Fashion: Red Carpet OOTD For Cosmopolitan's FashFest

Hi ladies, how are you? Last week, Karen got invited by River Island to attend this year's Cosmopolitan FashFest. She was allowed a plus one and have a guess whom she asked to come along!?! #bigsmile. The four day FashFest event ended with an epic fashion show on Thursday night, so it was time for us to dress up for a glamourous night out.

The Search For The Dress

For a while now, I've been seeing a certain style with dresses and skirts. Sometimes I would come across the term 'Flare & Fit', other times 'Hollow Cut Out'. I still haven't find out 100% what the style is called, but one thing was for sure. I really wanted to have either a skirt or dress of that make.

After an intense fashion research online, I found out that Forever 21 would sell black sleevless dresses with the shape and cut. As it always is with a fashion piece online, it wasn't available in my size so I went into both London stores and tried to hunt that dress down - without any success. It was a serious sad day in my little fashion world, so I posted a picture of the desired item on IG. Within a few hours, Lubka gave me a brilliant hint where to look. 

I followed her advice and checked out Bohoo, which indeed, sold the dress. BUT (why is there always a but?) the dress came £30. I bookmarked it and decided to come back to it at some point.

Fashion fortune had it, that SammyDress got in touch a few days later, asking me if I'd like to feature them on my blog. SammyDress is an online retailer similar to SheInside and Romwe selling affordable dresses, accessories and shoes. Their collection is enormous and it took me a while to browse through their website. I simply loved everything! After hours of selecting and deciding and then removing all items from the basket again, I remembered my dress. A quick search - yes they had it! - and two weeks later, it landed on my desk.

The Accessories

With the dress sorted, I needed matching accessories. The dress comes with a thin, white belt and though the colours go well together, I wanted to have a matching pair of heels. White heels can look very tacky so I opted for a nude pair instead and found a cute bow belt. Both items were a bargain from New Look. With nude, you can apply a girly touch to the outfit and it works extremely well with the piercing cobalt blue of the dress, don't you think?

New Look received an award that evening for 'Best Hot Shoes', which is totally deserved. I got a few heels from their collection and though the shoes aren't made of leather, I find them very comfortable to walk in. The nude ones don't make an exception. They are amazing. I had no blisters that evening nor aching feet the next day. Ever since, I've worn them nearly everyday, and I usually never wear heels. Maybe they have finally tranformed me into a proper lady ?!?

The Big Fashion Moment: The Dress On The Carpet

The big moment finally arrived and I made my way over to Battersea Park to meet Karen. Wearing the dress made me feel comfortable, though it is a bit tight around my shoulders and arms. The overall quality of the material however is nice. It is quite thick at the top which makes the dress ideal for the colder months to come. The sizing is a bit odd, but I guess that's always a thing when you order from a website that sells their clothes in Chinese sizing (I'm wearing the dress in L though I'm a UK10). The skirt part of the dress falls nicely, but the shape in general needs to be tailored with a belt, otherwise the dress can make you look slightly bloated. At a price of $26 ~ £17, this dress is a fraction of the Bohoo dress and for that money, it is a real bargain.

Here's what I'm wearing:

Cobalt Blue Dress*: SammyDress (current season, $26 ~ £17)
Bow Belt: New Look (current season, similar style)
Watch: Daniel Wellington (current season, £159)
Pointed Cut Out Heel in Nude: New Look (current season, £20)

Thank you so much for reading today's styling post. I hope you've enjoyed the outfit. Have you heard of FashFest by Cosmopolitan before? What would you wear on the red carpet? Do you like the make and style of the dress? 

Till next time,

xx CAZ xx

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*PR sample