An Ethereal Vintage Evening Dress for the UK Blog Awards (I Won!) #iwillwearwhatilike

Well, after my insistence that there was no way in the world I would win at the UK Blog Awards for a consecutive year, I won at the UK Blog Awards for a consecutive year…!

To say I’m shell-shocked is probably the biggest understatement ever – I honestly don’t know HOW it happened?!

I’d originally intended to just publish a simple outfit post today (albeit of the stunning vintage evening dress I wore to the awards) with a mention of the evening and how it all went. I was going to talk about the dress, say a huge thank you to everyone who voted for me back in December, and sign off by saying it would be the last time (for sure this time) that I was entering.

This post is effectively all of that but with one big addition… I won the Individual Fashion & Beauty Award for a second year in a row. I’m absolutely REELING!!

So to start, let’s talk about the dress:

Oh, the dress! The dilemma of what to wear was real once again this year… there seemed to be NO WAY IN THE WORLD EVER EVER I could beat the slinky red gown from last year. And to be honest, I probably haven’t – this 1970s vintage chiffon dress isn’t quite as showstopping as red (is anything ever?), but boy oh boy do I love it.

I decided on wearing vintage so as A) not to show up in the same dress as someone else, and B) because I love 70s styles especially and I hadn’t worn vintage as evening wear since I wore a Gustav Klimt-inspired gown to my first UK Blog Awards.

 

OTHER VINTAGE EVENING DRESSES I LOVE THAT YOU CAN BUY:

 

My ethereal vintage evening dress

I’m not sure what I love most about it – the balloon sleeves? The fitted bodice with rhinestones? The high neck and pussy bow? The chiffon fabric? All together they make a beautiful, floaty dream of a dress, and can you believe it was under £90 from Etsy. Thankfully it just about fitted me perfectly, but there definitely was no room for a food baby in this frock (good job as there wasn’t anything to eat – more on that in a bit…)!

I only needed to add a gold diamante chain belt (to hopefully dial down the bridal vibes), my new, gifted statement earrings from Toolally and I shopped my wardrobe for the Paris book clutch (seen before here and here)… if you like that you’ll LOVE this Great Gatsby book clutch.

 

So, onto the thank yous…!

Yes, this was meant to be a post where I thanked everyone that voted for me, despite me not winning… except I DID win. Therefore if you did vote for me, I cannot TELL you how much I appreciate you taking the trouble to vote to get me into the final eight for the Fashion & Beauty category. It’s a NOTORIOUSLY tough category, and I don’t take that lightly. But as I’ve always said, I’m proud to be representing the over 40s because I feel it’s important to show older women, bloggers and non-bloggers alike, that we are not invisible, that we can wear what we like, and that we’re a force to be reckoned with when it comes to working with brands. If brands aren’t using midlife women to help them promote their products (ESPECIALLY if their target audience are women over 40) then they are crazy. Or stupid. Or both!

Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙂

 

Let’s get more over 40 bloggers nominated

Going forward, I want to always see at least one (preferably more) over 40 woman in the fashion/beauty/lifestyle categories of awards finalists – any category where your own image plays a large part and the young are generally favoured, in other words. I won’t go into this any more as I wrote all about my awards hopes for over 40 bloggers in Friday’s post, but if we dismiss awards altogether and say they don’t matter (as I read many times on Instagram over the weekend) then we’re doing less-well represented groups a disservice by their absence. It’s not the winning of awards that matters, it’s the REPRESENTATION. Our visibility is SO important.

[tweetshare tweet=”It’s not the winning of awards that matters, it’s the REPRESENTATION. Our visibility is SO important. #over40″ username=”cE9urabZjgea2r7SXR*3X)QtnRE2kE9$:1:0″]

 

As someone who has just won this award AGAIN (OMG HOW?!!) I can honestly say that I will most definitely not be entering myself next year, as much as I appreciate the encouragement from some of you saying I should go for a hat-trick (thank you)! The evening itself was unfortunately very, very disappointing… it can be summed up by the fact that there weren’t any trophies handed out on the evening (I felt SO sorry for anyone winning for the first time), just a crumpled piece of paper with “Winner” written on it.

As well as awful compares, no food, no group photo, no entertainment, no theme and no slightly quieter areas to provide an opportunity to chat, it was a massive let-down. I entered this year because I assumed it would be an awesome event as previous years –  I was wrong. It was only made better because of all the lovely people (and friends) I did get to talk to, and of course winning was the cherry on top, I can’t deny that.

But it’s time to bow out and cheer on someone else, and hopefully get another 40+ gal in the winning spot next time. Fingers crossed the organisers (who are also the new owners) listen to feedback and improve the event next year.

 

The last 12 months as a UKBA winner…

I’ve had a CRAZY 12 months following my first UKBA win, and now I’m almost nervous about what the next 12 months will bring. Nervous, but incredibly excited. Excited to be hopefully the voice for all of you who feel underrepresented by brands. To encourage women to talk to each other without bitching, and to encourage each other. To pay compliments. To play fair and SUPPORT each other, not tear each other down.

Say NO to being invisible, say NO to being told what to wear. Say YES to opportunities that come your way and say YES to making things happen.

Positivity will rule the day (imagine me dressed up Braveheart-style and shouting that) – it’s all there for the taking, ladies!! 😉

Do add your outfits to this week’s link up – and if you’ve added a link to here or my button to your post you may be featured next week!

ANY THOUGHTS ON MINORITY GROUPS BEING REPRESENTED IN (BLOGGING) AWARDS EVENTS? PLEASE DO COMMENT BELOW…

P.S. I’ve included a shot of me and Keith at the end – my ivory dress and his tux make it look like it’s our wedding day, hehe!!

Like this post? You might also like…

– My Awards Hopes for 40 Plus Bloggers
– Lady in Red: I WON at the UK Blog Awards!!

Catherine is wearing…

Dress: ValerysVintage at Etsy (I highly recommend Etsy for vintage evening dresses – this one is another favourite)
Belt: Amazon (similar)
Earrings: Toolally c/o
Shoes: Daniel Footwear (love these)
Clutch: Asos (similar)

Keith is wearing (all Asos except the shirt)…

Tuxedo jacket / matching trousers / bow tie / shirt (Marks & Spencer) / shoes

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which means if you click through and buy I may receive a small commission at no cost to you (click here for my full disclosure). Items listed as c/o were gifted …