From the Archives: Tulle galore or...stepping up the fabulosity for a night on the tiles

Words and photos by Susie Sandford Smith

I wore this outfit to a friend's fiftieth birthday party recently. It didn't say it on the invite but...I knew that fabulosity was the order of the day and when I saw this gorgeous tulle skirt by Martine McCutcheon for SimplyBe I knew that it was THE piece to turn me into the belle of the ball (one of them, at least).

Against my better judgement, I mean "C'mon...tulle skirts aren't the most obvious choice for the more fuller figured bod you know", I'd tried making a big fluffy tulle skirt a while ago and it was absolutely awful - so bad that all I could do was laugh and..scrap that idea. So I was mightly pleased when I came across this skirt and, as I'm trying to be more Devil-may-care about the way I dress* I thought that I'd give tulle another go.

Detail of Martine McCutcheon tulle for SimplyBe tulle skirt

The skirt got so many compliments...I got a few too so I can't complain. It's an item of clothing that makes you smile when you wear it, it's so easy to wear and swishes and bounces about and makes you feel light and playful. It was an instant hit and seemed to be almost like a honey pot to Pooh Bear. Even the entertainment (Patsy and Edina-alikies) couldn't keep their hands off the skirt and it was great fun twirling about the room until, that is, the heel snapped off of my boot - at which point I changed into my trusty Converse and continued jumping about (more moshing than ballet) and twirling and playing my faithful old air guitar.

Full outfit including Martine McCutcheon tulle skirt for SimplyBe

I dressed the skirt up with a sequin jacket from ASOS but that came off almost as soon as I arrived. That's sold out now but I've linked to a lovely looking sequinned cape from SimplyBe which I'm thinking about getting because..who doesn't need a little sequin cape in their wardrobe right? I wanted everything else to be simple and understated, letting the skirt do the talking, so teamed it with a gorgeous t-shirt from COS (I'm sure the t-shirt is meant to be all loose and drapey and kinda boy/girlish but I like the way it fits me - don't be scared to try shops that you think won't have things to fit you coz often they will). The boots are from Evans and the bag is vintage. Oh, and my necklace which you'll see in lots of posts that I'm in is one of my all time favourites and is from a wonderful jewellery designer called Jacey Withers - this is from the Sylvan collection which I'm not sure he still produces but, he's always got interesting stuff.

Playing with Martine McCutcheon tulle skirt for SimplyBe

Playing with Martin McCutcheon for SimplyBe tulle skirt

Now for some twirling. I had such good fun setting the timer and running back and forth to pose. I had loads of shots that I wanted to include but, for those of you that are keen eyed, you'll notice that the cat flap etc are no longer there - I've attempted some rudimentary photoshopping to make the background more attractive but, I'm not very good at it so thought it best to call it a day while the blinkin skirt is still on sale! It is actually on sale so if you fancy it you'd better look sharp as I'm sure it'll sell out quickly.

Twirling in Martine McCutcheon for SimplyBe tulle skirt

More twirling in Martin McCutcheon for SimplyBe tulle skirt

All that twirling was a bit tiring so I needed to lean on a wall to have a rest!

Leaning against wall in Martine McCutcheon for SimplyBe tulle skirt

Skirt - Martine McCutcheon for SimplyBe, Jacket - ASOS/similar, T-shirt - COS/similar, Boots - Evans/similar, Necklace - Jacey Withers, Bag - vintage

*On having a Devil-may-care attitude - as talked about in my first style post, I just wanted to make clear that what I'm trying to do is be happy with who I am, both in terms of WHO I am and what I look like, and I think that having a little fun with clothes and makeup and being less of a shrinking violet can only be for the good. If you have lots of weight to lose before you can even be termed overweight, as do I, or your knees hurt more times than they don't, or you've lost your sense of how to eat or....you can't run for a bus because you get out of breath or your movement is restricted (not all of these apply to me but some definitely do) then you almost certainly need to make some changes and one of these changes is probably to lose some weight (however you choose to do it but I'd suggest giving up dieting might be a good start) - simple as. But, there's no harm in feeling great about yourself while you do so and that's what I'm advocating.

Goddit?

PS - thanks to my daughter Alex for being my photographer for part of this shoot.