Plus Size Ruby Belle at Evans

As I mentioned in my Simply Be post, I really want to write more fatshion articles and I had it all planned out in my head, then in one swoop, Evans kinda stole my thunder.
Let me explain first. I've never bought anything from Evans, ever. I suppose it's partly because I still fit into their similar but slightly more 'me' sister company, Dorothy Perkins. Although really it's because I rarely see anything that I must buy. Without being mean, they tend to be what I'd call stereotypical 'fat people clothes', you know the type; tunics, huge t-shirts and boot cut jeans. I'm a dress-girl, I like pretty, I like vintage looking, kitsch prints, florals, sticky out skirts, frills, polka dots and bows. I don't want to be wrapped in a poncho just because I'm larger than some people. And that's why Dotty P's appeals more, because I can buy that style there and it happens to be the same dress that a size 8 girl is wearing; more trend conscious or to 'my style' anyway. I must admit, I do think Evans are getting slightly better-the preview of their A/W stuff looks fabulous, lots of pearls, fake fur and vintagey looking dresses. They do seem to be listening to their customers and trying to be more on-trend, rather than just designing the same crap every year in different colours/patterns. Plus there's another Beth Ditto collection coming in Autumn and I know that proved really popular last time.
Anyway, back to my planned out post and I was going to say that what is really missing from the plus-size market are boutique brands like Vila, Eucalyptus, Liquorish, Rare, Vero Moda and my most favourite Darling. Most of them only go up to a size 14 and this really upsets me. I want kooky and kitsch as much as the skinny girl! So I'm sure some of you already know about this, but if you don't frequently click onto the Evans site then it will be news to you. There are 5 gorgeous new dresses by Ruby Belle and instead of going up to the usual size 14, they start (yep 'start') at a 14 and go up to a 28 (smaller than the usual Evans range I know). I'm pretty excited about this! Ok, so there's only 5 dresses, but it's a massive step in the right direction. I'm loving the flamingo print (although I wish it wasn't quite so sparse-too much unflattering white for me in some bits) and I think the boat print dress is utterly adorable and probably the most flattering (even if I do prefer the pink version available in the main range (from Fever Designs) which also happens to be cheaper at £39.99 shown below). The 2 with cap sleeves are probably most typical of what I'd wear, although they look to be those dresses that are supposed to be worn bigger on top and I fear they only work on flatter chested girls. I have a couple of similar styles from Florence & Fred at Tesco and I even bought them in a size smaller than usual but they gape at the armholes and I'm so used to filling out dresses on top that I'm not entirely comfortable with that shape, it doesn't really flatter.
The dresses are priced at £55 each, so not the cheapest, although this is what you'd expect to pay for a boutique brand. I'm on a no-buy for now, but I'm hoping the boat and maybe the flamingo strappy one will stick around for when I do have pennies!