Options for a night out....(there are quite a few!)

Tomorrow night I am co-hosting the West Midlands Women of the Year Awards at a fabulous hotel in the centre of Birmingham. It promises to be a glamourous affair and having the role that I do, I felt that I wanted to give some thought to my outfit.

I narrowed my options down to the following:

• Black jumpsuit and short, bright jacket;
• Long dress;
• Printed trousers and top.

My initial research on the jumpsuit front revealed a nice one in Reiss but that was nearly £200...

I had the idea of wearing it with this Ted Baker jacket, albeit in the hot pink, but with that being £179 it was going to amount to a pretty expensive outfit.

I also came across a jersey jumpsuit in French Connection (£125) but that was very low at the front, so it wasn't really an option. So that idea was temporarily parked.

Moving on to a full length dress, I really liked the style and shaping on this sequinned dress from French Connection which shaves inches from the waist. However,  at £180 it was more expensive than I wanted to pay for an outfit for one night.

 Next I moved on to the Ted Baker sparkle maxi dress (£179), which I liked in the shop but which I wasn't entirely sure about, given the poor lighting.

I brought it home and showed it to my husband on Sunday morning. Ordinarily I wouldn't ask his opinion on what I'm wearing but he does have a really good eye and so for a special event, I will ask what he thinks.

As I appeared in the kitchen he looked up from cleaning the fish (chubby, fudge and cola cube - don't ask!) and a look of terror went across his face. It wasn't so much because of what I was wearing but rather more because he was going to be put on the spot and his opinion requested.  His conclusion was that it was it was OK but possibly a bit cheap looking so, given the price, that was a "no". Having not come up trumps on the full length dress front, it was time to move on.

Next I moved on to the Ted Baker oil painting top (£89)...

and the Ted Baker oil painting trousers (£109)...

Now actually this outfit got a really positive response from Mr SG and despite the fact that it could, and really was, print overload, I really liked them together too. All was going well and he said...."it's different, fun, bright, yes I like that outfit, that will do. And then he uttered the fatal words  "It looks like a CLOWN OUTFIT." A clown outfit? I gently (after throttling him) pointed out that perhaps it wouldn't be a good idea to go out dressed in something described by someone else as a clown outfit. So that went back. As an aside, Ted Baker has over 30 items with this print and as much as I like it, now that it comes in skirts, trousers, tops, dresses, jackets, umbrellas and wellies, I'm slightly concerned about it - in a Daniella Westbrook/Burberry overkill kind of way.

So really that left me back to square one until today when I paid closer attention to this Topshop jumpsuit (£48) which I had seen last week. Not quite feeling up to stripping off and trying it on, I brought one home to try. Now what I will say about this is that it has potential. My only slight concern is that the waist it quite high, so the distance at the back from the waist, to the bottom of one's bottom, is quite big - which can make one's bottom look, well, quite big. So I'm not entirely sure on that. Actually yes I am - it's a no. I think.

In Topshop I also came across these luxe shine joggers (£42), which I have to say are a total winner. I think that I may devote a whole post to them at some point. They also come in a lovely blue and this is what I like about them - they're not thigh clinging or calf clinging for anyone who suffers from either of those problems - but they are tapered. The fabric is quite heavy too which I like for a bit of support.

I also came across this Forever 21 sequin bomber jacket (£32) and I think that the trousers would look fantastic with it - not necessarily for what I'm up to tomorrow night but for an evening out over Christmas.

 

 

I like the style of these metallic heels by Dune at Topshop (£85) to go with the above trousers. There will be less expensive options at Primark or New Look but I've included them to give you an idea.

 

Whilst on my travels I also picked up this Topshop navy taffeta skirt (£48). Actually mine is bright pink but it isn't showing on line, although the pale blue one is. It featured in the Sunday Times Style Magazine so I wanted to see it in the flesh. Again this isn't one for tomorrow's event but just something to try because I wanted to suss it out with a cami style top.

So where have I reached for tomorrow night's outfit? Nowhere really, which isn't great given that I'm busy all day tomorrow. Had I not faffed around for the last hour and half telling you all about the things I had discounted, maybe I would have moved things forward. As it stands I've drawn a big fat blank - although I did buy a Parka today because, of course, that will work perfectly tomorrow night.

As an aside, although I discounted some of these things, I hope to have given you some ideas for pieces out because they may just be right for what you're after.