I have been waiting in anticipation for the City Chic Pitt St store to open and yesterday I ventured down there to have a look.

When Man Piece and I first moved to Sydney we decided an apartment in the central city would be the best position for both of us. He already had a job based in Pyrmont and I was yet to find a job, so being central meant that when I did, I could either walk or was close to the central transport hub that it would be relatively easy to get anywhere.

But the most glaring absence in the central city, for me, was a City Chic store. I’ve been quite lucky since discovering City Chic back in 2011 to the point that I have always had one fairly close to where I lived. In Wellington it is on Lambton Quay and when I was living in Auckland there was one at the Shore City mall. Unfortunately I believe this one has since closed.

So when I found myself living in an area that didn’t have one close by, I didn’t really know what to do. The easiest one for me to get to from where I live is Macquarie Park shopping centre and I have been there fairly regularly in the last year. It probably averaged about every three months that I would head there and do a massive binge shop. I also bought stuff online, but there is still that aspect of being able to try clothes on and see how they look before you fork out the money for them, which is important.

I am extremely happy that there is now a store only a five minute walk away from me. I will probably be heading down there regularly for a look and to try things on.

The store itself is awesome. It is now City Chic’s flagship store in Sydney and one of the sales assistants mentioned that it will get every size in every style. It has specialised areas for the TDF jeans and lingerie, and the Styling Lounge is just so comfortable to try on clothes. It is so much more than a changing room. And, naturally, the staff are lovely.

It isn’t actually located on Pitt St or in the main Westfield part of the mall, which originally took me ages to find it. But if you head down the escalators under Myer (so you see the Cupcake Bakery) and then start heading up to the street and away from the QVB, it is located just there on the right, near Stylz hairdressers.

It is very different to any other CC store I have been in. See the horse head on the wall above? Yeah. And the use of brick throughout. It is just so cool.

The Styling Lounge has awesome steel gates on the changing rooms with a decent thick curtain that pulls across as well, so you are assured privacy while changing. The above picture shows these gates and the few lampshades throughout the store. The quote on the mirror entering the lounge says, “Always dress like you’re going to see your worst enemy.”

After looking around the store and finding a few pieces to try on, I headed to the Styling Lounge.

Time for some photos, yeah?

This is the Mirrored Unicorn Top. It is very similar to the Leopard and Tiger tops that I already have, so I knew it was going to fit well and be worn with a lot of my current wardrobe already. When it came to buy it, this was the question that I asked – is it too similar? But then I was like, it’s unicorns, of course I’m bloody buying it. So this is the first addition from my shopping trip. It is a bit longer than my other ones, so aside from pairing it with jeans, I’m also keen to try it with my wet-look leggings.

The next top, I was so surprised with. It is the Wet Look Peplum Corset, which I had seen on the website and Facebook and thought it would be an awesome top to have, but with the weird sizing lately, I thought it might not fit, but I decided to try it anyway. When putting it on I found it is actually super stretchy and comfortable. Man Piece immediately agreed that it looked fab and that it should be added to my wardrobe.

I should add here that Man Piece came with me on this epic shopping session, taking all the photos for me and standing there for an hour while I tried everything on.

This is the Pop! Print Tank and while I loved it as soon as I saw it online, once I tried it on, it wasn’t what I thought it was. It fit really well and so did the attached boob-tube, but the singlet itself is more of a cream colour than white and I (and Man Piece agreed) that it would possibly look old and stretched quite quickly. I would still be keen to find something similar to this, but in a slightly different material, or even a t-shirt.

The colour of this dress is what drew me to it originally. It is the Zip Front Pleat Tunic in the hibiscus colour, which is actually more a bright pink than the orange showing here. I thought the dress might not fit properly, but as soon as I put it on, I was in love. It looked amazing and fits like a glove, accentuating my boobs but hiding my tummy. It looked great without the belt, but then one of the ladies said I should try it with the belt and it looked even better. Both of these items came home with me. I had been wanting some good belts for awhile, but I haven’t been able to find any that fit. This one did though, so, sold! I have a wedding to go to in the Hunter Valley at the end of the month – a more casual event, as it will likely be warm. I’m thinking this dress with the belt, a pair of heels and a statement necklace should be a goer.

This is the Sexy Stripe Dress which is really stretchy and comfortable, but I wasn’t really feeling it. The reason is because the chest is actually lace-up, which is ideal for ladies with bigger busts that need a bit more lee-way, but I am still rather conservative about showing off my bra. So this one stayed in the store.

Lastly, is the Disco Sister Dress. I love this style of dress since the gold sequined one came out a few months ago. It sits nicely around my bust and hides my tummy. It can be dressed up or down. I even bought the Aztec patterned one a wee while ago, but then returned it when Man Piece said he hated it. He does not like this one either, but I love it! So I’m in two minds about actually buying this one. Yesterday it was left in store, but I don’t think I can let it go that easily. The skirt is made of a nice soft leather-esque material, which I think is better than the sequins as I’m always scared they are just going to catch and all fall off. There is not a chance of that happening with this one.

So readers, should I buy the Disco Sister Dress? What are your thoughts on it?

I also tried on a few bras and bought those because I was in desperate need of some new ones. Added bonus was that as a Glam member of the CC Nation, when I bought one, I got one free. I got the Kiki Contour Bra and the Poppy Contour Bra as well as a new black and skin-coloured strapless bras.

I even tried on the First Dance Dress, which I really really wanted, to only be bitterly disappointed that it didn’t fit. I thought this might happen as the tighter fitting dresses often don’t fit me. (I didn’t actually bawl my eyes out in the changing rooms, but I did make some really awful faces in the photos Man Piece was taking of me.)

In conclusion, I love everything about this store – the location, the fitout, the music playing, the layout, the styling lounge and the staff. I even found that the sizing of the clothes has gotten better again. I have found for a few months now that the sizing and fit of things had been slightly off, but it seems to have gone back to what it was. I look forward to making this my regular City Chic store and I expect I will get to know the ladies in there.

I apologise for the epic post and the dubious photos, which were taken on my phone of which the camera is rather shit, to say the least.

The wait for the new store to open was definitely worth it. If you are around the city, it is definitely worth going to check it out.