Earlier this year I had a lovely email from ‘Taking Shape‘ asking if I would like to try some of their items.

I had the most gorgeous dresses arrive; a black & gold, a pink floral and a black & cerise number. All three were absolutely stunning, fitted like they were made to measure and the quality of each garment was outstanding.

Wedding Wonderful

If you missed my reviews, then you can see them here.

Anyway, I digress.

I had another email two weeks ago asking if I would like to try some items from their Autumn/Winter range. Now given that the previous dresses were out of this world, I of course said ‘Yes Please’.

The two dresses arrived last week and I eagerly opened them up, wondering just what had been sent to me.

First up was the gloriously vibrant “Royal Ascot Floral Maxi Dress“.

A Bridge Too Far?

Now, this dress has some of the loveliest design features of any dress I have seen in a while; delicate floaty sleeves, an Empire line waist and a lovely frill around the bottom.

The base colour of the dress is a deep purple with large fuchsia and purple peony like flowers adorning the crushed woven material.

Ladies Only

Whilst the material is stunning in its pattern and vibrancy, it also has the benefit of being extremely floaty. This gives it great movement, whether walking, dancing or even standing still in the slightest of breezes.

As I mentioned earlier, this dress features an Empire line waist.

Enthusiastically Empire

Now ask any fuller figured person and they will tell you that an Empire line design just does not work on those with a large bosom OR tummy.

The reason for this is that the Empire ‘Line’ usually sits across the chest, almost at the height of the nipples, whilst the skirt drops away from that line.

Taking a Break

All that does is accentuate the width of your body, which when you are of the larger persuasion, makes you look even larger and can be exceedingly unflattering.

Over the years I have tried several Empire line style dresses and they have all been awful.

“Oh, Hello”

This dress differs in the fact that it has curved edges coming from each side, which cause the ‘line’ to be gentler and not so severe.

Wearing a size 24, the fit was phenomenal. The bust line sat exactly where I wanted it to, whilst the curved sides pulled it in a little. This gave me some shape whilst still being floaty and feminine.

Floaty and Feminine

The dress measures a generous 53/45.5/53.5 inches. Now I am fairly confident in saying that there is a reasonable amount of leeway in those measurements as my hips are 58″ alone.

I did not feel like I was wearing something tight and restrictive. In fact it felt wonderfully loose yet figure hugging, if that makes any sense!

Sitting Pretty

One of the other things I like about this dress is that it is simply lined in a black knit lining which stops the dress from revealing your undies AND even better, it has no zips or buttons to do up.

Too many times I get items and they have silly little invisible zips, usually on the sides. Now, if you have N cup breasts like I do, you would need arms like an orangutan in order to reach the zip and do it up.

Trolley Dolly

This dress just needed to be pulled on over my head and smoothed down over my curves.

And boy, I think it really flattered those curves!

The Full Effect

I kept it simple with this dress and added a brand new addition to my shoe collection; The Loretta in Fuchsia from Miss L.Fire.

As soon as I put the shoes on, I was thrilled with the look. It literally was a perfect match.

Floral Fancy

I also had some purple and pink hair flowers from Ruby Boo Makes which I thought also went down an absolute treat.

Wearing the outfit to a stunning vintage railway, I took great delight it showing it off, posing on the platform, leaning on lamp-posts and being silly on bridges.

Ooops!

I even pretended to pop into the public conveniences; the gents, of course.

This dress really does stand out from the crowd and I feel that the name could be very apt. I think it would look absolutely stunning with a huge fascinator and a glass of bubbly, watching the favourite romping home in the last furlong.

Slidin’

Equally it could be the star turn at a garden party or afternoon tea. It is so very versatile and I think one of the main reasons is because the material stands out, it doesn’t need a lot of accessories or extras.

This gives a lot of scope for different events, which is perfect for me as I foresee this getting a lot of wear.

Taking a rest

Even though Winter is well on its way, this dress can still be utilised.

Add a pair of gorgeous Victorian style boots, a smart coat, gloves and hat and again, it hits the spot. You also get to surprise people when you take off the outerwear to reveal such a glorious dress.

Loving the Look

Another bonus is the price tag; £89.00 which I think is an absolute bargain given the exceptional quality and fit of the garment.

It is so beautifully made, fits like it was made-to-measure, has buttery soft material AND a pattern/colour that stops anyone from being a wallflower.

Pretty in Pink and Purple

I simply cannot recommend this dress highly enough, it is an absolute knockout of a dress and made me feel like a million pounds, whilst not costing the earth.

What is even better is Taking Shape are offering all my readers 20% off any of their full price range by using the code

GODDESS20

If you sign up to their website you can redeem ANOTHER 20% off the next order too!

Perfectly timed for Christmas as the code will work up to midnight on the 30th November!

What do you think? Does this dress hit the spot for you?

Fancy a Drink?

Till next time,

SPSG xxx

****Whilst the items in this review were gifted, all opinions, words and styling is purely my own****