I've been a very norty girl and spent some of my forthcoming redundancy money on an armful of clothes from Simply Be. I also went onto eBay last night in a desperate hunt for some bargain Anna Scholz goodies but they only seem to have things for sale in either a size 14-16 or a 32. Not much room for manoevre in between the two ends of the spectrum - except the occasional size 28 or 18 in something I wasn't keen on.

I have had the where's my size argument with Next on more than one occasion. Next do some pretty nice clothes (and their bootleg jeans, in the right size, fit me an absolute treat.) They carry up to a size 22 in the Directory, but finding any examples over an 18 on the shop floor is like finding a purpose for Paris Hilton...nigh on impossible. They have size six though. Even my sister, who is a tiny weeny little thing, weighs about seven stone something and is under five feet tall isn't a size six. I know plenty of women who are bigger than a sixteen though, and they have to walk around Next looking eternally disappointed - or worse- ask the seventeen year old skinny shop assistant if they have the jeans in (gasp) a size 20. You just know she'll say, "Sorry, but we can order them in for you."

What's the point of that? If I wanted to order them, I'd open up the Directory or get on the Internet. If I'm in town, buying clothes, I want to be able to buy them then and there. Of course, there's naff all point in me going into Karen Millen and asking them if they do their swanky dresses in a size 20, because everybody knows they don't cater for anyone oversized in there. But when Next patently DO, because they have them in the Directory, it seems bizarre that they refuse to put them out on display, where people might actually be tempted to BUY the damn stuff. If you EVER hear that Karen Millen are quite literally expanding their range past a 14, I implore you to tell me. Although I'm not holding my breath.

When I argued with the Next Head Office about their shop floor sizing policy, I was told that, "There's no demand for size 20 in the shops" - Ohhhhh really? It doesn't take a marketing genius to realise that when Ms Size 20 wanders into the shop a few times and realises that she isn't catered for, she will stop bothering, and go into another shop that DOES cater for her. The very fact that they've now expanded their Directory collection to size 22 would indicate to me that there blatantly is a demand for half decent, trendy clothes for bigger women.

Anyway, rant over. My clothes are lovely and I'm currently sitting here in a fabulous bright purple top, daring anyone to tell me that you shouldn't wear bright colours if you're big.

I like the whole block colour trend from the spring catwalks, and it looks as if it's going to be back with us again, with some better colour schemes. I don't know about you, but I think bright orange, lime green and vivid blue are so unflattering on most of the general population. Have you actually seen anyone in the oh-so trendy neon brights? (No, a magazine photoshoot doesn't qualify)  This season, purple is going to be in. This news makes me smile - I am such a purple lover.

This is how they do it on the catwalks.....

This is how they do it in the Simply Be catalogues

When I am an old lady, I shall wear purple....