What to Wear to an Awards Ceremony | Vintage 1970s Evening Dress (The UK Blog Awards)

It’s not every day you get to go to an awards ceremony… and it’s not every day you get to dress up red carpet-style.

As many of you who follow me on social media or who saw Friday’s post will know, I was nominated for Best Fashion and Retail Blog at the UK Blog Awards – honoured, proud and excited doesn’t even begin to cover it!

If you don’t know already I’ll tell you straight away: I didn’t win unfortunately, but there are so many positives to take away…

I was nominated!! An achievement in itself.
The blogging duo that won my category (Pretty Posh Oh My Gosh) were the lovely girls I would have wanted to win if it wasn’t going to be me – they really deserved it and I honestly mean it when I say I couldn’t be happier for them.
I met some absolutely wonderful bloggers and cemented some blossoming online friendships.
The husband and I got to dress up to the nines and have a super-flash evening out.
We did a photo shoot at London’s Marble Arch with all the pigeons, buses and tourists as backdrop.
I GOT TO WEAR THIS DRESS.

I don’t think it’s a secret that I absolutely, completely and utterly loved wearing this dress: a vintage 1970s evening dress in the most stunning fabric I think I’ve ever seen. It reminded me of a Gustav Klimt painting, and I also got a wonderful compliment on the night that I looked “very Florence” [and the Machine] – I’ll take that! A commuter on the tube also said “nice dress” as he went by, and travelling on the tube in the rush hour was… interesting. I was paranoid about getting the skirt caught in the escalators, but luckily managed to keep it all scooped up and out of harm’s way.

The dress was a loan from Scarlet Vintage whom I’ve worked with before, and thankfully it fitted me beautifully. All it needed was some heels, and a contrasting turquoise clutch. However, this is not quite how it was originally – the dress actually has a pussy bow neckline (so typically 70s). As I’ve done on several other vintage pieces before, I tucked the neckline under to make a v-neck which I thought was far more flattering on me. I loved the pussy bow (plus it’s so on-trend this year), but I was worried about getting hot as well. I needed at least a little ventilation.

All in all it was a full-on fabulous night, so worthwhile and loads of fun. Thank you to everyone that voted for me to get to the nominated stage, thank you for all the wonderful wishes of good luck, and thank you for supporting the blog and thereby making the nomination possible in the first place. I’m dedicating the nominated certificate that I received to all of you 😉

L-R: On the way to the awards with the Silver Londoner (i.e. on the train with the husband); with the winners of my category, the lovely (and deserving) Lauren and Felicity of Pretty Posh Oh My Gosh; with Alice of The Fairy Blogmother

Just a few pictures from the night to show you: We all loved the Alice in Wonderland theme, especially Alice (above, right) who is one of the guest speakers at the 30-40+ Blogger Meet I’m hosting next month – she is going to be brilliant. And a quick mention to all the other lovely girls I met: Felicity and Lauren (winners!), Annie, Natasha, Michelle and Lorna… so good to meet you all!

And don’t worry – I’ll try again in 2016. Maybe that will be my year 🙂

Catherine