FranklyMsShankly: Underwear As Outerwear with Ultimo

Hello!

About 5 or 6 years ago I purchased two slip style dresses. At the time the underwear as outerwear trend was really big and I instantly fell in love with the look. Mainly because I wanted to live my grungey Courtney Love fantasy.

As time went on and my body changed size, my love affair with the underwear trend waned... until now!

Enter Ultimo. They hosted two amazing events in Glasgow and Edinburgh where they invited bloggers to come along for a fun little style challenge.

With Ultimo being a Scottish brand, they had been on my radar for quite some time so I was more than excited to pop down to House of Fraser to see what they had in store for us.

After some bubbly on arrival, a walk through their newest designs and a demonstration of some of Lancôme newest products and it was time to head on upstairs to start our style challenge.

Always time for a selfie with Katie and Lucie

Walking into the personal shopper changing room, we were greeted with two rails. One was jam packed full of amazing clothing round all around House of Fraser and the other had Ultimo's amazing range of bralettes, crops and cover ups.

Our challenge was simple, we had to create an outfit going by the theme of 'Underwear as Outerwear'.

Having had a little sneaky peek at the website before the event I knew which bralette top I wanted to style. The Erica in Black was just calling my name. It had a slight vintage feel with the triangle shape but was so modern and fierce with its stripe strapping and embellished front clasp.

As soon as I picked up the Erica, a picture of what I wanted my outfit to look popped into my head. Since I was getting a sexy/tailored vibe about this bra I decided to stick with the cropped black trousers I already had on with me and grabbed the most beautiful Biba monochrome blazer I have ever seen.

It was like a film. The room went dim. Everything went quite. All of a sudden I was picking up this blazer in slow motion. It was meant to be. I had found my perfect outfit... or so I thought.

I decided to try on one of the amazing harness' Ultimo do as I have been lusting after having my very own one for a long time. I put on my outfit and had a slight panic to myself. The bra as gorgeous but I felt a little more exposed than I planned to.

The jacket was a little too tight and wouldn't close over too well which paired with the mesh bra meant it was nips central. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with flashing those nips but I wasn't sure it was going to work for this photoshoot.

Thanks for a handy lace crop top and harness combo, my nip worries were a thing of the past. It was time to attempt to be a model.... attempt being the key word here okay.

Oh and anyone who says you can't wear a crop top if you are over a certain size: Boo at you. I will wear my crop top with pride thank you very much.

Okay... so I put the harness on wrong. It is not mean to have that double effect on top but I got stuck in it and that is what happened.

I ended up loving my look quite a lot. It was very me. Simple, monochrome and tailored with a splash of a sexy edge (which is quite clearly not my usual look...)

Am I a underwear as outerwear fan again? You know what, I think I am. I am not sure if I am brave enough to actually go out in the outfit I wore but it did inspire me to buy my very own Ultimo harness which I paired very recently with those very trousers and a little black crop top.

Underwear as outerwear can seem like a scary trend but after seeing the rest of my fellow bloggers' looks, there is so many ways you can do it. Full on bra out like myself, or more subtle like my dear friend Katie with that beautiful crochet top.