Just a quick update to let you know that we’re doing our best to get your packages to you despite the recent postal strike, but please be patient with us and do let us know if you need an item urgently! To get in touch with us, you can either call us, email us or add a comment to your online order, so we can let you know if we think there may be a problem. Our poor post girl, Becky, has been furiously packaging hundreds of orders so that they could go out earlier this week, as we’ve been informed that there won’t be any collections today or tomorrow. I’m afraid that means this week we can’t do any rush orders for Friday or Saturday delivery, but if we have your chosen item in stock and you desperately need it for this weekend, we can always reserve it for you to collect from our Lulu and Lush boutique, either in person or by courier. Speaking of couriers, we’re in talks with various companies at the moment so you definitely don’t have to worry about receiving your Christmas party dresses on time. Hopefully by the end of next week we’ll have some more delivery options so postal strike or otherwise, we’ll be able to get your orders to you If you’d like to check for yourself, the strike details are available here on the Royal Mail site, and all our usual delivery information is here.

Hope that helps - and please do get in touch if you’re worried about your order. We’re doing everything we can to avoid any strike-related delays, and our friendly and helpful staff will happy to discuss your order and put your mind at rest.

FairyGothMother x

The pictures from our latest photoshoot have come back, and once again, awesomeness abounds on the FairyGothMother website! Yep - we’ve now got pictures of all those elegant, skintight Forties-esque dresses I teased you with in the last update, in different styles to suit every shape. We’ve got ones with revealing splits at the front to show off your cleavage, ones with long sleeves which are perfect for the forthcoming winter, boldly patterned halternecks and ones with slash necks to give the appearance of wider shoulders, which is ideal if you want to balance out wide hips.

Made from thick, stretchy body-con fabric with a healthy dollop of Spandex, our new pencil dresses are massively flattering on any shape. Especially when worn with our shapewear or with a corset over the top (or both!), these dresses cling to every curve, both emphasising your feminine shape and holding you in wherever necessary. They’re also versatile enough that you can wear them to work (in the black, navy or pinstripe, I mean, rather than bright green) with perhaps a vest top underneath for the more revealing styles, and transform yourself Superman-style for a night out with the girls, by cinching yourself into one of our underbusts.

L-R: Mayfair dress in pinstripe, UK 8-16, £89 and red satin underbust corset, 18″-34″, £125; Bardot pinstripe dress, UK 8-16, £89; Mayfair Deluxe dress in Jet Black, UK 8-16, £89; Mayfair Deluxe dress in Jade Green, UK 8-16, £89.

The other week I posted a picture of Victoria Beckham in her super-tight dress with the split front along with our Mayfair dress which is around a grand and a half cheaper and looks just as fab - due to popular demand, we’ve added pinstripe and navy to our range of colours, as well as a Deluxe version with three-quarter length sleeves, available in jet black, jade green or scarlet red. The pinstripe Mayfair dress is pictured above with one of our underbust corsets, available in a variety of colours. Our Bardot dress also comes in pinstripe, and combines corporate chic with the glamour of body-con, finished with a cute patent belt. The slash-neck isn’t too revealing, so you can get away with wearing these at work. Completely unsuitable for work, however (unless you work somewhere fun, like FairyGothMother!) is our halterneck tattoo-print dress. In bright red with a cute black collar, halter neck and waistband, this dress look highlights all your good bits and can be worn with one of our corset belts (in black or red) to really stand out. The dress isn’t stretchy but there’s a split at the back - complete with cheeky ribbon bow - so you can still walk and sit down.

LR: Mayfair dress in navy, UK 8-16, £89; Tattoo pencil dress, XS (UK 8) - XL (UK 16), £45; back view of Tattoo dress; Corset Belt in red, 18″-28″, £85.

Body-con looks best with flaweless curves, but if you’re a busy lady and don’t have time to slave it out at the gym, shapewear is the answer to all your problems! Aside from wearing a regular or longline underbust corset over your dress as an eye-catching accessory which cinches your waist and smooths over pot bellies, we have a selection of powermesh and stretch underwear items which not only get rid of any unsightly lumps and bumps, but also look and feel gorgeous. Bye bye Bridget Jones’ granny pants - hello stretch silk and powermesh!

Suspense girdle, S-XL, £35; Nadia power mesh girdle skirt, S-L, £140; Fresh Foundations Shape Shorts, only M or L available, £50 (reduced from £85); Seduce girdle, S-XL, £33.

Some of our shapewear wouldn’t be suitable for dresses which are so close-fitting, but amongst our range I’ve found these gems which are perfect. The stretch jacquard lace of the Stockings & Romance Suspense girdle smooths the bum and thighs whilst also keeping your stockings up, as does the Seduce girdle in scarlet with white trim, which could double as part of a cheeky Santa Baby outfit this Christmas. Opinion here seems to be divided between whether being able to see suspender clips under a tight dress is seductive or an unforgivable fashion faux-pas, so if you’re not so keen, perhaps the Nadia powermesh girdle skirt by Cadolle, or Made by Nikki’s shaping shorts (pictured here with removable straps) would be more suitable for you. From the waist to just above the knee, the girdle skirt’s silky smooth fabric shapes and smooths whilst feeling lovely against your skin, whilst the shorts remove the need for another layer of clothing underneath and smooth the bum and tummy. They’re also available with a thong back, and with an optional matching bra for the ultimate shapewear deception - when it’s disguised as a beautiful lingerie set!

I know we’ve been ODing on dresses recently, but not to worry corsetry and lingerie fans - we haven’t forgotten about you! We’ve got a whole new range of basic, eveningwear and specialist corsets just for you, as well as loads of gorgeous new lingerie sets. We’ve started to introduce more ranges with smaller back and larger cup sizes, as requested, so check back here for more about those soon…

As promised, here are some of the lovely Fifties dresses by our new favourite designer, Hell Bunny, with which we’ve been filling our shop after they practically flew off our rails at the Goodwood Revival festival! We had a lot of fun last year and even more this year - it was so lovely to immerse ourselves in retro culture and to see the beautiful classic cars. Everyone made such an effort and dressed to the occasion, whether they came as Grease’s Sandy, or in their wartime medical or WW2 RAF uniforms.

For your amusement we’ve included a few rubbish camera phone snaps of Sarah and I dressed in our show outfits - we were only supposed to be wearing the dresses to show them off whilst welcoming people to our stand, but we liked them so much we ended up buying them! Usually when we fall in love with one of the corsets or dresses in the shop it takes us ages to save up, but at only £40 (for the red dress) and £45 (for the pink poodle dress) we snapped them up there and then. Sarah is also wearing a Hawaii dress in the second picture, which will be available on the site very soon (and with a much less blurry picture!), and I’m wearing a customised tweed corset in the last picture, in the fabric of this corset and in the style of this one.

We’ve also got matching petticoats in stock - some of the dresses are the traditional Fifties length which look fantastic over our 27″ petticoats which we have on the website in black, white, black with white ribbon trim or white with black ribbon trim, though we often have different colours in the shop (please do ask!), such as the black with red ribbon trim I’m wearing above. A couple of the dresses are a bit shorter, and require our knee-length versions, so to make it easy for you to choose the right petticoat for your dress we’ve included them as an option on the individual dress pages. That isn’t to say you have to wear our dresses with petticoats - we’ve been wearing ours on their own during the day, and slipping on a petticoat underneath to go out in the evening. Sure, they make the skirts flare out in a way which does look rather fabulous, but from experience we can confirm that they can be quite inconvenient for, say, getting on the bus or not knocking everyone else’s drinks over!

L-R: Scarlett dress, £40; Poodles dress, £45; Pinup dress £45; Polly dress £45.

The Scarlett dress is gorgeous in red satin with a black flocked pattern of dice, swallows and all things Fifties (click the picture to be taken to the dress page, if you’d like to zoom in on the print). Black bows, straps and a waist tie complete this dress, all in lush wide satin ribbon. The Poodles dress is so much fun, in black cotton with white mini polka dots and covered in all of a girl’s favourite things - bright pink poodles, sunglasses and lipsticks. Adorned with pink satin ribbon bows, this dress is absolutely gorgeous, and is Sarah’s favourite! The Pin-up dress also does exactly what it says on the tin - the print features retro pin-up ladies posing on a pale blue cotton background, with red accents. For the petite amongst us (or for those who find calf-length dresses far too demure!) the Polly dress comes up shorter than the rest, and is quite subtle for day or evening wear. In black cotton with teeny tiny red polka dots, the dress is finished with red covered buttons down the front but does up, like the others, with a handy zip at the back!

All the dresses are available in sizes Small (10-12) to Large (14-16), and the Scarlett and Poodles are also available in XS (8-10).

We’ve only got a few of the Fifties dresses up at the moment, but we have plenty more on the way, as well as loads more gorgeous Forties outfits which will make their way onto the website very shortly. If you just can’t wait, please do visit us and have a browse - we’re open every day of the week and are always happy to help you pick your perfect outfit.

We are back from the Goodwood Revival Festival (more about that soon!) and have been busy decorating and settling in to our brand new studio and office, which we’re still really excited about so you’ll probably be sick of hearing about it soon! We’re staying at our Old Spitalfields Market boutique so you don’t need to update your address books, but this does mean that suddenly we have lots more space.

We’re quite liking suddenly being able to see the floor in our stock room, and so we’re re-launching our superduper clearance sale offering massive discounts (as in, less than half price on lots of items!) on hundreds of dresses, skirts, corsets, lingerie sets and accessories… We can’t resist buying pretty things though, so are planning to promptly re-fill the space with new collections for winter! We’ll have all our new goodies up on the website and in our shop soon - our current obsessions are sequins and the Fifties, so our designers are hard at work creating corsets and lingerie covered in sparkly goodness and dresses with foofy petticoats which wouldn’t look out of place on the set of Grease.

Our stock room is a treasure trove of corsetry, lingerie and fabulous ballgowns, some of which date all the way back from our more gothic Camden Market days (gosh, remember them?!) as well as a whole host of amazing one-offs. So do take a peek, and grab yourself a bargain!

There are so many items in our sale that we’ve split them into different price ranges, so they’re easier to find:

	This scarlet party dress, ideal for the festive season, is now only £45, reduced by £100! The full a-line skirt is flattering on all shapes, and the diamante trim and the chiffon halter ties draw emphasise the bust without being too revealing. Search for items £0 - £49.99
Our dramatic, shimmering, dark red and black shot taffeta corset comfortably reduces the waist by up to 4″. Steel boned with a modesty panel and back lacing, the corset is trimmed in cream lace with matching burgundy velvet ribbon running through it. Formerly £155, it is now only £60! Search for items £50 - £99.99
	Ballgowns don’t have to cost a fortune - reduced from £295 to £145, is this elegant satin gown with a beaded, structured bodice and triple bustled flared skirt. Pictured here in navy, the gown is avialable in several different colours and sizes. Search for items £100 - £149.99
How stunning is this coat! Another fantastic creation by Catwalk Collection, this special occasion jacket is made from a beautiful stretch fabric with faux fur collar and cuffs, and is available in blue. Formerly £420, it’s reduced by a massive £200! Search for items £150 and above

If you’re interested in any of our items but aren’t sure if they’ll fit, please drop us an email and we’ll do our best to provide you with measurements or answer any questions you may have about the fabric or style. All our clearance items will be sent out within 14 days, and of course will be carefully packaged and require a signature on delivery, to ensure none of your purchases go astray. Don’t forget, we now offer free shipping to the UK, and worldwide shipping is only £9.95, no matter where you live or how many items you order.

We’ve only had time to put up a small amount of our vast collection, and will be expanding the sale over the coming weeks. Don’t worry - we’ll keep you updated when we’ve added new items, dear blog readers, Facebook and Twitter friends, so you’ll be the first to know!