OK so I've kind of been gone for a bit, the demands of real life took over and time was lost. But after a couple of mini vacations and some time to myself I am back to blogging hopefully uninterrupted.
For my first post back I wanted to share my new obsession, UK based online fashion Mecca ASOS.com. I do not use the term obsession lightly, this online store is quite literally owning my ass right now. I have in the last month placed four orders from them, three of these orders were in the last week and a half alone.
I am a social net-workers dream come true, as I update my Facebook or stalk celebrities on Twitter my eye catches the little adverts on the side of screen and I will from time to time click on them. Early in July I believe I was on Twitter when I caught sight of an amazing big pocket apron dress, I thought to myself I wish it came in my size but assumed that like always it would not. I clicked on the photo and was directed to ASOS.com. The dress was only $40 and they were apparently in the midst of a sale,
I however was broke so I bookmarked the page and went about my business. I drifted back to the site a couple of weeks later and looked at the full line and fell in love....hard!
I shop at many many stores so it's hard for anything to surprise me and that is what ASOS did. Nordstrom, Torrid, Macy's Bloomingdale's, they all have nice things but at the end of the day they are all selling the same thing. ASOS's plus size line is carrying items that I have simply not seen in plus sizes in the US and have only rarely in standard sizes in stores that are financially at accessible to me.
ASOS carries their own line as well as many lines by well known designers. In addition to having an array of great fashion collections, they also have a MASSIVE shoe department as well as beauty, accessories, men's and children's. It is simply one of the largest online stores I have visited.
The ASOS website is also one of the most user friendly sites I have ever used and it has amazing tools for the shoppers benefit, I shall list them for your benefit:
#5- Currency conversion-You can select which currency you would like to view prices in. This is great because you do not want to fill a shopping bag with items listed in pounds only to check out and have the amount of money you thought you spent double because of conversion to US dollars.
#4- Editorial content:
3 favorite items from new additions to the collections are selected by the sites editors and listed on the homepage. It's worth noting that the editors/buyers and directors of ASOS hail from some seriously respected sources such as Vogue. They also group collections of items based on of the moment trends so that the buyer can shop a specific "look". ASOS also publishes it's own high quality fashion magazine that can be viewed online.#3- CLEARANCE ASOS has an extensive and constantly updated clearance section as well as an outlet section which has sale items that are not a drastically reduced. This dress was bought on 75 % clearance
This quick and easy dress was reduced from $70 to $14
#2 Flat rate shipping- Shipping to the US is fixed at $6 for standard shipping and $14 for 3 day express delivery. That is amazing I can not get those shipping rates from any store in the US, hell even Old Navy is fixed at $7.
#1-Catwalk, the "view catwalk" option is a video of a model wearing and walking in each individual item on the site. This is an unbelievable asset, items look very different in movement, something that appears blah in a 2d photo can become stunning when shown as part of full outfit and in it's actual scale. Also I find that colors in photos can vary greatly from the actual color shown in the video. There may be other stores with this option out there but ASOS is the first store that I have come across.
While my favorite pieces so far have all been party clothes, I do recognize that I do not go out all that often and I managed to build a new work wardrobe. I'm going for a retro 40's "Secretarial Pool" look, that has gone over really well.
But party dresses do own my heart and I could not stop ordering dress after dress. My recent birthday(yesterday) gave me an excuse to indulge and I made 4 costume changes through out the day, including the cage shirt which I paired with a simple pencil skirt, and what I like to call the swirly dress. I'm in love with both pieces which were from my first order from the site.
The swirly dress is amazing in person and made of knit cotton and quite comfortable.
Me in the swirly dress,
Lace dress worn to bday dinner:
The cage shirt is one of my favorite purchases EVER!
This draped shirt paired with jeans was my final costume change of the day:
But if I had to pick a favorite ASOS purchase it would be the cargo Parka featured above, the hood alone makes me swoon. It was also a clearance item purchased for $40. So Ive talked a lot about ASOS now you should go check out the site for yourselves, look, love and buy many pretty things.
I would like to thank the British at this time for recognizing that the overweight appreciate and deserve trend setting fashion. Since I am in a list writing mood I will leave you with my list of the top 5 fuckawesome things from England:
