The Kelly Brook Range

SimplyBe recently released the new Kelly Brook collection.  I spied a gorgeous yellow floral dress that I simply had to have and decided to buy it to wear on my birthday.  

I only managed to take one photograph of myself on the night so I have re-created the outfit this weekend for you to have a better look.

The dress is true to size and as it is a jersey fabric, there is some give to the dress which flows well and makes it comfortable to wear.  The length is 41 inches which hits me just below the knee.  I am 5ft 4 to give you an indication of how it would look on you.

The wrap part of the dress as you can see is just over the bust area.  Usually when I buy this type of dress I wear a slip underneath in order to accommodate for any gaping over the bra but in this case I did not need too.

I would normally end the review at this point but there is one thing that has happened recently in the press that I wanted to mention.  Kelly Brook's ex recently shared via social media some texts purported to be from Kelly in which she fat shames and slut shames other women.

Kelly is no stranger to fat shaming given her spat with Katie Price a couple of years ago when Katie called her a "heffer".  Kelly responded by saying:

"I’ve always been a curvy girl. I’ve got huge boobs. I’ve got a huge bum. I’ve always had that body.  Even when I was a teenager I was curvier than everyone else. That’s just the way I’ve been built. There’s nothing I can do about it and there’s nothing I want to do about it – it’s just me. I’ve learnt to embrace it, accept it and make it work for me"

Kelly therefore well knows the effect of fat shaming and it does not bare well for a representative of a plus size brand to say one thing with a view to selling clothes, yet think another.

The word fat is not an insult, but when used in such a way as Kelly purportedly did, it becomes harmful.  How can you design a collection for plus size women when you believe that being fat is something to criticise?

I think that this is the trouble when you have celebrity collaborations with clothing brands.  The celebrities are just in it for the money and will say whatever is needed, whilst sometimes having completely different views.

The same happened with Gemma Collins who is plus size and happy when she has a clothing range to promote but then bemoans her weight and is unhappy about her body elsewhere.  

I buy a lot of clothes from SimplyBe and will continue to do so.  I made the decision some time ago however not to buy anything from the Gemma Collins range for the reasons above and I would have to think if I were to buy something from the Kelly Brook range again in the future.  

When it comes to celebrity collaborations I do not care if the celebrity is a size 8 or a size 28.  But I do think that they should mean what they say and not just promote body confidence for profit.