a stomach bug, most likely it was a dose of Norovirus which, fortunately, the rest of the family seem to have avoided. However she's spent the past week being not very well and quarantined in her bedroom to try and keep anyone else from succumbing, especially since returning to work looms. Trying to keep her company and somewhat entertained, I asked for her help with this years choices... then I think bar two picks, completely ignored her. Which is what big sisters do to little sisters right? Ask for advice and decide they know better.
Anyway, seeing I asked for her help, I'm giving her an honourable mention with the dress she went absolutely insane over...
Long Floral Dress SS18 by Elie Saab via Moda Operandi
So there you go, six dresses and more evidence that I can't not include glitter or sequins. Maybe that should be the challenge for next year. Or maybe they should all just be variations on the little black dress... well, I've got a couple of months to think about it.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy 6th of January as we pack away Christmas for another year. Part seven sooner than six...
* I don't give a crap what clan it's for, or whether I'm a Boyd, Stewart, McDonald, Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. No matter what a name or Pottermore quiz tells us! (I'm Gryffindor if you're interested but live in a house of Hufflepuff's, Ravenclaws and I'm assuming the cat's Slytherin.)
** God, I wish I was the kind of girl who would wear this outfit every day!
Link || Sequin Chiffon Maxi Dress by Topshop via Topshop
Link || Camille Metallic Silk Chiffon Midi Dress by Saloni via Moda Operandi
Link || Tall Long Sleeve Lace Top Prom Midi Dress in Green by ASOS DESIGN (Standard Length) via ASOS
Link || Gigi Tartan Midi Dress by The Pretty Dress Company via The Pretty Dress Company
Link || Voluminous Metallic Silk Midi Dress in Metallic by Hussein Bazaza via Moda Operandi
Link || Stars In Her Eyes Skirt in Silver by Lirika Matoshi via Etsy || Website || Instagram
Link || Long Floral Dress SS18 by Elie Saab via Moda Operandi
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Listening: Strong - London Grammar
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