Friday Frocks - the word is spreading...

I've been on holiday for a week, so here's a round-up of two weeks' worth of Friday Frocks.  The word is spreading, via twitter and facebook, and people seem to either not get it at all, or think it's the best idea ever.  I can live with that - I'll take a passionate few over the apathetic masses any day.

 One of the most ardent new coverts is Twitter's @Girl_In_A_Box.  Not only is she, as you can see, a sharp dresser, and not only has she a figure to die for, but she's a brilliant, great fun Twitter type - well worth a follow if that's your internet playground.  I don't know how she came across the blog, or me, or Friday Frocks - but she's rocking it hard. Two weeks' worth of looks from her - firstly demonstrating that Friday Frocks is more about attitude than dresses, but then last Friday rocking a truly wonderful wiggle dress.  This lady has her own style: it's sharp and direct and "hotter than the hammered hinges of hell" (as they taught me to say in Texas).

Feminine, too, though - look at these oh-so-pretty confetti-toned floral trims on her sandals. Just a small amount of colour in a restricted area can make a monochrome outfit look really 'put together'.

Which is what I'm trying to do here.  I just bought this dress from Marks and Spencers (I really recommend it if you need something more spacious in the boob area.) It's a bargain at £35, linen - very comfy and well-tailored, but I find black and white quite hard to wear in daytime (on me, it needs heavier eye makeup to work) so I've added the red cardie to brighten things up. This cardigan works because the V neck follows the neckline of the frock, and the cropped length means I don't lose that flattering tailored waist.  By the way - how dedicated am I to the sartorial cause that I've posted a pretty unflattering pic of myself alongside one of a model in the same frock? I deserve a medal...

Back to the friday frockers.  Bee here shows that, so long as you're not 'busting out all over', a deep plunge can look classy enough for the office.  That black band around the neckline going into the underbust buttoned yoke is really flattering - quite 1930s.

Lots of monochrome these last couple of weeks - here the lovely Nicola (whose work has the poshest loos, no?) jazzes up the black with some very disco silver shoes and a beautiful simple necklace. Swelegantly simple.

Friends Trudy and Megan both get around the potential impracticality of wearing a dress which might show more leg than you'd like, by wearing leggings.  It's the equivalent of the black vest that boobalicious types like Trudy here employ to keep the cleavage respectably covered at work.

Some of you will remember our saucy New Zealand-resident biker chick from this post. Here she looks absolutely smoking hot. Remember it's winter in the antipodes, so that gorgeous red-wine shirt worn under the frock, pinafore-style isn't too much. The berry red really works with her colouring, and the combination of scoop and V necklines are flattering to those wonderful curves.  Don't you just love putting faces to the Swelegencia?

Another swelegant girl regulars will have seen before (remember the glamazon at my birthday party?) here - rocking another M&S frock. It's a simple dress but the gold beading at the shoulder is picked out by the brass bangle and the gold sunglasses.  Gold colours are so much more flattering to red-heads than silver tones.

Finally some reminders that it isn't all about the frocks. @mikedixon working a super summery titfer this week - and you know by now how I feel about a chap in a hat...

Lastly, super-stylish Maeve always looks beautifully co-ordinated but this week made her first attempt at a beehive, with Friday Frocks spurring her on.  It looks utterly splendid - Joan Holloway herself would approve.