Ooh La La LOVE!

*This item was sent to me by Gossard to review. This in no way clouds my judgement*

As soon as I saw the Ooh La La range from Gossard I fell in love to the point of buying an entire set that didn't even fit purely on the basis that it looked gorgeous! I consider it the set that won me Brastop's Model Of The Month competition in December 2011. To recap, here's the set; plunge bra £30, deep suspender £22 and shorts £14.

Since then, I've lusted after the Ooh La La corsele £59 and thong £12 in it's different colours, particularly the most recent in Scarlet.

You can imagine my delight when the lovely Jade from Gossard offered to send me the very corselet and matching thong I'd been admiring from afar! As soon as I unpackaged it I was in love, but at a 30G (again, sent because Gossard don't make a 28GG) I was doubtful that it would fit.

The colour is more of a raspberry red rather than scarlet, with pinkish undertones. The vintage styling, pin tucks and lace really add to the luxury of this piece, making it ideal for bridal lingerie in the Ivory colour.

Firstly, Gossard boast this corselet has an 'easy-on, easy-off' side zip and hook and eye fastening. Let me tell you, easy it is NOT! I fought for quite a long time trying to fasten the damn thing, and eventually had to unhook the bra strap and spin it around! The zip is concealed and virtually invisible. Here's the fastening with the hook and eye part of the bra band fastened already;

The unique side hook and eye fastening with a concealed zip

The 30G padded cups were a perfect fit on me, but as expected, the band was on the large side, as was the body. I can imagine this fitting a 30G size 10-12 perfectly. Sadly it was an inch or two too big on my waist. It would be suitable for wearing underneath that little black dress as a sexy alternative to shapewear, but you also need to take into account the seams which may appear bulky under anything particularly tight fitting. I'm unable to comment on it's 'pull-in power' as it's loose in the body on me. This begs the question; how much pinning did they have to do on the model to get it to look so good?!

The addition of suspenders is both practical and drop dead sexy too! This corselet is a multi-way, enabling it to be worn under a strapless, halterneck, asymetrical or normal strapped dress. Sadly, as it was a bit big in the band, I can only wear it with straps.

Regular readers will know I like to buy my thongs in larger sizes to reduce 'muffin top' and in the Ooh La La, I was sent a Large, which fitted perfectly without any lumps and bumps.

Be warned, this corselet will make you feel like a real-life Jessica Rabbit!

At £59, it's a lot more than I'd be happy to spend, but if it fits and you have a use for it, I'd certainly recommend buying it. It's sexy, practical and well made. The corselet is available in sizes 30-38 D-G for £59 and the thong XS-L for £12. There's no denying it's one of the sexiest sets I've reviewed so far, it's just a shame that Gossard don't cater for more sizes.

What do you think? Would you pay this much for a corselet? Should Gossard branch out with their sizes?

Lady V London Revisited...and I'm in LOVE!

Back in April, you may remember my post about a newly discovered company, specialising in Vintage reproduction dresses called Lady Vintage London. The dress I bought from them is absolutely beautiful, but didn't fit in a size 10 sadly. However, I couldn't bear to return it as I'd fell deeply in love with it, so I asked my mum to tailor it to fit and she did it brilliantly! After much hassling via twitter and Facebook, Lady Vintage finally announced that they would add size 8's to their range! I was delighted at this, but couldn't choose a dress until I finally caved last week and ordered three beautiful dresses. Without further ado, here they are!

Black & White Polka Dot Hepburn Dress. At the moment, it has £10 off, making it £30. Be quick if you want one! This is a size 8 and sadly too big. I mean sadly, because I wanted this dress to wear for work. It's eye-catching without being sexy and I love the high neckline (supposedly a no-no for a big bust) and the huge amount of fabric in the skirt. The dress comes with a thin black patent belt, as seen in the first two photos. It would easily work for a day in the office, night out, wedding or even as a day dress, it's so adaptable! My only other criticism in the length. At 5'2", it's a little bit too long, but when I slipped on my petticoat (details at the bottom of the post), it looked much better. My advice; Size down in this, but it's WELL worth it.

If only this came in a size 6...

My next choice is a fairly new addition to Lady Vintage, in a size 8, the Beautiful Cat Print Shawl Collar 50's Dress, £35. As soon as I tried this on, I knew it was something special! The fabric is so soft and floaty,and the print is adorable! Just look at the little kitty! I love the Peter Pan collar and the matching fabric tie belt too. The bust is just about big enough for me, so if you're reading this because you have big boobs, bear it in mind that I'm a 28GG. Again I tried this with and without a petticoat and with various belts. With the petticoat I felt a little like a lampshade, but with a less full petticoat, I'm sure it would look much better. It's very slightly see through, but this can be tackled by wearing nude underwear. Here, I'm wearing blue and you can see it showing through a little, but not too badly.

Lastly, the dress I was most looking forward to trying after my campaign to get size 8's made; the Vintage Blue Floral Summer Swing Dress, £40. I really didn't want to fall in love with this as I've still not worn my other Lady Vintage swing dress, but boy have I fallen for it! Firstly, the fit is so perfect it's as though it was made for me! I was spoilt for choice at which swing dress to try because admittedly, I wasn't overly keen on any of the patterns, and even when I first slipped this dress on I wasn't so sure. With my nude belt and shoes, it's safe and understated, but a little 'meh'. Then I went and tried it with red. WOW. Who'd have thought that red would be the most complimentary colour for this dress?! I thought I'd be buying the cat dress but this one has me smitten so I'm going to have to make a tough decision...

So as I mentioned at the start of this post, my mum altered the dress I'd previously bought from Lady Vintage, and here it is. I'm sure you'll agree that she did an amazing job! Unfortunately this colour dress is no longer available but you can still get it in black and red, £30 or in black and pink, £30.

...and here's what I was wearing underneath. for the square necklines, it's best to wear a balconette bra like this one; Tease Me in blue by Curvy Kate, £29. My petticoat is from Collectif, and is the Lola Puffy in red, £38.

You might also want to check out Lady Vintage fans and bloggers Miss Kathryn's Misstakes,  Big Girl's Browse and  Fuller Figure Fuller Bust. They all look amazing in their Lady Vintage dresses!

So all that's left to do is decide which dress I'm keeping. Thanks for reading!