Festive party gems
More photos:Saturday November 28 2009
Early shopping for Christmas party gear is a little like laying down a good Amarone for the festive season. The cute wow dresses, fabulous sexy tights and stockings, plus those killer heels that make men and women stare in admiration will all sell out fast, and there's no point crying to Santa on Christmas week, is there?
With four weeks to go, the rails are groaning with affordable festive gems. Glistening brightly are the sparkly box jackets (€25) at Penneys, which, this season, pays uber-homage to sequins. Dresses start from €21 upwards and there are cute berets to top off the look.
Plus-size shoppers should not feel left out. The range at Evans is equally sparkly in sizes up to 28, and if you are afraid to abandon slimming matte black then think top and tail -- create the drama with a cool cocktail hat, 40s-style netted headpieces or killer heels.
The Park Avenue chic of the Gossip Girl stars has triggered a copy-cat trend for embellished hair bands, and Mark Anthony Kelly -- who styled our cover shoot -- reports loads of dresses and tops in Dundrum Town Centre similar to the short dress pictured right. Shoulder embellishment is particularly popular in Oasis, Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Mango. Don't forget to pop in an extra pair of shoulder pads to create total Balmain magic.
For that office to party transformation, roll on some sexy stockings or tights. The Trasparenze tights featured right are from the Marie Sue Lingerie shop in Carlow and they look far more than their €16 price tag.
The preponderance of one-armed, asymmetric dresses means it makes absolute sense to invest in a good multi-way bra. The Wonderbra one (far right) costs €37.50 and will pay for itself in no time. Plus it creates great cleavage!
They were flooded out all week, but now the Cork fashionistas have a bright spark on the horizon. Topshop opens its first stand-alone store on Academy Street today, which means a new delivery of those oh-so cute Kate Moss dresses. Up until now, the only Topshop outlet in the city was a concession in Debenhams. The new store will stock mainline collections, including footwear and accessories. Watch out for special promotions today, including gift cards worth up to €500 and in-store prizes. Customers just need to find one of the special tokens and hand it in at the tills.
I'm keeping an eye on comfortable flats for my bag -- just think ahead to those 4am taxi queues. Go online and check out Rollasoles (www.rollasole.com). Costing £6.95 each, they are incredibly light, very functional and fit into the tinest clutch.
My favourite bargain of the week has to be the studded dark grey dress and wrap cardi with cotton detail at the front, which both come from the Wardrobe boutique in Wicklow town. The prices are cool, both under €50 each.
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Bairbre Power, fashion editor
email: weekendfashion@independent.ie
- Bairbre power
Irish Independent
