LBD's and High Street Versace!

It's one of those things drummed in to us girls from a very young age and Victoria Beckham sums it up very well in her style book (That Extra Half An Inch: Hair, heels and Everything in Between. By the way, this is the best modern STYLE book, I have ever read. I have read it many times over. Often with a highlighter),

 'A little black dress is an essential every woman should have in her wardrobe.'

Well to be honest, as of late, my wardrobe has being slightly slack in the classic black dress department. It is all down to a little wardrobe meltdown I had, a couple of years ago, when Trinny and Susannah berated the females of the UK for having no colour in their wardrobes (remember?!). Of course, since my wardrobe was nearly all black, I felt a tad guilty and responsible for the great UK fashion crisis. So to make amends, I gave away about a third of my clothing collection (to be replaced with hideuous brights of all hues, which are now hidden in a dark corner somewhere, tags still intact) including a little black dress that I had from Topshop and absolutely adored.

Nostalgia alert!
With shoulder straps, it was classic and tight fitting. It showed not too much but just enough. It was the typical little black dress, fuss free. The only detail of significance was the low cut square neck line which puffed out just a little in a very flattering, slightly teasing (but decent!) manner.
I wish I had a picture to show you because in my mind, that dress was not only the definition of the classic little black dress - and maybe the first dress to make me feel like a lady- but also to be honest, just the perfect dress for somebody of my build and colouring.
Why, did I throw it out?!
Argh, I'm still not sure. Yeah, it was black but Trinny and Susannah, where are you now? To be honest, so many women of the UK wore and still do wear black for a simple reason or two ie. Black pieces are often flattering and look good. They also mask your insecurities and make you feel better maybe even good in your own skin. Looking good and feeling better, a winning combination in my opinion!

Argh, I have struggled to find a classic little black dress ever since the regretful meltdown. I guess at the moment, there are three contenders in my wardrobe.

Firstly, we have the lace dress which I'm not going to talk about much (after all, it has its own little post here) but suffice to say, as far as I'm concerned, this piece does not fall within the definition of the classic black dress. For me, the first thing you have to notice about a little black dress is that it is black. For me, the first thing that comes to mind when I see this dress is that it is firstly and foremost, a lace dress.

Secondly, we have a little number that I brought from TopShop (again!) last Christmas. This dress is certainly black and the body certainly looks more or less exactly like my idea of a little black dress.

However, the long cape attached to it really takes away anything classic about this dress.

Instead it makes it a very unique number which gleams a lot of attention when worn. I feel very powerful strutting around with my cape swishing around me.

However, this number is also a little bit impratical and almost a little bit too showy for a typical Saturday night at the local bar. A classic little black dress never really comes across quite as stage school-like.

Thirdly, we have the H&M dress, the one that I have earmarked for the upcoming festive season (just need some invites now, hint hint). I brought this dress recently (along with the lace one) and have held off from posting, hoping that H&M will put it online but as of yet, I still can't find it. : (

However, I'm still going to post it now because I feel that this is the closest thing I have in my wardrobe at the moment to the little black dress. It ticks most of the boxes.

- Falling above the knee, it is short but not provactively so.

-It has (classic) thin, black shoulder straps.

- It shows some flesh but not too much. It also has a little lacing detail around the decolletage which can be tightened or loosened depending on the look you want to achieve. I'm not sure if you're meant to let the lacing show but I hide it down said decolletage in an attempt to maintain some of the nochalence required by a little black dress.

- It seems to pull in at the waist slightly meaning you can radiate that tight black dress flattering silhouette vibe but at the same time, the skirt part is loser and swishes beautifully as you strut balancing it all out. The ovarall effect highlights everything good about the feminine vibe.

Now, I know that I said that the classic little black dress should be fuss free so a question mark has to lie over the ruffles but for me, the little black dress status is still a given here. The ruffles do make this dress quite distinctive and it may well fail the Victoria Beckham, 'Nobody will know you are wearing the same thing' test to a degree but you could wear this dress in different ways with a bit of denim, leather or what about tanned legs, tights or leggings (Amelia has almost converted me!). The dress would be identifiable but the look would be different.

Importantly, although distinct in thier own right, the ruffles do not completely define the dress. If anything, again, they just make the piece a little more feminine and could potentially balance out any cleavage or lace tie (if you did want to show much of either).

I am adamanent that this dress is a classic little black dress. After all, the top half of this dress is beautiful and you could sit at dinner and look equally as alluring in it as you would, swishing the skirt, as you shake your thang in the latest hotspot in town. Surely, nothing more can be asked of a classic LBD!

Talking of H&M . . .

I see the promo is online of the Versace collabaration. Please can anybody tell me why, the lover of black I am, am I now lusting, as we venture in to the depths of a deep dark winter, for this?!

Typical! Although, even in this collection, there are some black pieces pulling me in.

In particular, this dress, which looks a little long for me but maybe not, if I paired it with these boots!

What do you think of the H&M collaboration with Versace? Will you be buying anything? Do you have a little black dress? What will you be wearing this Christmas?
Oh and can I just say, thank you for the comments lately. Some of you know I've being blogging for almost a couple of years now and your comments (+follows) really do make me smile and make it all so worthwhile. Thank you and happy weekend! :))

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