My outfit for the Cosmo Blog Awards

_{Some items have been gifted}

I mentioned last week just how relaxed I’d been about what to wear for the Cosmo Blog Awards and that I’d kind of left everything to the last minute. Well, no sooner than I’d published that same blog post on Tuesday Shoesday I started to feel a little bit fluttery about the whole thing. What was I thinking? I’m never this disorganised and I always like to know well in advance what I’d like to wear to the special events I go to. So why oh why had I turned this into a last minute scramble for an outfit?! Maybe I didn’t actually believe that I was going to the Cosmo Blog Awards – let me just say it again – I’ve been invited to the Cosmopolitan Magazine Blog Awards as a finalist. Nope, that certainly doesn’t sound like it’s referring to me. Perhaps that’s the reason why I’ve been putting it to the back of my mind. Like I didn’t really think it was happening…

Well, the blog awards are tomorrow. And I am going to be there, no matter what. So I’d better pick out an outfit to wear. So far I’ve got the shoes sorted (as you might have seen in my blog post last week) and now my accessories can be ticked off the list too. I’ve decided to go for classic black but I don’t want to blend into the background too much , so I’ve plumped for accessories with a hint of gold with this sparkly flower necklace and cuff from Apricot. I spotted them online and in all honestly I wasn’t sure that the accessories would work well together but thankfully I was very wrong! And let me just say that the cuff is even more gorgeous in real life than in its online photos (usually it’s the other way round with photos of me haha) and now I want to buy more of them in different colours.

I have got my favourite 15 denier Charnos tights from UKTights which come in a pack of two so I will have a spare pair if I get a ladder during the course of the evening. My studded handbag was from the Apricot sale too, which has a long strap that can be detached to make it into an oversized clutch bag, so it’ll be good for all eventualities. I plan to carry it as a clutch with my phone and make-up tucked away in the inside pockets, and there’s plenty of room for the bloggers’ essentials: a camera and business cards! I like to have the option to wear my bag across my body if I’m dancing so I’m pleased to have the longer strap available if the occasion to bust some moves crops up!

So, on to the actual outfit options: I have a list of my top three dresses for the event and I have a definite choice of jacket so I’ll start with that. This Therapy blazer from House of Fraser is my new jacket for autumn/winter 2014. I think it’ll be great to wear throughout the season because it’s not too smart – the rope/cable knit design embossed into the jersey fabric gives it a cardigan feel – but it’s also not too casual to wear for an evening out because of the smart shape and tuxedo-like lapels. So  it’s best of both really –  somewhere in the middle between casual and smart – exactly where I like to be! The blog awards will be it’s first outing but I know I will get a lot of wear out of it over the season.

In terms of dresses, I’ve gone from none to 4 in the space of a couple of days. Firstly, I found this Therapy dress from House of Fraser in a butterfly pattern. I love  the fabric and the pretty design even though the shape is completely different to anything I’d usually wear! It makes me feel really sophisticated and I like the longer length on me. I prefer to wear dresses with sleeves so this is ideal but I stopped wearing wrap-front clothing a few years ago when I kept needing to sew them up to make sure that nothing fell out, so I am yet to decide whether this is the one yet.

I also fell in love with this red chiffon dress from Apricot as soon as I tried it on and it’s definitely more the kind of dress shape that I go for – I love a good tea-dress! The sleeves are a great shape and I like the fact that it has a coordinating belt with it – I find that wearing a contrasting black belt cuts me in half and makes me look even shorter and stumpier than I am! The length is good – almost knee length – and the fabric moves nicely, which would be perfect for dancing in. In fact, it’s ideal for all the 1940s dances I’ve been going to recently to practice my swing dancing, so I will be getting a lot of wear out of this dress over the coming season, no matter what! I love red for festive events but now that I’ve chosen so many black accessories I’m a little worried that I might look a bit halloweeny in it, but we’ll see when I try the whole look together!

Finally, I have a choice of two Dorothy Perkins dresses, this blue crepe dress – which I think would look great with black accessories – and this floral fit ‘n’ flare dress. I love how these dresses fit me and can always rely on Dorothy Perkins’ sizing so I was able to order these online and know that they would be the perfect fit. The trouble is that this makes my decision even more difficult! I think that the shape of the floral dress is particularly flattering and I even quite like the shorter length – it makes me feel all teenage again!

I’m sure that I will have made a decision by the end of the day, which usually involves trying on the entire outfit and taking photos like Cher in Clueless. You’ll be able to see what outfit I choose tomorrow – I’m sure that I’ll be tweeting photos while I’m at the Cosmo Blog Awards! And wish me luck, eek!

Some items in this blog post have been gifted to me and the pink links indicate a gifted product, affiliate link or information source. All thoughts and opinions in this post are based on my own experience and I am not responsible for your experience 🙂