Cognac and Apples [Heart of Haute]

Posted on October 2, 2017 by missamymay

One of the things I love most about Autumn is how warm and rich all the associated colours are, even while it cools down outside. We’re not quite there yet but when the leaves begin to turn and the world slowly becomes orange and red and yellow and a bit gold, it fills me with joy. For now, when I look out at my garden there’s only the hint of fall touching just some of the leaves, while our apple trees remain laden with their last offerings.

As it happens, this new outfit from Heart of Haute, with it’s plummy plaid goodness, makes me feel just like picking apples, as well as sipping hot chocolate or snuggling down by a log fire, all in nostalgic sepia tones.

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A Pale Winter Tartan [Hell Bunny]

Posted on September 28, 2017 by missamymay

If this dress looks familiar that’s because it is. The Aberdeen dress was first released for AW15, I remember vividly because the first iteration in the green and navy Dublin tartan so enamoured me I ordered it as soon as I first clapped eyes on it online. It came with me to the USA for my October trip to attend a friend’s wedding in Virginia and visit another friend in Texas, and though I massively overpacked for that trip and ordered at least 6 other dresses to greet my arrival at my friend’s house I wore it twice on that 17 day trip. Because that’s the thing about a good dress, one good wear deserves another. And if you’ve got one good dress in a great print or colour, I’m a firm believer that it deserves to be produced in yet another, just so that crazy dress addicts like me can enjoy the same wonderful dress in a second (or third, or fourth!) colour. A colour for every occasion and for every season!

Hell Bunny have humoured me, and every other Aberdeen lover out there, with a new ice blue tartan for our coming winter, so just in case the green/blue Dublin or the white/red Stewart tartans didn’t grab you, this frozen frock can.

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Plaid About It [Unique Vintage]

Posted on September 25, 2017 by missamymay

We all know it by now: I’m a plaid girl. In winter when it’s cold and dark and (in England at least) wet, plaid fabrics feel comforting and cosy, a consolation prize for the short days and relentless chill. I also love that there’s such a variety of effects that can be achieved with a plaid, dependant upon the colour combinations employed, the fabric type and the way those things interact with the cut of a piece. For the Unique Vintage Delores dress, the black, white and red plaid utilised on one of their signature sleeved designs creates a classic and dramatic look that will have you reaching for it all season long.

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May in September [Voodoo Vixen]

Posted on September 21, 2017 by missamymay

If you’re a Voodoo Vixen fan you’ll remember the navy and green check featured in their design collaboration last Autumn-Winter season with Rachel Jensen of the as-formerly-known Chicago Chic Blog. It was a tartan-esque print I loved then and still do now, so I was thrilled to see that this season not only was that dress returning in a new red check colourway but that both the red and green prints were coming as full circle skirts. I honestly wanted both and couldn’t decide which. (Yes, those who know me well know there was a large possibility that I would just get both, but my chock-full wardrobe insisted I make a decision.)

I still love the original green so much and felt it fit better with my usual cold months colour palette preferences, so there was a strong leaning towards the green at first. Ah, but I already have the dress in that colour, so the red would be a smarter choice in terms of wardrobe variation, I reasoned. Plus, my friend Giselle held up the red at London Edge and all but demanded I get it, because, yes, we have the kind of friendship where we get to dictate clothing choices to one another. Those two reasons were perfectly good reasons to opt for the red, enough, you would think, to swing it (pun intended, you’re damn right.)

But let’s not be stupid: the clincher was in finding out the green skirt is called Marienne, and the red…the red skirt is called May. May, the month of my birth, the name of my blog. Decision made, vanity won. May it is! And she’s a beauty.

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Lumberjack Cute [Heart of Haute]

Posted on September 18, 2017 by missamymay

I always get excited about two features of Autumn-Winter fashion every year when the season comes around and those are plaid and tartan. I suppose there must be people out there who don’t buy new colours of plaid every winter but really, who are these people, and can we really even trust them? Personally I suspect anyone who isn’t tempted by a new shade of tartan come September might just be a pod person–or, I guess, just very self restrained. I am neither of those things.

Every year I’m excited to pull out all my old winter prints from their summer storage and every year I go on a thirsty hunt to acquire more, because never is there enough. Nevermind that also every year I ask at least one person ‘what’s the difference between tartan and plaid?’ in a sort of curious but redundant way, because the answer is somewhat unimportant, given my equal love and ceaseless hunger for them both.

Well with this post I get to cleverly avoid the baffled and reproachful queries of my friends and family who wonder whether, surely, I have enough of both, because technically, technically, this piece is neither a plaid nor a tartan. This is a buffalo gingham. That’s what Heart of Haute say, anyway, so that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

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My Own Sherwood [Hell Bunny]

Posted on September 14, 2017 by missamymay

You guys must know this by now; I’m a burgundy fan, and I don’t mean the wine. For a long while it seemed hard to find vintage inspired pieces in this colour and given its tone-perfect match for wear in colder months it always baffles me that it isn’t more widely utilised for AW lines by repro brands. In late summer as I waited for the new season’s catalogues to go out I lived again in hope that there would burgundy pieces for me to buy, to wear, to love. The first line I previewed was Hell Bunny’s and what would you know, there it was, the Sherwood 50s dress, sleeved and cute and available in the burgundy of my heart’s desire. Hell Bunny, you darlings, you’ve answered my wishes again.

Hell Bunny sherwood 50s dress plus size burgundy red

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A Spy in Tartan [Miss Candyfloss]

Posted on September 11, 2017 by missamymay

If you haven’t already seen the new offerings from Miss Candyfloss’s autumn/winter line, I have to ask; where have you been? Because I know what you’ve been, and that is missing out. Their latest collection is all about the Femme Fatale, inspired by Agent Carter. Think 1940s glamour, strong women fighting against nazis, the ultimate film noir sense of brooding fiercely smart spy awesomeness. Given all that, you’ll probably understand why donning the items from this collection makes me feel as sassy and dramatic as the character that inspired it. No, really, look:

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Of Pleats and a Bow [Hell Bunny]

Posted on September 6, 2017 by missamymay

You might recognise this dress as one of last winter’s bestsellers for Hell Bunny. I missed out on it in my size back then in all three colours it came in, black, navy and green, all of which I loved and found it hard to choose between. I loved it then and I love it now, so I was very excited to learn my chance to own it had not entirely disappeared. Behold and rejoice, for Hell Bunny has some stock left on their website! Ladies who, like me, thought this dress was long gone will want to act fast because it’s even lovelier than I had hoped.

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Tartan and Lucite [Hell Bunny + KookiDeLou]

Posted on August 28, 2017 by missamymay

We may be having a late burst of summer here in the UK but I am officially ready for Autumn. Bring me tartans and plaids, bring me windfall apples and slightly cool mornings that allow me to wear one of my many fabulous coats that have hung unworn aback my bedroom door for the last 6 months. And bring me Hell Bunny’s AW17 line, because damn y’all, there are some cute-arse stuff in it that have got me feeling all the fall feels.

I’ve been desperate to buy this Peebles 50s dress for weeks now, after first seeing it previewed in a London Edge promotional email. I may or may not have bugged Hell Bunny’s designer and PR manager Sarah one too many times about its potential release date in my eagerness ever since–sorry Sarah! But finally it’s here, the dress that has literally everything I ask for from my favourite cold weather styles–flattering three quarter length sleeves, a fitted bodice that emphasises the waist, a full swing skirt, a gorgeous green tartan print and, finally, beloved pockets. I can’t think of a single thing I would add to this dress to improve it because it is all my winter dreams come true.

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Sweet Sunday [Joanie Clothing]

Posted on August 23, 2017 by missamymay

I am a yellow lover through and through but it’s a wildly under-utilised colour in fashion in general. Occasionally in the vintage inspired realm you’ll get a plain yellow dress on offer or maybe a print or two, but it’s definitely under represented on the whole. Imagine my excitement, then, when I saw this multi-yellow toned striped cutie available from Joanie Clothing. If this dress were a person, it would have been an ‘our eyes locked across a crowded room’ love story. The reality of that is that I felt the jolt of an immediate ‘Add to cart’ impulse as soon as I saw the product photo pop up on Joanie Clothing’s New In page, but let’s not dampen the romance of a new found love with reality, shall we?

Joanie Clothing Sunday Stripe Floral dress plus size