I’ve been meaning to write a longline/shapewear post for a while, but after recently sharing the below picture on Instagram, resulting in a flurry of comments asking what I was wearing (wink wink,) I knew it was time.
Wearing Dominque bra & Rago 821 Cincher, Details below
The struggle to find a vintage style longline bra or basque that works for you can be expensive, frustrating and time consuming. Continue reading
Patio dresses are popular pieces amongst 50s loving modern pinups. As a plus size gal, whenever I see a patio-dress-clad lovely pop up on my Instagram feed I sigh a little inside, knowing I don’t have the time or the funds to conduct a widespread search for a patio dress that might fit me.
So imagine how excited I got a few months back to be scrolling through my Instagram feed, again (always, basically,) and come across this preview:
Bluebelle is a Singapore-based vintage inspired clothing company run by sweetheart owner Ammy. She began the company in 2013 because she and her sister, vintage lovers that they are, had trouble finding vintage inspired clothing to wear in Singapore. She began by stocking established European repro companies on her website, then branched out into producing her own Made By Bluebelle line last year. Her Lady in Black tea dress was so well received that European stockists began requesting to stock the piece themselves, a turn in the tables of her position of just a couple years prior.
The line, originally catering to the petite sizes of ladies in Singapore, is now looking to branch out their sizing to include UK sizes 14 – 18. Their original hit Lady in Black tea dress is the first piece in the range to be extended. Given its classic modest cut and simple yet elegant floral print, I can see why.
I’m ashamed to admit it, because I feel like I’ve been missing out, but this is my first experience with Emily and Fin. I’ve been following the brand for a while, loving, coveting, swooning. I always make a bit of a show out of buying my first piece from a brand, believing it will set the tone for our potentially loving future pretty-things-on-my-body relationship. So with Emily and Fin, I made a habit out of regularly visiting their New Items page and scrolling and scrolling, umm’ing and ahh’ing, putting this dress in my cart, then that skirt, then another dress, paralyzing myself with indecision as if I was deciding on something much more important and difficult than Which Pretty Thing Am I Going To Treat Myself To First?
Every time I decided I’d finally chosen my First Piece (yes, capitals, because we’ve established how important that is) I would excitedly go to purchase and–boom! It was sold out in my size. Because of course it was, their pieces are classic and lovely, and there were plenty of other women admiring their clothing who were being much less sentimental about hitting the checkout now button. Continue reading
Vivien of Holloway is considered by many to be the ruling monarch of the British reproduction vintage scene. All their pieces are designed and made in the UK, most of their clothing styles returning season after season in new colours and prints, with an army of avid fans happy to expand their Grace, Kitty or Sarong collections.
One of their most popular dress styles is the Halterneck Circle Dress, often referred to by lover’s of the style in shorthand as the HNCD. They watch the website keenly for the release of new prints, stalk eBay for signs of colourways they missed out on, and chat in Facebook groups about where they last wore their favourite dress. In terms of vintage style clothing, it’s a classic, one of those dresses that is quintessentially fifties. Almost every British pinup has one hanging in her closet, and I don’t know why it took me so long to try one.
Since all Vivien of Holloway pieces are UK made, I decided it was only appropriate to take my new dress to the seaside for a leisurely stroll with friends (and a sneaky helping of fish and chips, because if you’re going to seaside you may as well do it properly.)
Lola Von Rose is a brand-spanking new handbag company, launched in early July and offering vintage-inspired box purses reminiscent of lucite lovelies so popular in our favourite eras past.
I happened upon the brand while scrolling through Instagram and immediately got excited about them. I couldn’t believe these perfect little purses could be out there, existing in the world, without my knowing, so it reassured me to discover that the company was new and I wasn’t habitually missing out incredible vintage-style products that everyone else knew about. No, it’s fine, Lola Von Rose are small and new, but I don’t think they’ll be that way for long. With purses like these, I fully expect them to be a vintage-style household name within our community soon enough.
For those who aren’t familiar with Lulu Hun, they’re a vintage-inspired shoe brand offered by Collectif. Their line has a real mixture of styles, from novelty print flats to classic T-bar and Mary Jane styles reminiscent of eras gone by, to fun wedges and smart-wear court heels. Every pair has a touch of vintage about them. Summer wedges lover that I am, it’s no surprise that the Jessie Textured Wedges caught my eye.
I’ve tried a fair few petticoats over the last few years. My main concern when wearing them is achieving top volume with minor discomfort. That translates to a willingness to wear a slightly stiff petticoat if it gives me great volume, as long as it’s not scratchy, and a likeliness of overlooking a super soft petticoat if that softness subtracts from the puff power.
My ultimate petticoat find has been the Malco Modes Jennifer petticoat, which has great medium volume and 120 yards of perfectly soft nylon chiffon. Saying that, though, the only let-down of the Jennifer is that it maxes out at 23 inches long. Many of my dresses are 26 inches or longer, necessitating a bit of wiggling so that I wear my Jennifer down around my hips, rather than at my waist, to make it long enough. It works well enough as a stop-gap measure, but I’ve been looking for a soft, reasonably priced petticoat at a longer length to negate this practice.
Enter Banned.
Violets In May is an Etsy shop offering custom made vintage inspired pieces. Everything is designed and made in England by mega-babe owner Lola Diamond, pinup model and confetti lucite addict. Her store is perhaps best known for her kick-ass playsuits, offered in a variety of wonderful fun prints, but she also offers slinky lurex pencil dress, voluminous gathered skirts and a selection of beautiful structured tops. I’ve been following the store for a while but somehow had yet to order anything, until noticing a recent post of the Brittany playsuit being offered in a new green tribal print fabric.
I was sold. Continue reading
The Forest Seville fabric from The Pretty Dress Company is just one of those prints that you can’t help but love. It’s a rich, dark green sporting a pretty, colourful floral pattern, destined to look good on every woman of every skin tone because it is sumptuous and classic and just plain lovely. When it first caught my eye it was on the Hepburn dress, though it’s available in three other dress cuts as well, but it’s that same Hepburn dress I kept thinking about months after I first spotted it whenever I rifled through my wardrobe and lamented my lack of dark green clothing.
L-R: Hepburn, Cara, Gina, Hourglass
The print reminds me of English country gardens, of quaint afternoons, of plates of scones and tinkling china and being very proper. It’s elegant and understated, so it only made sense that once I was lucky enough to get my excited little fingers on it that I would take to one of those English country gardens to shoot it for this review. Continue reading
Miss Amy May 