Plus North

Wow it has been just over a week since Plus North and I think I am now almost recovered!

It was amazing and exhausting all at once and this week has been about me getting back on track and figuring out whats next.

Do you ever get like that after a big event, I find that in all the excitement and craziness of the event afterwards I am totally shattered, in a good way mind you.

Sometimes my mind just likes me to take in and mull over all the fantastic experiences and make sense of them before I carry on.

So on to the event, Plus North was put together by the fabulous Becky of The Ramblings of Mrs BeBe and Toni of The Only Way is Toni, go take a look at both their blogs they are fabulous! 

Image courtesy of Janie visit her page HERE

I helped out with the ticket sales and printing the tickets for the event which is where some of the exhaustion came from I think, I finally finished all the printing and packing at about 2.30am on the saturday of the main event, and then had to get up at 5.30am to get myself ready to travel, luckily I was so excited that I didn't feel tired at all.

This is me almost ready to leave for the station I went for comfortable yet pretty clothing to help make me feel good.

I am wearing

Waterfall Cardigan - Que at Vida Moda

Glamourosa Tunic - SimplyBe

Leggings - Asda

WideFit Shoes - Newlook

I have to say this was the perfect outfit for travel it was comfy, cool and easy to move in, I had decided to travel to leeds first class as a busy train can seriously freak me out and I didn't want a bad start to my weekend.

I tweeted just as I left stevenage to say I was on route and after a bit of twitter chat figured out that the gorgeous Hanna of The Wardrobe Challenge was on the same train as me, so she popped along to first class for a visit, her visit ended up being the whole journey and we had a blast!

Picture courtesy of Hanna

On arriving in leeds we made our way to Aspire so I could drop off Hanna as she had dress rehearsals for the catwalk show and so I could pass on the Tickets to Becky and Toni so that their fabulous minions for the day MrBeBe and Ben could prepare for everyones arrival.

Now I had to race to find my hotel, get checked in and change ready for the fabulous afternoon ahead, I had luckily been offered a nights stay in the Hilton Doubletree hotel in leeds after a poor stay in another hotel in london, and I have to say the Double Tree more than made up for the previous hotel in every way!

The room was beautiful very simple and fairly modern it had a Mac in the room which was the TV, Radio and a Computer to use and a gorgeous bathroom, I like hotel bathrooms, if its a crap bathroom I wont want to stay again :) 

The view was really pretty, I was only on the 4th floor so no pretty views over the city but I loved the lock so I was happy, the walk to the hotel took me down this very creepy tunnel which is where the river flows under, It was incredibly loud but fabulous, I later found out that there is a much nicer well lit bridge a little further up but, I choose to take this route every time!

In all the mad dashes of the weekend I managed to forget to take a picture of my room but I can honestly say I would be more than happy to stay in the hotel again and likely will!

The aspire building is beautiful and on my return I really took the time to take a look around and I wasn't disappointed.

The view from the mezzanine floor - everyone beginning to arrive and settle in.

The internal architecture was simply stunning, if you like that sort of thing like me you would have enjoyed looking around!

The beautiful modern lighting looked amazing on the high ceilings and he massive arched windows, the Aspire building is the old Lloyds banking hall, how amazing would it be if our banks still looked like this!

Ok enough of my personal obsessions :) onto the amazing event itself and the fabulous clothing and guests!

I had the privilage to spend most of my day with Hanna and Caroline

How beautiful do they both look in their fabulous outfits!

Hanna's outfit is a New Look skirt with a Domino Dollhouse Petticoat, and Caroline is wearing a Wallis dress with a vest under. 

The catwalk show was fantastic, all the ladies who were brave enough to take part looked utterly stunning and I was so proud of them all, I decided not to take part this time as once in my life was enough for me!

You can take a look at all the photos on my Facebook page HERE The ladies all looked stunning! 

I did have an official photo taken by the fabulous SimplyBe Photographer so you can see my outfit, I will be doing a separate post about everything I wore to review the items for you, as the lovely Charlotte of SimplyBe offered to provide my outfit for the day as I had helped out with the ticket sales.

I am wearing

Sarong Skirt - Simplybe

Shrug - SimplyBe

Bustier Top - SimplyBe 

WideFit Shoes - New Look

I also want to say a huge thank you to the brands who attended making me feel the plus size market is not failing us, and events like this and plus London are needed to get our voices heard and to let them know we want fashion and fun!

Stella & Dot - F&F - Dea London - Trapped in a Skinny World - Chesca - Life's Big Canvas - Benefit - SimplyBe - Curvy and Stylish - State of Mind - Curvissa - Excite Clothing - Eve Activewear -
Eddi & Bri -  New Look - Style369 - Slink Magazine

All the above brands helped make the event what it was by being there, offering a prize for the draw or a discount code for us to use.

Plus North really was an amazing day and we had so much fun, I can not wait until next year!

Mhairi
xxx

Plus North

PLUS NORTH!

On July 7th Many of us bloggers will be coming together to show each other some love in the city of leeds, I had such a fabulous time at Plus London Two I was very excited that toni and Becky decided to put together Plus North, as bloggers we spend so much time attending events in the south I think this is a fab chance to head north and show the wonderful women up their our support.

The event will be held at the aspire building in leeds it is a converted banking hall and a fabulous place for an event, it is open to plus fashion and beauty bloggers and our readers.

The venue looks amazing!

Simply be are the main sponsors and will be providing us with a catwalk show all the models are non professional made up of bloggers and readers, so it will be fantastic to see the clothing on a great mix of body shapes and sizes.

They will also have a stand upstairs on the mezzanine floor for us to have a good look at the clothing and feel them in person, which is fabulous for women like me who are nowhere near one of the fabulous new Simply Be stores.

There will also be a number of other plus fashion, beauty and jewellery brands coming to the event who will have stands upstairs for us to enjoy as well.

Sponsors

We also have contributions from....

Tickets for the event cost £5 but this gets you entry into the prize draw, a goody bag, drinks and canapes.

The prizes in the prize draw are pretty excellent!!

Some of the prizes on offer include, A photo shoot from Excite Clothing and you get to keep the clothing from the shoot 

Dea London are offering the opportunity to win an item of there clothing from the current range, this excites me so much!

Benefit cosmetics are offering a huge £250 voucher for the prize draw, WOW!

Stella and Dot and Life's Big Canvas are each offering a Piece of Jewellery. 

There will be more to add but this is just to wet your appetites.

Stella and dot are planning on offering hand and arm massages using organic products on the day.

Two of our fellow plus north Attendees Rebecca and stacy will be offering free files and polishes for everyone.

It is shaping up to be a fabulous day and I have offered my services to help the girls out on the day, I have 2 blog posts scheduled for the next couple of days on was a visit to the lovely Dea London who are making Becky and Toni an item of clothing for the day, I tagged along to watch the process of design and measuring for the item, it was brilliant to watch.

We also visited Chesca and had a look around there current collection they were such a fabulous team, and I have a blog all about that visit too. 

So come on ladies, book a ticket and come along, remember it isn't just for Bloggers it is open to the public, bring your mums and sisters make it a weekend away and have some fun!

Slink Magazine

Now if you follow my Twitter of Facebook, you will have likely seen me rave about Slink Magazine, It is fabulous, I have followed them through there first 4 online issues, and when I saw that they were going into print for the first time with issue 5, I knew I had to have a copy.


Slink Magazine is a plus fashion and lifestyle mag, which easily rivals the glossy fashion magazines on the shelves at the moment, I can identify more easily with the fashion and the articles. 


Issue 5 is the relationships issue, but that doesn't mean dating and love stories, it is so much more.


This is the information the fabulous Editor in Chief Rivkie sent me to explain this issue..


The Relationship Issue focuses on not just on the age old fairytale of love but how we relate to different aspects in our life. From food, family, body and our wardrobe the way we feel about ourselves, other people and our material possessions the SLiNK team discusses exactly how they feel!
Alongside this we have 6 great Spring/Summer trends and how to best work them into your wardrobe, 3 great fashion stories, interviews with Whitney Thompson, the only plus size winner of ANTM, brand owner of Allistyle - Pam Shainhouse and the usual beauty, treatment, recipes, restaurant reviews, travel, motoring and culture!

I wasn't sure what to expect from the magazine, what the quality would be, but when it dropped through my door yesterday I couldn't have been happier, It feels like a magazine I could collect from my local WHSmiths, the paper is beautiful and thick, and as always the images and articles within are fabulous!

This is my very own copy!

Stunning cover Girl

An awesome article from the fabulous Becky Of the Ramblings of Mrs BeBE

Love the fashion tips

And the photo shoots always WOW me.

I cant stress enough how much I love this Magazine and I would love for it to gain the following and support it deserves to become huge!

You can purchase a printed copy of Slink magazine for £3.95 + P&P or you can order it in either digital PDF or ePub formats for £1.00 Here

Remember to check out the back issues too while you are there, they are fabulous. 

I will be waiting excitedly for the May money issue to come out.

Mhairi

xxx