+ individual style for inspiring women +
Welcome, I'm Elle Wellesley. Stiletto Wheels is my personal blog on managing dramatic, illness-induced, lifestyle change - from stiletto heels to heels on wheels. Plus Black is my lifestyle blog where I share my inspiration and ideas for sustaining stylish fabulousness through life's unexpected transitional moments. Ever optimistic, I continue to believe that it is possible to lead a fabulous life in heels on wheels. Smiles 💋 Elle
Reading an interview with Professor Louise Wilson, course director of the prestigious Fashion MA at Central Saint Martins, London in UK Vogue recently, I was struck by two things. The first, obviously, her predilection for style +Black: [LW] wears a modest uniform of black, explaining: “I wear black because I’m a large lady, and I […]
MoreFashion and style are generally considered, in the context of mainstream media and business, as being for young, attractive, slim (or wanting to be) women. Those who do not fit this fashionably stylish profile – the +Black demographic – are ostracised by the mainstream, in thought and product offer. Their conundrum is in desiring the […]
MoreContinuing on a theme of dexterity, Athena, a good friend, has a degree of arthritic impairment in her hands. As with many such problems, the degree of impairment ebbs and flows but has been consistently bad enough that she has struggled with clasps and fastenings. Athena likes her sparkly things and, being a woman of […]
More+Black is aiming to be an inclusive concept for a broad demographic of women but, in discussions about our demographic, the area of most debate has been around long-held perceptions regarding the word ‘disability’. Even in the – relatively progressive – UK, so many of the non-disabled perceptions around disability are negative. Just talking through […]
MoreI watched a clip of the Osman 2012-13 A/W RTW show featured in the Sunday Times this weekend. Sadly, it’s behind a pay wall but at Vogue.com/uk, there is a slide show & catwalk photos – do take a look. Spectacular fabrics and use of colour +Black of course. High fashion will never come in plus […]
MoreMany people have dexterity problems, struggling with fastenings to clothes and jewellery. An otherwise non-life-changing illness may often cause intense aggravation through loss of sensation or muscle strength in fingers, wrist, arms or shoulders which prevents us from dressing ourselves as we would wish. Sure, we are able to ask for help but how annoying […]
MoreChatting about +Black, a marketing friend passed comment that black is the most difficult colour to photograph, saying that pretty much any other colour will show the shape and detail of the garment better. Good point. We agreed that sketches has to be the way to go and may also helps with size guidelines – […]
MorePretty much from the moment I started thinking about +Black as a business concept, I knew that as well as being inclusive in its’ scope, it would have be altruistic in its’ ambitions. What does that mean? For me, it means that there is a social element to building a business that is as necessary […]
MoreFeeling dispirited at the weekend, I flipped through my emails and clicked into New Arrivals from Navabi – one of my favourite European plus-size online shops. They have a huge choice in design and sizes and I quickly started clocking items that I might be wanting to buy but, ya know, it was the last […]
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