Making It Your Own: Elvi PU Skirt and Velvet Trench

This season a big trend has been textured pieces - exciting, tactile fabrics of various types have been a big hit. But sometimes I can be hard to know how to wear such statement pieces. How to blend them with your existing wardrobe and make them your own. I've taken this PU skirt from Elvi, a rather modern piece, and made it something wearable for me.

PU Hi Lo Skirt - Elvi

Velvet Trench - Elvi

3/4 Sleeve Stripe Top - Boohoo

Black Leather Wedges - Clarkes

The PU hi lo skirt is a pretty fashion forward piece for me. The key to making new trends work for you is to bring them into your comfort zone. I generally like my outfits to have a bit of a vintage feel to them, and so added this striped tee giving the whole look a nod to the beatnik era, and suddenly this outfit took on a more timeless quality for me.

The PU fabric, the pleats and the hi lo hem are bang on trend. The thick waist band elastic means it sits comfortably in place, and so the waist band doesn't roll (my pet peeve!) I usually size up in Elvi, and so went for a 24 in the skirt. To be honest I probably could have gone with a 22, but the 22 has a comfortable fit.

While Elvi can always be relied upon to bring plus size fashionistas a good sprinkling of current trends, pieces like this velvet trench are going to be wearable year on year. The rusty red will work well with browns, black and navy, and the brass buttons and epaulettes are a solid but gentle nod to the military trend, which contrast rather nicely with the sumptuous velvet. As I've said, I usually size up in Elvi, so I went for a 24 in the coat which was great everywhere but my arms. My arms are pretty chunky, and this is a problem I've had with Elvi coats and jackets on more than one occasion. It's not so snug as to be unbearable, but it rather restricts what I can wear underneath it.

Have you been adding textures and exciting fabrics into your wardrobe this season? How do you tend to interpret the trends? Let me know...

Oh and happy new year! Sorry I've been a little quiet, but I needed a bit of time off over Christmas - to process the last year, to get ready for this one and to get my fire back. But I missed you all! Here's to a wonderful 2017!