Diamonds 'n' Pearls: Plus London

I went along to the daytime event and I have to say, even as chatty and confident as I can be I was so nervous! When I arrived in Evans (late, oops) it was so nice to see an army of avid happy shoppers all chatting and greeting each other. I wondered around the floor for a few mins mooching through the rails and it wasnt long before the fabulous Amy of These Girls Turn Heads spotted me and came over for a chat! My nerves disolved and I instantly felt welcomed by all the amazing ladies.

The daytime shopping was fab, I picked up some brilliant bargains, my favourites being a really cute chunky heart pendant necklace from Primark for about £2.50 and an amazing pair of shoe boots from Evans! They were a bargain as they were marked up on the sale rack for £10 but when I got them to the till they were a steal at £5!!! Its the simple things, like this that make me a very happy girly, I cannot wait to wear them!

After a brill day of shopping, I went back to my hotel to get ready for the evening event over at The Strand Gallery. I wore a pretty dress which I found on eBay, which was originally from Evans, a little black glittery cardigan, black tights and some previously posted about black bow peep toe slingbacks from New Look. I left for the night all done up with a slick of red lippy and my new enormous Primark clutch bag (Oh Im so stylish) and was whisked away across central London to the venue.

Everybody looked absolutely gorgeous, the room was full of women of ALL shapes and sizes, complimenting each other and really enjoying themselves. Quaffing lovely champagne, tucking into delish cupcakes and pouring over the samples of beautiful clothes from retailers such as ASOS Curve, H&M Inclusive, Torrid, Yours Clothing, Carmakoma (Who's gorgeous rep Maria I absolutely loved!!!), I have to say though, the range which wowed me the most and had me absolutely drooling was the Spring/Summer 2011 Anna Scholz range.

The reps from Anna Scholz, Cliff and Sharon were brilliant, you can tell that there is so much devotion put into Anna's clothing and all of her team are so passionate about it, they were full of info on the range and really took the time to get to know us girls and asked us what we thought and even encouraged us to try on! I fell in love with a beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL (Did you get that BEAUTIFUL!!!!) silk maxi dress which was absolutely to die for. The sample size was in a Uk 18, but Sharon and Cliff encouraged me to try it. I was dubious (and also terrified I was gonna rip it or something) but I got my ample size 28 physique into it, and although it was a little bit clingy (well it was 5 sizes too small) I got a really good feel for the dress, even though it was slightly on the snug side I loved it! When I get hold of the pic Cliff took of me in it I promise I will share it. But until then, here are a couple of pics of Anna's samples with the dress in question at the front, the print is a little hard to make out though against the rest of the dresses, so here is a link to the shorter version on the website.

I also cannot wait to see the photos taken by the gorgeous Diana of Fashion Loves Photos, who did a great pop-up studio where we all got to go and strike a pose in front of the camera! So glam!

All in all I have to say the day was a marvellous occassion where it was fantastic to see a group of women all bonding and exchanging ideas about the plus size industry and fashion in general. Lauren and co, a massive thanks to you all for putting together something which was truly fantastic and so beneficial to the community. I'd love to see this event or one like it put together every year or every new fashion season, maybe in line with London Fashion week to enhance the profile of plus size fashion. Oh and a big thanks for the awesome goody bag! Loved my sunnies!

Anyway, Im gonna round this up with a few of the snaps that I got of the day. I will try my best to include all names and links to blogs but if I miss anyone or get anyones name wrong please get in touch with me and Ill update!