As we’ve received an invitation to the Spring Carnival at Randwick next weekend I thought I should hot foot it to my local Swish Fashion store in Orange to check out the plus size fashion so I could purchase glamorous 2016 race wear. This was assisted by the fact that my husband gave me a voucher for Swish as he had forgotten our wedding anniversary last week!

Every woman knows that the most important part of a race wear outfit, to ensure glamour at the same time as comfort, is the right shoes. Wedges are ideal so your heels won’t sink into the turf. So, I packed two pairs of wedges to wear while trying out a variety of possibilities, one pair that is orange and red, and the other pair that is blue and aqua.

Tine was a great help in assisting me to try on many of the clothes in the Orange Swish Fashion store, and then taking photos of me so that Darrell (my husband) could minimise the amount of time he had to spend in the shop helping me to choose, by looking at the photos of the different outfits.

There are so many beautiful plus size outfits and accessories available at Swish for the races, that it is difficult to choose, and certainly difficult to leave some of them behind.

I have to admit to a predilection for peacock colours, so I only tried on one outfit in red, yellow, blue and orange, which did look good, particularly with the orange necklace and handbag we selected to go with them.

I then tried on a beautiful peacock coloured dress worn with a gorgeous purple jacket (below), looking great with my blue shoes and accessories, but I expect the jacket is a little heavy for mid-October in Sydney when we can generally rely on pretty hot weather at the Spring Carnival. This outfit may be better for the Conference dinner I will be attending next week.

I tried out a purple dress and medallion jacket, which looked pretty cool, followed by a navy three-quarter pant and top with the abstract lace jacket. These two ensembles with the abstract lace jacket were my favourites, which I did purchase, together with the turquoise necklace that made the navy outfit look very special. I don’t often wear dresses, but this blue dress fitted me well and is ideal race wear for the 2016 Spring Carnival, and the navy top and pants are very versatile for other occasions.

I found it hard to leave behind the black Aztec top and pants as they made me look quite slim for a plus size lady, and maybe I will be tempted back to them for another occasion.