I was delighted to see some stories cropping up praising gorgeous curvy celebrities – it’s such a refreshing change. Apparently the fuller figure is back – woo hoo! Just take a look at Mad Men star Christina Hendricks. All I can say is… wow!

Christina loves her curves (and who can blame her?)

‘I used to say that I had opposite anorexia,’ she laughs.

‘Every time I’d take my clothes off, I’d look in the mirror and think: “I feel like a woman and I like myself this way.”‘

Can we have some more women who feel that way about their bodies please?

Actually yes we can! Kate Winslet, Beyonce… there are whole galleries of gorgeous curvy girls here and here.

I still get pretty mad at how much emphasis the media puts on a woman’s weight. I can’t believe how much attention Jessica Simpson has been getting for her new fuller figure. She looks fabulous – and she’s clearly so much happier now. Yet people just can’t wait to stick their oar in and make their horrible pronouncements. Although I am glad to see so many people have also spoken up in her defence, including her sister Ashlee, her trainer and actress Kim Kardashian.

Honestly the amount of coverage her figure has generated is unbelievable – especially given everything that’s going on in the world today. So she’s made the decision not to trade fun for being skinny. I say good for her!

Jessica has got everything perfectly in proportion… I just wish the media would too.

New statistics came back this week from Consumer Direct, the Government’s consumer helpline, reporting that complaints made about women’s clothing have shot up by a massive 23%.

Although there is no conclusive explanation behind this, it’s been suggested that one of the main factors is the explosion of mass-produced cheap clothes as sold in certain high street stores and supermarkets which has led to a dip in the quality of ladies clothing.

Personally, I’ve never been backwards in coming forwards when it comes to complaining. However, I do think that you get what you pay for. And if a top costs £2.50 then you can’t expect it to be the kind of quality that will last and last.

That’s why I think Marisota fashion is so great. It’s affordable plus size ladies’ fashion that represents good value for money. And good value doesn’t mean cheap. It means you pay a good price for the quality that you get!

The Irish Independent had an interview with one of my favourite plus size fashion designers, Anna Scholz.

Here are some of the things she had to say:

“I have been in business for 12 years and I thought, by now, at least, I would have had a lot more competition. But it is a little bit more difficult and challenging than doing straight sizes, because you can’t just get skinny models to walk down a catwalk and make anything look beautiful. A lot of people don’t even have big women on their radar. They don’t think of them as being anything to do with fashion. They think it’s an older customer who doesn’t go out, who doesn’t enjoy life,”

“People need to learn how to experiment with their shape a bit more. It’s about enjoying fashion. For everyone to aspire to be a blonde, thin thing is just boring.”

It is true though, you would think that there would be more plus size fashion designers out there – but no!

Take a look at Anna Scholz’s plus size fashion collection at Marisota. her vibrant designs really show a lust for life:

I’ve blogged about Michelle Obama before and mentioned how much scrutiny women in the public eye get for the clothes they wear. There has been much speculation about what Mrs Obama would wear for the inauguration day yesterday, but I’m pleased to say that the feedback about what she wore for both the speech and the ball has been pretty well received.

I thought she looked fabulous in the yellow designer dress and matching jacket she wore at the inauguration speech. She looked smart and sensible yet undeniably glamorous too with all that sparkle. Many are touting her as the next Jackie O, first lady of fashion!

It has been suggested she chose yellow to represent hope for the future, a ray of sunshine. Don’t listen to Jane and her January doom and gloom! If you fancy letting a little ray of sunshine into your wardrobe, try some of this plus size fashion from Marisota in sunny colours. Yellow’s set to be a big colour this spring!

For the ball she wore a stunning one-shouldered white dress, again shining out like a ray of hope. Apparently it’s more traditional to wear a red dress or a blue dress but there’s something about a white dress that makes you feel really special. Certainly worked on my wedding day!

I love this plus size white dress from Marisota – it would make a great plus size wedding dress. And so affordable too!

Well I don’t know about the January blues but right about now I’ve got the January blacks! I just read this really interesting feature on the history of gothic fashion and it’s taken me right back to youth. Yes, ok, I admit I went through a bit of a goth phase. After getting all nostalgic I felt like breaking out the black! According to the article it never goes out fashion anyway so I’m on to a winner.

You don’t go for the full-on Siouxie Sioux look to inject a bit of gothic glamour into your style. Take a look at some of these darkly glamorous outfit ideas… all available in a plus size range from Marisota.

I love the gothic lace on this bat-wing black kimono top.

This black ruffle-neck blouse has an air of Victorian gothicism about it. You could make it look more – or less – edgy depending how you wanted to dress it up.

This sexy black plus size bustier simply screams gothic glamour.

This black slash neck jumper needs nothing more than skinny jeans and lots of back-combing. (Very Robert Smith).

Every glamorous gothic lady needs a good black overcoat. (I used to have a leather one but I think this one’s a but more sophisticated!)

The right gothic footwear is essential – these military style black shoe boots fit the bill – and they’re wide fitting too!

A sexy studded black handbag finishes off the look!

Black nail varnish and lipstick strictly optional

The contents of women’s wardrobes seems to be a never ending source of intrigue for big companies. Hot on the heels of the research I blogged about on how long women keep their clothes for and how much they never wear comes this new research along similar lines.

It claims that women have an average of 10 items of clothing that never get worn, worth around £140 (that’s £2.8 billion worth the nation over) – and it’s due to yo-yo dieting. Constantly changing your weight means the clothes mount up; some too big, some you hope to one day slim into again, and some that never fitted you in the first place. The power of wishful thinking!

What I find interesting is the fact that women apparently have 3 different dress sizes hanging up in their wardrobes. The article claims this is due to yo-yo dieting but I’m sure in many cases it’s just because sizes in shops can be so wildly different.

That’s one of the things I like about Marisota. They’re a sponsor of Size UK, a national sizing survey. Together, they aim to offer better fitting clothes.  And you can really tell!

Don’t do drastic diets girls – it’s not good for you, or your wardrobe. Simply stay a steady weight and shop somewhere with decent sizing – like Marisota!

I was interested to read this article recently about a new charity called Dress for Success.

Its aim is to help disadvantaged women get back into work after they have faced great difficulties in their lives. Getting a job isn’t easy at the best of times, but when you’ve been out of work for a long time and have lost all confidence in yourself it’s nigh on impossible. Dress for Success gives struggling women a new working wardrobe and a corresponding confidence boost to enable them to ace those interviews and get back into work.

What a great idea! It’s a subject very close to my heart as I had a long break from employment after having Joanne but getting back to work was one of the best moves I’ve ever made.

It’s amazing the difference that the right clothes can make. I think when you give up on yourself you give up on how you look too and it’s like a vicious circle. So to be given clothes that look like you mean business and a new attitude to match can really help turn your life around.

Something like this pencil skirt suit would be perfect for a formal job interview. You couldn’t fail to make a good impression in that outfit.

Or a plus size blouse and wide leg trousers combination would work well too:

To all of those out there planning to get back into work in 2009, or to move onwards and upwards to a better job, the very best of luck from me and the Marisota girls.

It’s well known that fashion, like so many things, goes round in cycles. So it’s no big surprise that’s there’s currently a resurgence for all things fur – especially considering this freezing cold snap we’re in the middle of.

The debate rages on and on about whether you should go ‘fur’ the real thing (sorry!) or choose the more animal friendly option, faux-fur. There are some impassioned arguments on both sides of the fence and to be honest, I can see where both sides are coming from. I’m not a vegetarian and I wear leather shoes and boots… but even so I don’t think I would buy new real fur (even if I could afford it!)

You can get some pretty gorgeous faux-fur pieces that feel just as luxurious as the real thing.

I love the glamour of this faux-fur trimmed cardigan from Marisota. The fur trim is detachable depending on how dressy you want to be. (Glamour all the way for me!)

And this faux fur-trimmed suede coat from plus size fashion designer Anna Scholz looks so cosy in a decadent kind of way.  Just the thing for this cold weather we’re having too. The blue colour is fun but I always say you can’t go wrong with black.

What do you think?

Well Happy New Year everyone – hope you’ve all had a great break and are not feeling too depressed if you’re back at work.

Some good news to start the New Year – according to new research, curvy girls of a dress size 14 rate their happiness levels higher than ladies of any other dress size, and the second happiest are size 12 ladies.

A spokeswoman for Special K, who conducted the poll with 3,000 women, said:

“It’s great to discover that being a size zero doesn’t necessarily bring you happiness.

“Our research shows that the curvier size 14 woman is much more comfortable with their shape and has a happier outlook on life.”

So if you’ve made new year’s resolutions to get super skinny, remember, it’s not the key to happiness – curvy girls have more fun!