If you’ve ever read my blog before, you know without a doubt that I am a HUGE fan of Kiyonna and vive la femme! At the end of April, my favorite people and worlds and clothes collided in one fantastic, fashionable, flirty night! lol. vive la femme is Chicago’s own plus-size boutique and it just celebrated its 10 year anniversary!

Stephanie Sack, the outrageously awesome broad behind vive la femme and its sister shoe store, violette, has spent countless hours (not to mention blood, sweat and tears!) to bringing beautiful, high-quality, well-fitting garments to Chicago’s curvy, plus-size community. And Kiyonna has been on the racks since the day vive la femme opened. To me, there could not be a better pairing more beneficial to the gorgeous curvy women in Chicago! 🙂

Here are just a few pictures from vive la femme’s 10 year anniversary party, sponsored by Kiyonna, and hosted by yours truly. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure that we sold nearly every Kiyonna dress in the store that night! 🙂

Doesn’t Felicity look effortlessly gorgeous in this Legacy Wrap Dress?? It looked fabulous on every single woman who tried it on!

 LOL. Felicity totally racked up that night! This beautiful teal Backstage Dolman Top looked amazing with her red hair and green/blue eyes. 🙂

And…there’s only one way to describe Jaye in this fire-engine red Betsey Ruched Dress…and that word is GODDESS!

Ahhh! And we all swooned when Mandy came out of the dressing room in this Vienna Maxi Dress. She’s going to look FAB at an upcoming wedding she’s attending! 🙂

And of course…I wore a fun and flirty Kiyonna Whimsy Wrap Dress. It is probably the most comfortable, perfect for all-occasions dress I own! The ruffle adds the “whimsy” to the wrap! 🙂

I’ll post more pics of this awesome dress on Facebook. Like my page, Style Plus Curves, if you haven’t already!

Congratulations Stephanie!!! Jaye and I and Kiyonna are so happy to support you and celebrate your success! Here’s to 10 more years!

How happy am I for Omar and Gordana, the dynamite duo behind GOCA? These two young rising stars shined very brightly a  few weeks ago when they held their first full fashion show here in Chicago. I’m so proud of them! Did you know they were picked to show at New York Fashion Week? They came home with raving reviews, and haven’t stopped yet.

The “Elegance of Maturity” was held at a really cool spot called 1520 W Fulton. It was an all-white space with blue lighting…very cool and glamorous. The night was a playful mix of old and new, tradition and modernism, young and old. Tea cups were spotted everywhere…because what is more elegant or mature than a cup of tea? 😉 It was a night to remember, and I’m so glad I had a chance to support Omar and Gordana (who I STILL haven’t met, although I met her brother! lol).

Here’s a little peek of the show, and a video of the final walk:

I had fun hanging with Kelly, an awesome make-up artist…check out her fun eyeshadow!

And I always love love love seeing Raven from Chicago Fashion Connect. She always looks so chic and glamorous, right?

And it wouldn’t be an event without Cha’rron from CChicChicago.com! 🙂 She makes me SO happy every time I see her!

Did I mention that the room was filled with an other-worldly BLUE hue??!!!!

I know this post was a long time coming, but maybe it’ll just remind people of what a great event it was. 🙂 I can’t wait to get my very own GOCA dress!

To put it plainly, this Melrose Mesh Top from Kiyonna does amazing things for your girls. lol. I love Kiyonna for a lot of reasons, but one of the main ones is that they understand the curvy body and know exactly how to emphasize assets. 🙂 And isn’t this color divine?? It’s so cheerful and rich! I love it!

This shirt was actually inspired by the super popular Betsey Ruched dress (see the leopard print version here and here). The ruching on the side helps minimize some of the troubled tummy areas, and the deep V neckline with a sort of sailor collar brings attention upward to your face (and your girls of course, lol).

Now, this top does fit a little snug. I’m between a 2 and a 3, so I went for the size down. But if you don’t like your tops this close fitting, I’d size up. 🙂

I’m definitely dressed down in these pics…I wanted to show that this top works just as well with jeans as it does with a vampy, sexy pencil skirt. 🙂