Last night I went to the Marisota Pop Up Store in Manchester, which is there until Sunday (6th April)!
I met Steph and Gemma outside of the event, I always hate arriving on my own so they were kind enough to wait for me. We were given champagne on arrival and caught up with Toni and Kim, before having a chat with Mark Heyes about his new range and the shapeology concept.
Mark was saying that a lot of the things they used when designing the clothes were common sense, having patterns run vertical rather than horizontal, and creating pieces so that they were longer and cut off at a more flattering point on the body. However some pieces include magisculpt linings, and the lining also have rubber along the bottom hem to stop it riding up, which I think is just the best idea! It’s so uncomfortable when your lining has a mind of its own and doesn’t want to stay put.
Mark showed us some of his favorite pieces from the collection, one of them is this boucle biker jacket.
Another one of his favourites is this floral print tunic dress which I just had to try on!
I could see this dress becoming a favorite of mine during the summer with bare legs and a pair of sandals, but during autumn I could easily wear it with tights or leggings and a pair of boots. It’s so versatile and needs to make its way to my wardrobe! I initially tried on the 20 which was a little too tight and the lining didn’t sit straight so I sized up to the 20 which was much loser and looked better. We got let loose in the store and were allowed to try on anything we wanted, as you can imagine we soon scooped up a number of items we wanted to try on, and took over a room as one big blogger changing room. If you’ve ever had a shopping trip with Rachel and Lisa then you’ll have overcome any fear you had about getting changed in front of anyone else. After trying on the floral print tunic dress, I opted for the BESPOKEfit pleat front dress I had spotted this online and knew I wanted to try it on if it was in the pop up store. I tried on a size 20, in the standard fit, which says it’s for bust size B –DD and so I never expected it to fit, but I easily got my 38HH’s in there! One amazing thing about this dress is that it has pockets!!
In the photos you can see it with and without the collarless tailored jacket, with the jacket it’s definitely an outfit you could wear to an interview or meeting if you popped some tights on with it. I am wearing the jacket in an 18, I originally tried the 20 but it was too big on the shoulders, and almost met in the middle when it’s designed not to meet.
Next up are some photos of me and my twinnie Rosie!
First off we tried the eyelash lace skater dress, I originally tried on the 20 which just would not zip up, and so the next size we had on hand was the 24 which was a little too big. Unfortunately there wasn’t a 22, or someone else was trying it on, so I don’t know how well it would have fit.
The next dress we tried on was the bird print swing dress which is made out of such a lovely fabric, if you stroke it in one direction it feels a little like velvet. We went to try out the magic mirror and tweeted a photo of us in the dress and we also tweeted a picture of us with Steph too.
I love that this dress is long enough to wear without leggings during the summer! I also think this is a great work dress for me, with either tights or leggings. It’s a comfortable dress to wear but looks smart enough to wear in my office, and with the sleeves I can wear it all year long.
I couldn’t resist trying out this chair, though I did make Rosie try it first, I was worried I might flash anyone stood about!
Before we left myself and Rosie grabbed a photo with Mark, sorry it’s a little dark! I’m sure Rosie will have the better photo with her camera which is much more snazzy than my little vlogging one which I had in my handbag.
I had great fun in the pop up store, if you are in Manchester this weekend or can get to Manchester then I recommend you go and pay them a visit. You’ll find the pop up store at Faulkner House, New York Street, and even better there’s a car park directly opposite the store!
I was really impressed with everything that I tried on, if I hadn’t given up buying clothes for Lent then I could have easily bought almost everything. In store they are offering 20% off any orders you make along with free home delivery, how can you say no to that?
