Frock It! #10 What To Wear To a Wedding

This week, my head nearly fell off with so many high profile social events going on around the world; I could hardly bear to tear myself away from the computer! Starting from the bottom up, you had footballer Peter Crouch and his model/TV Presenter/WAG Abbey Clancey's wedding, then Kate Moss showing us you can be a bride and still achieve the 'dragged through a hedge backwards' look at her 'Rock n' Roll' nuptials on Friday.

Over the weekend, there was the climax of the Wimbledon championships and finally the Eurotrash wedding of the century of Price Philanderer Albert II of Monaco and his South African swimmer bride Princess Charlene. 

With rumours swirling of the bride trying to flee on no less than 3 separate occasions and new love children running amok, it shows Charlene really does have nerves of steel to go ahead with what soon became the greatest anti-climactic wedding EVER. I have seen more chemistry between a dead dog and a plank of wood than between these two 'lovebirds'. Only time will tell the future of the Grimaldi house...personally, I don't see a happy ending, but hey ho, she certainly looked the part, quite exquisite. 

For my Frock It! post this week, I have chosen to stick to the Monegasque wedding and focus on the happy couple's niece Charlotte Casiraghi.  

I feel like I do a lot of bitchy Frock Its, which is fun, but today I'm playing it straight as I thought Charlotte looked simply sublime.

With her Aunt, Princess Stephanie. Anyone for Botox?

 Obviously she wore Chanel; it is the go-to designer for the Grimaldis. From the label's Spring 2011 couture collection, she looked absolutely the epitome of style and not unlike a pink, padded handbag from the eponymous designer, non?!

With boyfriend, Alex Dellal

Proving elegance and grace runs through her blue-blooded veins, she tops off the outfit with a simple black veiled headpiece which cast subtle shadow across her magnificent cheekbones.

Tres belle, Mademoiselle.

Frock It! #9

For this week's Frock It!, I am taking the lead of Mid30sLife and am showing one of my favourite baby outfits.

I was going to wax lyrical about Duchess K of Mid's style overhaul and the two sublime outfits she chose to wear publicly this week; her military-style coat and the ballgirl chic white Temperley dress at SW19 but, it's all too predictable now. She's clearly not going to put a LK Bennett foot wrong anymore, which is good, but it just means endless fawning and that's a bit, well, boring.

Maybe I will digest her Canadian and US outfits over the coming few weeks and do a fully comprehensive one-stop shop Duchess Tour of Duty special where I can hyperbolate and fawn to my heart's content...

So, back to this week and I have chosen a little dress that's a bit different from what you would pick up at your local Mothercare.


My Dad bought this outfit as part of Imogen's Christmas present and it came all the way from 78 Degrees North ie, the Arctic Circle. 

Back last year, my Dad undertook a sailing expedition to the North Pole via Norway (I think) mainly to explore and to view Polar Bears in their natural habitat. He found this great little shop that designs and makes childrenswear.

I adore it's uniqueness and it's Scandinavian simplicity. Imogen has only worn it once as I have no idea how to wash it and am petrified of ruining it, so it hangs up dutifully in the wardrobe and will be a keepsake for her future. Also, I couldn't be arsed had no opportunity to put it on her to take a photo, so, sorry about that, but she does look very cute (obviously). 

Completely unrelated photo!

Frock It! #8

Slim pickings for this week's Frock It!; I couldn't find many outfits that stood out, at least on my radar.

So I have also plumped for a sporting event. This Mid 30s Life went for Royal Ascot and I agree there were some eye-catching dresses there, but (apart from the stilton hat) nothing really stood out as being different from any other year. 


After scouring the web for like, minutes, I found this gem of a sporty Frock It!, cue the rant:

I really, really dislike this get-up. Not just for the obvious reason that it's hideous, but that it is once again, completely inappropriate for Wimbledon. 


The All England Club is the epitome of Englishness, the historic and revered home of British tennis. It is not the place for plunging playsuits and shiny gold underwear. For goodness sake, sometimes The Queen is there...


Some of you may think I'm being prudish. Maybe I am, but I wish we could go back to women wearing more demure sporting attire at Wimbledon. They needn't be wearing skirts (I'm not that old-fashioned), shorts would be fine, just not something you would find on Venice Beach. 


It's not just Venus who is guilty as charged, many other players in recent years seem to have forgotten the occasion and dress with disrespect. With regards to Venus' outfit, how can you even play good tennis with those batwings flapping around???? Crazy! 

Frock It! #7 - Wedding guest etiquette

For this week's Frock It!, it's off to the quaint, leafy village of Cranham in the Cotswolds and the quintessentially English wedding of singer and fashion designer Lily Allen.

The bride looked radiant in a 1920's inspired Karl Lagerfeld design complete with metres of lace which barely concealed her growing baby tummy and an unusual veil headdress secured with flowers over each ear (sounds hideous, actually suits her).

The remainder of the wedding party looked borderline presentable and the sun was shining; everything was adding up to a beautiful occasion when...da da daaaaaa....


along comes this frocky horror:

What would the vicar say?!

WTF is going on with those boobies?!

You can usually count on someone in your family to upset the apple cart in some way on your wedding day. Usually it is a drunken uncle leching over the bridesmaids, but for Lily, unfortunately, it was her half-sister, Sarah.


This dress would be appropriate in the following places:

1. A fancy party in a bar or club in London, esp. one swarming with paparazzi
2. A peep show in Amsterdam
3. A street corner in any town, anywhere

A place this dress is not appropriate:

1. The church wedding of your sister, or in fact, anyone!

Too short, too booby, the pattern is beautiful and it could have been a winner if it wasn't for the Lolo Ferrari cleavage on show.

Hang your head in shame Ms Owen for committing the cardinal sin of upstaging the bride (and for all the wrong reasons). Consider yourself slapped in the face by the wedding etiquette fairy.

Frock It! #6 A Day at the Races

I love nothing more than a bit of Royal watching, so for this week's Frock It!, I found some gems from the Epsom races.

Our new Duchess had managed to find time in her busy Welsh housewife diary to get scrubbed up for a day on the Downs with her new family (The Queen). 
 

Now, please help me with this one, I am in a real pickle. I just can't make my mind up as to whether I like her look or not. At first glance, the delicious creams against the teak-coloured tan looks fantastic, but as I looked closer and longer, something just doesn't sit right.

Yes, she has a pair of legs to rival any of the racehorses on show, but the jacket, for me, is wrong. Maybe it's the neckline or the boxiness of it, I don't know, but it gives her NO shape at all, something she needs to avoid as she doesn't have many curves going on ordinarily. 

The dress skirt is too sheer and floaty.  The hat I do like as it suits her face shape and it's very refreshing to see her with her hair in an up-do. 


There's no doubt Kate is a clotheshorse but on the close-up photos she looks a little unwell, tired even? Her mind seems elsewhere. Do you agree?

Overall, the race-going fashion on show was good, even Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie looked respectable, although E still insists on wearing her dresses maybe an inch too short.

Of course, Queenie looked wonderful (is it tantamount to treason to even say otherwise?) in a bright fuschia, summery dress and complementary coat. 

Mrs Middleton always turns herself out nicely

And as for the top hats? Britain at it's finest I feel. Long live the topper!


There are some brilliant Frock It! posts this week over at This Mid 30s Life. 
 

Frock It! French fashion reigns again.

For this week's Frock It! I'm going to stick closely to the first two entries and snoop around some fashion from the Continent, specifically Madame Sarkozy aka Carla Bruni.

Taking grays to a whole new level

May I first say, in a completely unrelated vein, that Ms Bruni really disappointed me recently with her name. I always thought you pronounced Bruni like you would 'Brunei', however, I was shocked to learn it was prounced 'Broo-knee'...and you know it doesn't sound half as glamorous.

Hey ho. La buzz this week is that the French First Lady is now eating a deux, with un bebe in l'oven. Nothing has officially been announced, but you know these Frenchies like to be awkward and retain an air of 'je ne sais quoi' and with said baby bump growing larger chaque jour, who needs an announcement? 

Since acceding to the throne en France, Carla Bruni has never put a Dior kitten-heeled foot wrong in the wardrobe department, looking elegant and sophisticated at every public event. A supermodel and singer in a former life, she shines in the spotlight and uses her clothes horse figure to great effect; form fitting shifts and impeccably tailored trouser suits help to draw attention away from her diminutive, troll-like husband, Le President (sorry to any French readers!)

Punching above your weight, Monsieur?

In her adopted homeland (she is Italian in origin), she splits opinion with many detractors comparing her to another best-dressed Madame, Marie-Antoinette. 'Let Them Eat Cake' M-A famously declared; Ms Bruni may appear to have adopted this attitude in regards to her people, but there is definitely no cake-eating going on in her Palace of Versailles as her sylph-like figure goes to show.

Now that's a frock!

This week's G8 Summit in Deauville allowed Mme Sarkozy to showcase a new sartorial style, that of loose clothing, a fashion choice rarely seen on her. Obviously chosen for comfort and to accommodate the burgeoning belly, I think she picked the winning hand again, showing that a small matter of a pregnancy is not going to cramp her style.


Let me know what you think.

'Baby? What Baby? I just ate too many croissants this morning.'

Love the use of a bodyguard to detract from La Bump!

Also, do you think I managed to cram in enough Franglish and French references today? I feel I could have done more?!

Frock It! Down Memory Lane

I had a splendid hour of peace yesterday morning, when all 3 other members of the Priest household were napping quietly around the house: husband and dog on sofa, baby in cot. So I struck while the iron was hot and sneaked back into bed to catch up on all the blogs I follow and to continue reading the 'War & Peace' size Royal wedding edition of Hello! that my Mum posted across for me. 2 weeks later and I'm still only halfway through!

I happened upon a new Frock It! on Mid Thirties Life and was FULL of inspiration to write but then the house awoke and my moment was snatched away from me. 'Tonight' I said to myself, 'after dinner and bathtimes, I will sit down and compose my sartorial posting.'

Sadly, fate conspired against me twice yesterday and just as I sat down to type, husband noticed we had only a day left to watch Harry Potter that we had downloaded 4 weeks ago, so that was the end of that!

But I am BACK today and ready to go.

When I first read this week's Frock It assignment, I couldn't think of anything interesting to write about. But then the date struck me (22nd May) and there it was, in plain sight:



The date of this photo, 22nd May 2010, is significant to me for 2 reasons: It was the day my best friend got married and the day of my first baby shower.

Devastatingly for me, I couldn't be at Naomi's wedding as I was 33 weeks pregnant and living 4000 miles away in America. It's something I had no control over but will be sorrowful about forever.

Doesn't she look amazing!

However, in a twist of fate, my American friend Joy decided to throw me a baby shower that exact same day. I was hesitant at first as I felt I was betraying my friend back home by not concentrating wholly on her day, but I decided it was actually very fortuitous that we could be simultaneously celebrating great events in our life on the same day.

As I had only lived in the US for 8 months prior to the shower and had never been to one before, I had no expectations of what to expect or if anyone would even turn up. It turned out to be one of the best afternoons of my life. I was completely spoilt by friends with cake, champagne and incredible presents. I could not have been more thankful.

I chose to talk about the dress I wore at the shower not because it was the last dress I bought, as I haven't bought a dress in a long while, but as the last most significant dress I wore.

In the event, it was only cheap, £16 from Asda, but it means the world to me and represents a happy time in my life, the memories from which I will cherish forever.

FROCK IT! Le Cannes Special Edition

I have found my new favourite blog activity: FROCK IT via This Mid 30s Life.

I have been hoovering up all the pictures from La Croissette all week so now I have a great excuse to gratuitously post up dress shots and babble on about them!

I see from the previous entries that Jane Fonda went down well en France, so I will steer clear of her and instead concentrate on...Penelope Cruz!

That most Spanish of actresses, for me, showed the French a thing or two about glamour. In all the pictures I have seen, she looks immaculate with a figure to DIE for (and she's a new mama! she must have some killer Spanx on).

I'm not convinced by the frou-frou straps, but the rest is heavenly

If coveting a hairstyle is bad, I don't want to be good

So let me know if you agree with La Cruz's wardrobe choices. Post-baby she seems to have a new confidence, a self-assurance that comes from the knowledge that the person who's love and affection you crave is back home asleep in his crib, not fawning over you on a red carpet.

Showcasing the best of British design in Stella McCartney

Keep it up Pen.