#jeansdujour - My Favourite Fellow Curvy Bloggers in Denim Jeans

Hey Guys!

I hope you all had a really lovely Thanksgiving if you celebrated this weekend. I had a lot of time to reflect on what exactly it is I am thankful for, and one of the major things is having such an amazing community of fellow bloggers who are also plus size and have amazing style, and who help me to see that fashion and beauty come in every size and shape.

So for some jeanspiration for this #jeansdujour post, I thought I would give you a little taste of what I get to see all the time, my fav bloggers looking absolutely fabulous (and in denim jeans)!

Curvy Girl Chic

Elann Zelie

Fat Aus

Frantic Dreams

Gabifresh

Jay Miranda

Le Blog de Big Beauty

Nadia Aboulhosn

Round Raglan Road

Sticky Sweet Danish

Too Many Sequins

Which blogger's jeans for curvy women did you like the best? Addition Elle has a completely awesome selection of jeans this A/W. You should definitely check it out if you're looking for some! What are your favourite types of jeans?

I got a chance to head to Oktoberfest in Kitchener this past Friday, and I wore my favourite Addition Elle jeans, the Love and Legend Coated skinny jean in black cherry. Love!

Addition Elle Blogger Styling Event

Hey Everyone!

So back in August, I was invited by the lovely people at Addition Elle to participate in a blogger styling challenge. I, along with 8 other top Canadian fashion bloggers, were challenged to create two unique looks from Addition Elle's AW2011 collection for a Facebook contest. It was an amazing event with professional models, hair, makeup, catering, and photography. AE even hired a stylist to come in so we could make use of all his shoes and accessories to help put our final looks together! They even shut down their flagship store early for the photo shoot!

The delicious spread at the shoot! I borrowed this picture from Alison of 'Round Raglan Road - I hope she doesn't mind!

Me at the "Step and Repeat" AE backdrop at the beginning of the event

Me and all the other lovely bloggers with the VP of Marketing for AE

Sasha and Garcia from Flaws of Couture

Alison from 'Round Raglan Road and Sarah from Garters and Stockings having a chat!

Alison from Round Raglan Road being interview by AE

Once we all got acquainted and had a few munchies, it was time to start pulling pieces off the rack to use in our looks. This event took place at the Addition Elle flagship store, at the corner of Yonge and Temperance in downtown Toronto, so any of the pieces you see in the looks can be picked up there! There were nine bloggers there, and we each put together two outfits, so the photo shoot was pretty briskly paced! There were 3 models there who got to work with three different bloggers each, and I got the beautiful Zara Hemmings, who totally turned it out! 

I decided to do one casual look and one more formal outfit. When I saw the red leopard waist length jacket with the draping in the front, it was love at first sight, and I built my first look around that piece, adding simple, casual pieces that would allow the jacket to make its own statement. I chose Apple Bottom Jeans, a simple black tee with lace detail at the neck (to add some texture), a faux snake skin belt (which I thought would go nicely with the leopard because it's kind of animal inspired as well), the model's own shoes, which are purple with red piping (and which sort of bring a lot of the different elements of the outfit together), and I topped it off with some stunning jewellery from the stylist's collection, which was gold with deep green hues. There was a whole dressing room filled with the stylist's goodies that we were allowed to play with!

Here are a couple of pictures of my first (red leopard) look. This is the look Addition Elle has chosen, out of the two I put together, for the competition.

They even made me get in front of the camera! LOL... Here's me with Zara in the look I picked out for her. The cheetah and the leopard, friends at last! MEOW!

My second look came together after I came across the most stunning Joseph Ribkoff jacket on the second floor. It has a very deep hood, kind of like a hood that you would expect to see on a cape, but the actual jacket itself is very structured. It is fitted through the bodice and has a flared, bubble hem, pouffy skirt, which you all know I am in love with. Honestly, I would say it was my favourite piece to work with. I really want it! I thought it might be nice to style a formal wear look with the jacket, since Winter is coming (sorry, but it is!) and people will have Christmas parties to go to. I absolutely love the deep aubergine colour of the strapless satin dress, and I decided to style it with a lot of silver jewellery because I wanted extra shine. I love seeing looks where the stylist has piled on loads of bracelets, so I decided to try it for myself, and I must say, I really like how it turned out. We took some shots with and without the jacket, so you can see all elements of the outfit clearly. Here they are!

So all in all, I had a really great time styling Zara for this shoot and working with some of the amazing stuff from Addition Elle. I think the looks turned out really nicely and I'm quite happy with them! 

So remember how I said this was for a Facebook competition? Well it launched just two days ago, and I NEED YOU ALL to VOTE for me!!!! LOL. It's just a few clicks of your mouse away, and I'll love you forever! As an added incentive, if you're based in Canada, each time you vote you will be entered to win a $150 Addition Elle gift card that you can put towards some of the items you've seen here, or something entirely different! You can vote once per day, and I would love it if you did!!! Click here to be redirected to the Facebook contest.

Another great thing about this event was getting to meet all the other fabulous bloggers hosted by Addition Elle. You should check out their blogs too, if you get a chance. Here are the links to them. Meet Robyn of Fashionista514, Sarah of Garters & Stockings, Alison of 'Round Raglan Road, Sashagai and Garcia of Flaws of Couture, Kristania of Monochroma.Chic, Sunny D of thatshardcore, Kendall, and Isabelle of La Vie C'est YeYe.

So my dears, what do you think of the outfits I styled? Did you see anything that has you running to Addition Elle? Remember to VOTE!

Penningtons Styled to Surprise Event

Hey Guys,

Recently, I (and 7 of my other Toronto plus size fashion blogger friends) were invited by the lovely people at Penningtons to the debut of their Fall/Winter 2011 collection at the Heartland Town Centre location in Mississauga, Ontario.

First, I had to decide what to wear! Whenever there's an event where I am meeting other very fashionable women, I want to look my absolute best and dress a bit more creatively than I normally would. I knew all the other wonderful bloggers in attendance would look awesome (and I was right), so I wanted to make sure I picked something that would look good even with the fashion bar raised so high! I love events like this because they provide the context for me to wear things that people might normally think is a bit "out there." When I was putting my outfit together I was inspired by 1970s Halston - blending really rich colours (aubergine, red, cream, bronze, gold, russett) and textures (lace, silk, leather, wool, feathers) to create a lot of visual interest.

Blazer - Tahari (sent to me by my friend and fellow blogger, the lovely Jessica from Chic in Every City)/Top - Costa Blanca/Earrings - Forever 21/Hat, Bag, Belt, and Scarf - Thrifted/Skirt - The Gap/Ring - Ardene/Necklace - Laura/Shoes - Beverly Feldman

Penningtons sent a stretch limo for us! I was so excited!

The lovely ladies from Flaws of Couture - Garcia, Sasha, and Valentine

Sarah from Garters and Stockings, and Sadia from Rawrmanifesto

Once we got to the store, there was so much to see and do...

They even had a make-up artist on site for touch ups!

There were lots of great hors d'oeuvres and beverages to keep us refreshed during the event. Penningtons kindly gave each of the bloggers a $150 gift card with which to purchase some of their beautiful items, so the bloggers were happily shopping all evening long. You'll just have to wait for Outfit of the Day posts to see what I got! I've already worn a couple of the items I got. 

One of the best parts of the night (if not the best) was meeting the members of Penningtons' retail marketing and buying team. They were full of questions for me about what I and my readers are looking for in a store. They were very receptive to all of my comments and suggestions, and I can tell that this is a company that is truly committed to participating meaningfully in the online community. They are also going through a major re-branding. My perception of the store has certainly changed from before I attended the event. While before I was invited to the event, I thought the store carried only fashions for an older demographic, I can see now that much of what they've added would appeal to a younger customer. They still carry many items that are geared towards their current customer base, but it seems that they are extending their line so that it suits a greater age range. So if you haven't been in awhile, it's definitely worth a second look. 

Some of the Penningtons execs I was chatting with

And at the end of the night - the bloggers got together for a final photo op. Alison from Round Raglan Road and Franceta from Frantic Dreams are here (they came in a different car so they weren't in the first couple of shots), and Adrienne from Big Girls, Bigger Dreams is missing from this shot. I bet she was still shopping!

All in all, I had a great night. It was great to spend time shopping with my bloggin' buddies, whom I can't wait to get together with again, and it was also wonderful to meet the faces behind the brand and have them be so receptive to what I had to say. Thanks so much Penningtons!