Author Archives: missamymay

Thrilled by Frills [PUG Bustier Review]

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The Dixiefried Vintage Bustier top by Pinup Girl Clothing isn’t a new piece, but it’s recently undergone a design alteration so that it fits slightly longer than the previous cropped version, making it easier to tuck into your high-waisted retro bottoms, whether that be shorts, skirts or pants. It’s fully boned, fastens with buttons at the back, and features a beautiful ruffle trim. If you follow me on Instagram you’ll have seen me wearing the yellow version lately with my Laura Byrnes California High Waisted Parrot Print Pants, giving myself all sorts of tropical sassy feels and feeling a bit like a tiki princess.

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Renee, Darling & Daring

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Last summer Pinup Girl Clothing previewed the Renee dress, a halter neck dress with faux tied bust, Jenny-esque gathered skirt, and, most notable of all, a midriff cut out. Coming in 5 prints–Tipsy Elephant, Mint Pinup Girl, Navy and white Anchor print, and plain red and plain black–I immediately fell in love. Looking at the dress on Doris Mayday it, of course, looked utterly perfect. But I don’t have Doris’s body, and I have probably bared my midriff maybe thrice in my life? And that is just a guestimate as to what seems likely, not based on any actual memories of having done so. My stomach and its general surrounding area is my low-confidence area. So, while I haunted the Coming Soon section last summer waiting for the Renee (and the other dresses I was lusting after) to drop, I battled with myself as to whether I would have the ovaries to buy Renee when she came out.

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All 5 Renee dresses, pictures courtesey of Pinupgirlclothing.com

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Photoshoot Outtakes & Bloopers

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I am no model. You know that, I certainly know that. I like to try my best to take some nice pictures for the clothes reviews I do but there’s no denying that most of the time I’m just a girl in a garden trying to resist the urge to fake eat the leaves or not bust out a few of my dorkiest moves. Continue reading →

Voodoo Vixen With Some [London] Edge

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London Edge is a fashion industry event at which alternative labels preview their new lines for the upcoming season. As alternative fashion includes retro and vintage styled clothing some of your favorite UK repro brands took up spots in London this past week to debut their Spring/Summer lines. This year’s SS event was sponsored by Voodoo Vixen, and the lovely VV team invited a selection of bloggers to attend the bloggers press day on Sunday to see what exciting things were going on. I was lucky enough to invited, along with 3 of my fellow British Belles, so what was already an exciting day became even more so as it morphed into a mini Belles reunion.

The first thing I did when I arrived at the event–and I do mean the first thing–was head to the Voodoo Vixen stand to peek at their spring line. This beeline excitement stemmed from a hunch I had that they would have at least one nautical piece coming up, and I was right–I immediately spotted a blue nautical print featuring a white ship’s wheel, featured not only on a wiggle dress and a flared dress, but also on an adorable shorts and top set. Hello sailor! There were lots of lovely items I spied from the new season that I loved, but the other stand-out piece that caught my eye and swiftly wooed me was a beautiful peach and white gingham flared dress with a super cute bow necktie detail. The second these pieces go on sale I am snatching them up!

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Belles in the bathroom!

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Vamping Out With Queen of Heartz

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Queen of Heartz is a retro clothing brand established in 2001 by owner and designer, Letty Tennant, a lover of fine textiles and classic prints that harken back to the authentic silhouettes and stylings of bygone eras as clothes used to be made. All their clothes are handmade in LA and Orange county, offering quality American-made products crafted with care, and the company even offers a custom made atelier section on their site, Letty’s own favourite part of her business.

For a while I owned a Queen of Heartz piece without even realising I did, as I had bought the navy polka dot QoH Olivia dress through Unique Vintage over a year ago, not paying attention at first to which brand made it. This dress is one of my favourites, not merely because the nautical combination of navy and white is one of my favourite colour themes, but because it just fits so well. Every time I wear it people tell me it looks like it was made for me, and I feel so good in it I begin to believe it myself. The entire dress fits me flatteringly on every conceivable body contour and the skirt perfectly encompasses my infamous double petticoats with ease and grace, something which is sure to win me over fast.

Given that I am so smitten with this full skirted QoH piece, I wanted to give one of their gorgeous wiggle dresses a try. Enter, the Vamp dress! This dress is gothic, chic, sexy and classy all at once. Considering that special dark and sultry vibe this dress oozes, I layered on the black lace and tulle to take some vampish shots especially for this post.

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Thank You Giveaway!

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When I passed 4k on Instagram I promised a giveaway once Jenny January was over as thanks for all the wonderful support my followers give me, endlessly. But then a crazy thing happened: I gained an extra 600 followers in a week during Jenny January, putting me much nearer to 5k much sooner than I had expected. Now that my busy schedule of late has died down enough that I could get organised to host this giveaway I’m already less than 200 from reaching 5k, somehow.

So, to celebrate not only that little burst of new lovelies finding me on Instagram, but also the readers I have here on the blog (I’ve just passed my 50th post!) I decided to host the giveaway here using Rafflecopter so that you can gain multiple entries to increase your chance of winning for every way in which you might be following me online. Annnnnd I’ve added extra pieces into this giveaway to bump up the prize pack so that the winner will be receiving the following.

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UV & Me: #IAmUnique

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When I heard about the Unique Vintage #IAmUnique campaign I loved it. Since I launched my own campaign of #LovingMeIn2015 this year I’ve noticed lately that when I post body positive pictures on Instagram, or similar pictures under this hashtag, I sometimes get girls say they want my body or they want to be me when they grow up. I know that’s likely just the dramatic construct of the compliment, they don’t really mean they would rather be me than themselves, but sometimes I get the feeling that there is a true wistfulness there. Apart from finding that it feels alien that someone may wish that, there’s also the uncomfortable feeling that I don’t want anyone to wish to be anyone but themselves. They are the only ‘them’ that there is. They are their own special person. They are unique. We all are. I, you, they, we.

Part of the launch of the #iamunique campaign involved a lookbook of inspiring people stating one of their most unique identifiers, such as Queen of Heartz Founder and Designer Letty Tennant declaring ‘I am a boss,’ burbankmom.com blogger Jessica Cribbs declaring ‘I am a mother,’ UV’s social media Creative Curator Stan Salas declaring ‘I am fabulous’ while sporting full sublime drag, athlete Marti Davis claiming ‘I am a survivor.’

I could not think of one specific thing that I was, that felt unique enough that it wouldn’t be something someone else might claim. It’s not that I don’t think I have anything special. I feel unique. I tell people I am, and that I’m fabulous, and that I am made of awesome (I also tell people I’m a moron and giant child, so don’t worry about big britches here.) But what is my one thing? My one identifier?

The only thing I could come up with is that I am a contradiction. Not deliberately, not contrary in attitude, but in my life, the way I am contradicting what I do. Continue reading →

Jenny January–Success!

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If you saw my last blog post about Jenny January or follow me on Instagram then you’ll know I created a hashtag event encouraging Pinup Girl Clothing fans to wear their Jenny skirts and/or dresses during the week of 12-18th January. The idea was to use the tag #JennyJanuary on their posts to interact with the fellow participants to share styling tips, stories of their first Jennies, their favourites, their wish lists, etc, having fun in sharing the PUG love and meeting new ladies.

Beforehand I was excited just expecting only a handful of my own followers to get involved, but before it started Micheline Pitt from Pinup Girl Clothing was lovely enough to share an image of me in one of my Jenny skirts and news of the hashtag on the  PUG Instagram, inundating me with a few hundred new followers and lots of new ladies getting involved who I had yet to Insta-meet. That alone felt like a highlight.

The week itself was wonderful. Right from the start it was great fun to hear stories of fellow Jenny lovers detailing their first Jenny purchases, the Jenny prints that didn’t grab them at first view but grew to a love that had to be purchased; the Jennies they were wearing on their favourite vacations, Disney trips, when they got engaged(!) Women were complimenting each other on flawless outfit pairings and proclaiming they had been given inspiration to pair their own Jennies with certain prints or colours they hadn’t thought of yet themselves. Many ladies’ minds were made up that now, yes, they did need the Dancing Horses prints, or the Castle, or the Paris…It was chatty and kind and supportive and fun. It was exactly what I had hoped it would be.

I personally saved my newest Jenny, the Dancing Horses print, for her first wearing during this week, as well as saving my Cinderella shoes that I had handmade (and blogged a tutorial for here) for their first outing, quite obviously saved to be worn with my Castle print Jenny. I look forward to wearing a new piece of clothing or pair of shoes for the first time, so it was lovely to be able to have those small doses of excitement scattered amongst the overall joy of the event. Pinup Girl Clothing featured me again encouraging women to get involved and to share stories of which Jennies grew on them over time, and meanwhile I dashed from profile to profile, overjoyed at the ladies taking part.

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DIY Project: Cinderella Shoes

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A while back I saw two pairs of clear sandals being sold on Pinup Girl Clothing, then became aware soon afterwards that Miss L Fire sell Cinderella style shoes in 4 different shades–for £94.99. Dita Von Teese visited Italy and Instagrammed pictures of her perfect newly acquired Dolce & Gabbana Cinderella heels, and a little search online turned up news I had missed that Louboutin made an elaborate pair of Cinderella heels too. The Dolce & Gabbana pair were, of course, exactly what I would want in a dream life where I had the kind of money to drop thousands on what I wear on my feet, which I obviously don’t. I didn’t really like the Miss L Fire heels enough to be willing to part for the near £100 for those either, as they weren’t close enough to the styles I was picturing in my head and swooning over. The Pinup Girl Clothing offered pairs (clear and slightly bedazzled) were closest to what I wanted, as well as my budget, but the clear pair was out of stock at the time and the slightly bedazzled Belle pair still were not quite right. So the usual thought occurred to me: is it possible for me to actually create the precise thing I am picturing? And the answer was yes. Continue reading →