Clothes I have Loved and lost: Part Four, The Purple Dress

I will keep this brief as my other posts are getting too rambling.
This dress was bought from Next in Bangor High Street in June 1986. It is my show-off dress. It was made of stretch jersey and had two oblong cut-out panels at either side to show off my newly honed waist.
During my first year at university I had piled on the weight. Stodgy hall of residence meals, evening visits to the Chinese Chip Shop (Ying Wah) where we would eat Cheese and Chips (Fries) all washed down by that lovely stuff, alcohol which I had just discovered.
Almost a stone had attached itself to my hips, thighs and waist by Easter. During the holidays I accompanied my man (the gym bunny) in a kind of "If You can't beat 'em, join 'em" way. And my husband to be didn't do things by halves. It was six days a week training (and still is!)
By the end of the exams I had got rid of the weight and was fighting fit. I celebrated by getting a perm!
This picture was taken before a night out at the one and only nightspot, The Octagon, which had been opened earlier that year by Page Three stunner, Sam Fox. The opening night made the front pages only because she was mobbed by the university's Women's Rights Group!
And here ends my revisiting of the 80's. Tomorrow: The Big Blue Dress.