Phase Eight and weddings outfits… two things that go together like Carrie and Big, for me at least. This year I’m attending five weddings and for three out of the five, I will be wearing/have worn a Phase Eight dress.
Up until 2010, Phase Eight was a shop I’d never ventured into. This all changed when I went shopping with my Mum for her ‘mother-of-the-bride’ outfit for my wedding. She chose a dress, jacket, fascinator, jewellery… in fact, her entire outfit down to her shoes came from Phase Eight. Having spent well over an hour ambling around the Bath store selecting items for my Mum to try on, the occasional distraction was almost inevitable. While waiting outside the changing rooms I couldn’t help but pick out a beautiful chiffon floral print dress to try on. Ten minutes later, I’d made my first ever purchase.
Since then I’ve been a regular visitor to stores up and down the country. Although I’ve bought plenty of casual items over the years, I do seem to have an inescapable penchant for buying wedding outfits. So it seemed like fate was taking over when I was shopping for bridesmaid’s dresses back in April and ended up in the Westfield store. The dress we picked, the turquoise Arabella Maxi Dress, was the perfect choice for a summer wedding with a peacock theme. Comfortable and elegant, I kept mine on from 10:00am to 2:00am.
So it comes as no surprise perhaps, that when out shopping for a wedding outfit at the weekend I found myself gravitating towards the Phase Eight concession at House of Fraser in Huddersfield. In this case however, I have my sister-in-law (peacock wedding) to thank for finding my outfit. She had already picked out a Phase Eight dress for herself and spotted another that she thought would suit me – it very much did. A step away from my normal wedding guest attire, but a welcomed change, the lace fit and flare dress is such a flattering shape, I know I’ll love wearing it.
Recently I had the privilege of seeing the forthcoming Christmas collection (more on that later) and I think I can safely say that a party outfit will soon be added to my ever growing Phase Eight collection!
