complete the party look

Whether you are looking for a little black dress or something to get you noticed at the office party, Milsom Place sets the scene for the festive season.

British Designers@Fashion Capital has pieces direct from the catwalk or created by up and coming designers. The PPQ party dresses are not for the faint hearted and Hannah Marshall’s creations are equally adventurous like her velvet cat suit or suede dress with sequined winged epaulettes. Nina Bon Bina is an up and coming designer with easy to wear designs like her “touch of paisley” silver on black dress. Make a statement with Akong London and her high-impact, striking, handmade necklaces and Vjera Vilicnik hand embellished dress – an outfit that may appear simple and classical but looks can be deceiving, the back is embellished with beads, braids and even feathers.



No round-up of the best festive dresses would be complete without some obligatory sparkle. This season, the sequin dress comes in its most sophisticated incarnation at Hobbs, where the Kenwood shimmering black number from the NW3 collection hugs in all the right places, while elegantly sitting just above the knee. Detachable straps add versatility and help justify a purchase - just tell yourself it's two dresses in one! For the scarlet woman, Hobbs’ Vita dress will make an entrance or for a more demure look Aristotle is a long sleeved black dress with simple but elegant detail around the neckline to add some sparkle. There is nothing modest about Hobbs’ Blaise Leopard print platform shoes or the NW3 Keats, eye catching studded platform peep toes. Hobbs has fun and funky shoes and cool clutches to complete the party look. www.milsomplace.co.uk

Dancewear from Dance Gear Direct

When it comes to putting on a show, professional theatres have access to a huge production budget but smaller schools and academies often have more limited resources. For these shows, Dance Gear Direct is able to provide an excellent choice of make-to-order dancewear in over 70 stunning fabrics. Here are some great ideas on how to use them.

When designing a costume, the first element to consider is colour as this is one of the easiest and cost-effective ways to directly affect the emotion of the audience. Unlike most dancewear retailers that offer a fairly limited range of colours, Dance Gear Direct offers a make-to-order range so you can choose from over 70 different fabrics. Blue colours create a cool feeling whereas oranges and reds create the feeling of warmth. Colours can also be highly symbolic such as green for envy, and red for anger.

Yet fabrics need not be limited to only colours. Dance Gear Direct offers a wide range of printed fabrics such as the highly popular flo stripe. This is a high quality black Nylon Lycra onto which are printed vibrant blue, yellow, red, fluorescent green and fluorescent pink stripes. It looks especially great when used on the legs of the Dance Gear Chicago Catsuit which starts at just £13.50 for a child size.