Another day, another plaid beauty to add to my closet, because I am beyond help. Although, actually, this time I can’t even be blamed for my obsessive collecting of all tartan and plaid pinup pieces because Dancing Days picked out this outfit for me. That’s right, this time my friends can’t even roll their eyes or laugh at me in bemused exasperation, because I was 100% faultlessly enabled in adding yet more plaid to my wardrobe. Thanks Dancing Days for giving me the perfect excuse, in the form of a wonderful dress. Let’s take a gleeful, guilt-free look at it!

Eliza swing Dress, Let The Good Times Roll Booties & Candice Fascinator
All C/O Banned/Dancing Days
Gloves: Old Primark

I spotted the purple version of this dress in a Lookbook I found online for Dancing Days’ AW17 line a couple months back and quietly hoped that it would be coming in plus sizes, so I was really pleased to be offered this dress in this lovely teal colourway. I love that they chose to make a teal version, as I feel it’s not a colour that often utilised for plaids or tartans, making for an eye-catching and unusual piece. The contrasting plaid lines that run through it are white and rust orange, with more subtle pale blue and emerald green lines blending into the main teal as a second dimensional effect. I adore the teal, white and orange colour combination, especially since rust orange is a colour that has only begun to catch my attention this season. Adding in rust accessories would make for a striking combination, I feel, so I’m on the hunt for just such items.

The accessories pictured here, the burgundy fascinator and the burgundy/black booties create a colour combination I wouldn’t have come up with by myself, even as much as I love burgundy and try to shoe-horn it into as many looks as I can. The Let The Good Times Roll booties come in this black/wine combination or in a black/white combo, and are incredibly comfortable to walk in with their low heel. Ladies who struggle even in small heels will likely find that bootie styles are easier to navigate as they’re so solidly formed to your foot, with less room to wiggle or wobble like a strappy hell might have, so I can thoroughly recommend them on that front. They can double as being work appropriate shoes as well as cute enough for social wear, plus they’re warmer to wear in winter than heels that expose your toes or upper foot, and they’re also easy to wipe clean. I asked for my usual size 7 and they fit perfectly.

The Candice fascinator features a large matching felt bow and black veiling, two perfect features to make for a mysterious and glamorous fascinator. Rather than a hair comb or thin piece of elastic to attach it to your head, both of which I find really difficult to get along with, it has a single clip, making it easy to use and sturdy in place.

The Eliza dress closes with a back zipper and has pockets, which are basically my preferred base requirements for easy wearability of a dress. It has a flared skirt that can fit a slim volume petticoat and has a boat neckline that features the contrast bow detail, as well as incredibly interesting sleeves. I didn’t notice said sleeves the first couple times I saw a picture of this dress, but I really don’t know how I missed them because they definitely stand out. The sleeves are open from the shoulder to the cuffs, where they come back together with two buttons to close, creating peekaboo open slit down your upper arm. It’s a surprising and unusual sleeve design, especially in an autumn/winter dress, but for ladies who have large upper arms it’s an unexpected saving grace, removing any chances that the fabric would pinch or dig at your upper arms throughout the day. Bonus!

Dancing Days have some variation in their size charts according to what style of item you’re looking at, meaning you might take an XL in a stretch cardigan but may have to size into a 2X for a dress, etc (their size chart can be found here.) I opted for the 2XL for this Eliza dress and find it’s very true to size. It’s a great fit in my bust, flat measuring at 43 inches with stretch to 46 inches, and the waist flat measures at 36 inches with stretch to 38 inches. The skirt is 26 inches long.

Dancing Days are a wholesale-only brand who don’t sell their own items to customers directly via their own website, but they have stockists all over the world. For this reason an internet search is likely to give you results most local to your location for potential stockists of these items, but I have found some stockists of each as a starting point, as listed below.

The Let the Good Times Roll booties come in two colours, UK sizes 3.5-7, for $47.99 from Tigermilly.co.uk. The Candice Fascinator comes in 4 colours, available for €19.95 from Top Vintage. The Eliza swing dress is available in teal in plus sizes, though I could only quickly find it in sizes XS-XL from Ladybloves for £50 and in Aubergine in sizes XS-XL for €59.95 from Top Vintage.