Archive for April, 2010

Wear me any way dress

If you’re looking for the perfect smart enough for work/sexy enough for an evening out dress then look no further. Our wear me any way dress ticks all the right boxes. Its flattering v-neck will make the most of your assets but won’t show off too much, the wide waist band emphasises the waist and has interesting button detailing, the cute puffball shoulders give the dress a fashionable twist and the length is cut perfectly to the knee. Add to this the versatility of being able to tie the fabric tie at the front or at the back and you’ve got yourself a pretty nifty little dress. Wear this dress with flats and a cardigan for the office or dress up with killer heels and a smattering of sparkly jewellery for an evening out.

All of our clothing range is cut to fit and flatter a fuller bust, without compromising on style. You no longer have to put up with gapping buttons, pulling seams or having to buy a bigger size just to accommodate your ample bosom! Our clothes are based on standard high street sizes but also come in sizes ‘curvy’, ‘really curvy’ and ‘super curvy’ to allow for different cup sizes. This way you can wear your true size whilst feeling comfortable and confident in your clothes.

Step inside...

As our new advert hits TV and Cinema screens across the UK this month, we’d like to invite you to visit the online Bravissimo apartment too.  Each week, we’ll open up a new room in the apartment block for you to explore.  You’ll be able to find out more about our customer models, enter competitions, pick up some styling hints and tips and generally take a peek around.  With 5 rooms in total, each with their own style and offers, we hope you’ll enjoy your visit.  So don’t delay, our first two rooms are open and we’d love to welcome you…

Take me to the Bravissimo apartment >

It’s the perfect time of year for a good scrub, clean and sort out. If you’re anything like us girls here at Bravissimo then you might just hoard stacks of magazines too. You keep them for a particular article or image that you want, but you end up keeping the whole thing and forget what it is you wanted it for so desperately in the first place. So we’ve come up with a cunning plan; get a scrapbook to safeguard anything you find of interest then recycle the rest. Better still donate them to your local GP practice or hospital/dentists’ waiting room (as long as you haven’t cut them into shreds already to fill up your new scrapbook). That’s your magazine stash sorted, now for the clothes.

It might be hard but try to throw out all those fashion fads you bought on impulse but know you’ll never wear; those sequin leggings, that prom dress, what were you thinking?! From now on the emphasis in fashion land is about fashion forevers and classic styles rejuvenated with modern twists, rather than quick fix fashion fads. Check out our great basics range for some fashion essentials to see you through spring. We also have a range of classic and elegant shift dresses that can be dresses down for work or glamed up for the evening! Easy, classic and a great fit, what more could you want?

A great way to clear some space, get some new clothes and not spend a penny is to organise a swap shop with your friends. The basic rules are that each participant brings with them a few old clothes that they no longer wear, but can’t seem to part with. The clothes are then laid out for others to swap, borrow or keep and everyone should go home with something new. You know what they say; one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure. This can also be done with old boyfriends, but is way more complicated and can get messy, so best stick to the clothes for now ladies!

It might seem like a daunting trend but if you stick to this simple guide to wearing print then you can’t go wrong! Prints for this season scream notice me, they’re bold, bright, tropical, tribal, or floral and they’re definitely not for the faint hearted! These fun and fashionable prints have also stepped up a notch as they become digitally enhanced, so that wearing one becomes like wearing a giant digital photograph, very avant-garde!

For the brighter prints keep the style short, a tunic dress, shorts, or eye catching jacket should do the trick with out overpowering the look with too much of a good thing! The traveller look is great for this clashing print frenzy, simply combine earthy tones and animal print with bright, bold flashes of colour and wear with wedges for an effortlessly chic spring look. If you like prints but don’t however like the showiness of OTT trends then opt for more subtle prints in softer colours. Floral prints work well for pulling off the boho vibe and can be worn in longer styles such as maxi skirts and dresses.

Animal Print Trend

Our Ditsy Floral Print Blouse is the perfect top for pulling off the print look in a more subtle way, its small flower print in soft purples and pinks hits the boho trend without causing too much of a scene! If you prefer something with a longer sleeve we have the Fancy Floral Shirt, the pleat detail helps to define the waist whilst the long sleeves help you to stay covered. Like a print with a bit more punch? Then check out our Animal Print Wrap Dress, this gorgeous black and white print is enough to get you noticed without being over the top. Wear with brightly coloured accessories and shoes for extra impact! Plus, animal print is also a key trend for spring/summer and FYI, is worth investing in as rumour has it this trend will be just as hot next autumn/winter!

All in all, this bold statement trend contrasts with this season’s pastel shades and is definitely a trend for those that prefer to stand out in a crowd. These bold bright and slightly in your face prints are guaranteed to do two things; 1- get you noticed and 2 – wake you up. If you usually feel a bit groggy in a morning, forget your usual 2 cups of coffee, walking around in these boldly bright prints all day is bound to keep you perky!

Support your boobs when you exercise

If you’ve been planning on getting fit for the last, well, forever, but just haven’t got round to it yet then why not sign yourself up for a charity event? There are so many going on all over the country your biggest challenge could simply be deciding which event to get involved in. One way of choosing your event is to decide on which charity to raise money for first, then visit their website to see what events they have and which might suit/challenge you the most! If you don’t mind which charity you raise money for then check out a few and see which ones are running events that you’d like to get involved in. Most charities will do everything from simple donation collection to more extreme fundraising such as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. So sometimes it’s a case of finding the right challenge and then deciding who to fundraise for! Here are some ideas;

• London to Paris bike ride.
• Coast to coast bike ride.
• London marathon.
• Race for Life
• Marathons/half marathons in other cities.
• The Great North Run (Newcastle).
• Sponsored swim.
• Or set up your own event, charities are usually open to new fundraising ideas, sponsored silence, casual day at the office, the possibilities are endless!

There is a real sense of camaraderie during these types of events in which everyone pulls together and supports one another to make it through the finish line. They’re great fun, hard work but definitely worth the effort! If on the other hand, you’re more of an adrenaline junkie why not try a sky dive or a bungee jump? You might not have to be as fit, but you will definitely need plenty of courage to throw yourself out of a plane.

For extra inspiration and if you didn’t catch it the first time around, we recommend you watch Eddie Izzard’s documentary about his marathon running. Izzard ran over 40 marathons in 50 days in aid of Sports Relief. His rather controversial methodology to his running proves that you don’t have to be the fittest athlete to achieve something extraordinary. Although we don’t think that eating ice cream will make you run any faster!

After the BAFTAS came the Oscars and what a night it was. All the Hollywood A-listers were dressed up to the nines, with designer dresses, shoes, handbags and not to mention million of dollars worth of jewellery this event truly was a fashion show in itself!

Who won what;
Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for her role in The Blind Side and reminded us why we love her so much with her heart warming speech and the fact that she stopped off for a burger before heading to the after show parties! What a woman! Kathryn Bigelow made history with her film Hurt Locker by becoming the first woman to win the Best Director award as well as five other awards for the same film. While her ex-husband James Cameron who directed big budget film Avatar missed out, but there was little rivalry between the estranged couple as they joked about the situation backstage.

And the dresses;
Of course, being the Oscars there were plenty of embellishments, frills and floor length gowns, well if you can’t get away with it at the Oscars then where can you get away with it?! Mariah Carey dressed very modestly and showed us curvy girls how to do chic but sexy. She wore an elegant dress cut to flatter her big boobs and jewelled detail drawing attention to her waist. She couldn’t resist a thigh high split though, at least it was a relatively modest split! The new girls on the block (Carey Mulligan, Kirsten Stewart and Gabourey Sidibe) proved they have what it takes to keep up with their more red carpet experienced counter parts and all opted for long gowns, which they looked fab in!

Victoria Beckham launched her new clothing line just in time to dress some of the other celebrities gracing the red carpet. Demi Moore and Cameron Diaz both wore VB’s designs on the night, so even if the British nominees came home empty handed (Colin Firth, Carey Mulligan and Helen Mirren) Mrs Beckham definitely was a winner. SJP looked stunning in her embellished ivory Chanel number we can’t wait to see the outfits in the new SATC film, 10 weeks to go!! There were also plenty of frills at this year’s awards driving the romantic trend for spring/summer. Prints also featured on the red carpet. Only usually at a wedding can us mere mortals get that dressed up for an occasion and that’s only if we’re the bride or bridesmaid. With all these amazing frocks around, we might just have to think of our own red carpet event just to dress up in a Hollywood style gown! Hmmm…

As we bid farewell to March and welcome April with open arms (crikey 2010 is going fast) we are finally turning our minds into spring mode. We’re busy planning our spring wardrobes (and actually wearing some of it), thinking about Easter breaks away and considering after work drinks instead of heading straight home in the dark. The latter is probably the thing we’re most excited about, having a social life after work and leaving the office before it gets dark! So even though we’re not too happy about having lost an hour of our weekend we are very grateful for the lighter evenings. The weather however is sure to fluctuate, in typical April shower style, as it has begun to already. Bright sunshine in the morning fools us into thinking it might actually be a nice day. But then the rain comes in the afternoon, leaving us stranded (wherever we may have decided to venture, in what was previously such a lovely day) wondering how the heck are we going to get home without ruining our new pumps/handbag/hair do?!

But after spring comes summer. We’re also getting increasingly excited at the prospect of summer and have started planning what we want to do with our summers, namely; BBQs despite the British weather, picnics, trips to the beach etc. As well as becoming excited for what we want to do over summer, we’re also getting impatient for our summer wardrobes and are desperate to be wearing linen trousers, cotton dresses (without thick tights and boots) and sandals sometime soon!

So make this April fool proof. Get the brolly out, wrap up in plenty of layers and prepare for the inevitable showers and pranks!