Halloween.

When I was a kid, you were lucky if you got a plastic mask or a witch hat with a few strands of rubbish coloured hair attached with which to go out on Halloween.

It really wasn’t big business and back in the 1980’s you could barely buy a pumpkin in the supermarket, let alone know what candy corn was.

Summer Elsie Dress

There were a handful of houses (usually where your friends lived) that would happily answer the door and proffer a sherbet dib-dab or a tube of smarties, before those same friends would be knocking on your door in return.

If you were really lucky, you might have a Halloween party which basically consisted of party food, apple bobbin and possibly a game of pass the parcel or spooky musical chairs.

And you know something?

We were all very happy with that!

Ditsy Elsie Dress

As I grew up, I remember seeing Halloween portrayed in films at the cinema which were always made in the USA and their Halloween celebrations always seemed over the top and frankly, quite brilliant!

Costumes, props, decorated houses and going door to door in their huge cul-de-sacs or gated communities always seems such good fun and I was, like many of my friends, quite envious.

Fast forward twenty years and things had changed a little with the advent of the internet, which meant that you could pretty much buy anything from any Country in the World.

Spring Elsie Dress

Baby Bear and Little Chick were five or six and I went online to sites in the USA and bought *loads* of Halloween goodies including window decorations, hanging displays, table-wear and other sundry party things.

They had an early birthday party and everyone dressed up in their spookiest costumes. It was such good fun and the decorations got used for many years after.

Now of course, they are grown and the closest it gets to Halloween in my house is a big tub of sweets for the local children to pick from.

For those of you who know my Blogger Bestie, Boo from “Does my blog make me look Fat?” absolutely loves Halloween and has a different spooky themed outfit for every day of the month of October.

The beautiful Boo

As for me, I don’t have a single spooky dress unless you count the Haunted Honey Sarong dress with Audrey II around the bottom.  The only issue is that it is more of a cocktail dress and certainly not suitable for a normal working day.

So, I was absolutely chuffed to get an email from Lady V London offering some fabulous Halloween print dresses at half price.

Of course, I had to go and have a look. Just in case, y’know?

It was then that I spotted the Elsie in Black Magic print.

Scary Spice

Now, I have three other Elsie’s which I absolutely love. The faux wrap style suits me to the ground and the cross-over bust is flattering on my top half.

I had noticed that although I had purchased a size 26 in my previous designs, the material is exceedingly stretchy and didn’t give the wiggle style on me as much as I would have liked.

What a Rear!

The Black Magic dress only went up to a size 22 which I felt would actually fit very well and give the look that I was aiming for.

So, into my basket it went. Priced at only £24.00 and knowing the quality of the design and materials used, it was a complete bargain.

Hello-ween!

When it arrived, I had a little trepidation.

Would it fit? Would it look too tight? Would I look horrendous in it?

There was only one way to find out and that was to put it on.

Frightening?!

How did it look and fit?

Well, if I say so myself, it was pretty darn good!

As I previously mentioned, the Elsie has a ruched cross-over bust and a faux wrap style. It has cute cap sleeves and a invisible zip to the rear.

In Motion

The material is 95% Polyester and 5% Elastane which gives it that extra stretch and entirely why I thought it would fit me.

I have to admit, that of all the Halloween prints, it was the Black Magic that caught my eye the most. The base colour is a Royal Blue with cartoon type designs in white, pink and black.

Cheeky Side Glance

It has pretty much every stereotypical Halloween subject that you can think of.  Skulls, candles, jars of worms, black cats, poison bottles, pumpkins, bones, spell books, eyeballs, spiders, pentagrams, stars, bats, lightening and even a crystal ball.

Whilst you may think that sounds a little too busy, I loved all the different drawings, especially the black cat with his crossed eyes!

In Full Detail

Now as I said, I had ordered it in a size 22 which has a size guide of 49″ bust and 41″ waist. I currently measure 56″ and 48″ so you can see just what kind of stretch this dress has.

I loved the clingier look that the dress gives me and also the bust area isn’t as loose when I lean forward, which can be an issue on my other Elsie’s as I have almost shown my bra off a couple of times!

Black Magic Woman

Now how did I style it up? Well I decided to pair the dress with my black shoes and a black vintage cordé handbag. Black harness bra and black earrings topped it all off perfectly.

Oh and a black/blue wig.

Wig-tastic

After all a Black Magic Woman needs black (magical) accessories!

Till next time,

SPSG xxx