The Yellow Dress

Colin and Livia Firth at the BAFTAS 2010

Me wearing the dress August 2010

After falling in love with the yellow Leila Hafzi dress on Livia Firth's Green Carpet Challenge blog on the Vogue website, finding it on the Oxfam E-Bay site, placing my bids, eagerly awaiting the deadline, becoming the successful bidder and making slight alterations, I finally wore it to Laura and Duncan's wedding!

I thoroughly enjoyed wearing it, it is such a comfortable yet beautiful dress - and I greatly enjoyed telling people the story of how I aquired it.

Having a story to tell about a garment you love is something really special. Whether it is associated with a previous owner, an unusual shopping experience or has been created or customised by the wearer or loved ones, the story of a garment is something that has the potential to connect people more to the clothing they wear. It would be so great to hear more stories of clothing when I enquire in the future about someone's outfit of choice.

Leila Hafzi + Livia Firth + Oxfam + Ebay = MY NEW DRESS!!

As documented in a previous post on my blog, the wife of Colin Firth, Livia, set herself the challenge of sourcing ethical and sustainable outfits to wear to all the red carpet events and premiers throughout awards season 2010. Her blog was published on vogue.com and I loved reading about her search for the perfect outfit for each event. She sourced amazing items, concluding with a wonderful black dress for the Oscars custom made by From Somewhere. However, my favourite dress was the one she wore for the BAFTAS - a yellow Leila Hafzi.
I recently visited the Oxfam Curiosity Shop at Selfridges and as well as buying a lovely little summer dress (as shown in a previous post) I realised that many celebrities had donated garments to sell at the pop up shop in Selfridges and also on the Oxfam EBay site. To my delight when I checked out the site Livia Firth had donated three of her Green Carpet Challenge Dresses to Oxfam - INCLUDING THE YELLOW ONE!!

I have been bidding on it for a few days and today I was successfully the highest bidder!! It will arrive in a couple of days and I can't wait. So, thank you Leila Hafzi, Livia Firth, Oxfam and Ebay for making me the very happy owner of a beautiful new dress that I will love and keep forever. - Yellow Dress Blog Post