Wasp Waist [Orchard Corset Mesh Waspie CS-201]

I’m not a corset wearer in general and certainly not a waist-trainer or tight-lacer. For this reason I can’t claim this review will have all the particular informative depth of a person who has extensive experience in that area, but I can review this corset as a hourglass woman who carries her weight on her stomach, has recently gained enough weight that she feels shapewear in wiggles is a necessity for a better, smoother silhouette, and has tried a lot of different kinds of shapewear of varying degrees of comfort and control strength in an attempt to find the best option.

I probably own 15 corsets, some of them purely fashion corsets with shoddy, cheap plastic boning for costume and play, and some middle-ground quality corsets with full steel bones and decent cinching power. I’d been curious about this Orchard Corset CS-201 Mesh Waspie for quite a long time because I wanted to get a waspie corset that I hoped would give me a more pronounced waist in wiggle dresses without having to go the route of wearing a full corset or a longline underbust that would dig into me when I sat in it. Plus the fact that this corset is mesh made me sure it would be more comfortable in warmer weathers and stuffy rooms than layering a ‘proper’ corset underneath my clothing. Continue reading

Enchanted By Ella [Pinup Girl Clothing]

The Pinup Girl Clothing Ella dress was first released last year, named after  super PUG customer and gorgeous blogger Miss Victory Violet. It originally came in three colourways, pink, yellow, and blue. Neither colour really spoke to me, so I wrote it off as a pretty dress that wasn’t for me…Until my darling friend Sarah Forshaw got it and I saw these amazing pictures of her in it.

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I mean, apart from taking the time to be stunned by how goddamn gorgeous my friend is, it was a wake up call that a dark red lip and dark hair looks beautiful paired with the vibrant blue of this dress, and hello, I have dark hair and love a rich red lip! And while Sarah is more olive of skin than my pale self is, I knew it would work with my skintone too. It was official: it was being placed upon my wishlist. I put this dress into my basket twice on PUG orders after making that Must Have It decision, then wussed out and removed it from my basket both times when my total purchase value ran too high. After that second time of bottling out I realised I had deep No Purchase regrets and I resolved that it would be a dress that I bought in May as a birthday gift. It stayed in my basket for several weeks until March when I decided I would buy it asap anyway, damn waiting for my birthday! The day after deciding this I went to place my next PUG order…and it was gone. Out of stock.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!11 Continue reading

A Garden State of Mind [Unique Vintage]

The Garden State Sheer Mesh cocktail dress by Unique Vintage is such a beautiful, classic design that they’ve been offering this dress in multiple colourwards for 3 years. I first came across it last year and had my first little swoon session over it. Since then it’s been on my wishlist in multiple colourways but I could never commit to any one colour. When I saw Unique Vintage post this Mint & White Polka Dot version on their Instagram I fell in love–sheer overlays, pleating, mint, princess-like fairytale status style? ALL THINGS I LOVE. I was thrilled and super grateful when UV offered to send me one because they felt it would look lovely on me. Oh UV, you little charmers, you! As if you needed me to fall even more in love with you. But I did. I zipped up this dress and I did. Because this dress. Oh.

Heavenly sigh.

I received this dress two days before the wedding of one of my best friend’s and immediately began the mental recalculations of what accessories I could dig out of my closet to make this outfit happen. I was laying in bed the night before the wedding when I remembered I had a vintage basket weave box purse that would work perfectly, and lo’ and behold, both the dress and the box purse were a total smash at the reception–while in no way threatening to upstage the bride, of course. Every pinup knows her proper etiquette, after all.

Unique Vintage Garden State dress in mint, vintage box purse, old Monsoon heels, handmade hair flowers

Unique Vintage Garden State dress in mint, vintage box purse, old Monsoon heels, handmade hair flowers

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The Best Things Come In Green [Voodoo Vixen Joanne]

There are a few colours I love ardently and without waning passion; navy blue, rich ruby red, and emerald green. For some reason you don’t see a lot of emerald green clothes, let alone dresses, so I was pretty taken with the Voodoo Vixen Joanne dress when I found it recently.

Featuring emerald green lace layered over a black underlay, a square cut neckline with wide cut straps and a gently flaring skirt, this dress is a simple and pretty piece that I knew would work well with my red hair and pale skin. Lucky me that Voodoo Vixen were happy to send one my way so I could review it for you.

Since this dress is both simple and eye catching at once, thanks to that lovely green, I decided to style it up as if I were wearing it for an evening out. Adding some jewellery and a fascinator would even make this a sweet, appropriate dress to wear as a wedding guest, perfect for the upcoming wedding season.

Voodoo Vixen Joanne Dress Continue reading

PRAWK, Polly Wants Some Parrot Pants!

I don’t really do pants. There was a time while I was heavily overweight that I lived in jeans, scared dresses made me look fat, and a time before that in my teens, when I was much less overweight than I believed myself to be, when I lived in skirts, convinced trousers were the fat-highlighters. These days I feel perfectly comfortable in trousers weight-wise, but I’m so in love with the new look silhouette that rarely do I want to give up my full skirts for time spent in pants. Saying that, I’ve always been curious about the Pinup Girl Clothing Capri pants nonetheless, hearing awed rumours that they were a wonder of construction that fit both one’s nipped in waist and accommodated a bodacious backside. That, I knew, was something I had to experience for myself. The features of the capri pants that were supposed to achieve such wonderous results can be found similarly in other PUG pants, like their cigarette pants and high-waisted pants, so when PUG released their Laura Byrnes California High Waisted Cropped Trousers in Parrot Print I was both delighted by the print and super curious about the fit. As a non-pants dweller, I had never got round to ordering a pair to try, but when Pinup Girl Clothing offered to send me bottoms to match my Dixiefried Vintage Bustier Tops I knew the Parrot Pants had to be requested. Because, you know. PARROT PANTS.

Ahem.

Let’s take a look at the parrot-y goodness in action.

Pinup Girl Clothing High Waisted Pants Parrot Trousers Continue reading

All At Sea With Joni

The Joni dress is another of the Voodoo Vixen dresses from their Spring/Summer line that I saw at London Edge and immediately knew I had to have. The print on the Joni dress features white anchors and ship wheels on a navy blue background, the perfect nautical print, but this same print is also featured on the Gywenth dress, the cute strapped wiggle counterbalance to Joni’s cap-sleeved flare design. They are lovely pieces and I kind of want to own them both, but for now I have Joni, whom I took to the beach recently to show her off in her natural habitat. Of course it took only a couple of minutes for the delightful British seaside wind to blow my pincurls to bits, as I should have foreseen, requiring a brief retreat to the car for an emergency bobby-bin salvaging session with my hair. (I think I deserve a Brownies badge in Emergency On-The-Spot Hair Salvaging Without Help Of A Mirror Or Brush.) Hair disaster only barely averted, Joni and I went for a bit of a wander around the slightly less windy wish tower and seaside pathways instead.

joni2 Continue reading

Good Golly Miss Molly!

Molly. Oh Molly. Y’all know I love a Pinup Girl Clothing dress–PUG simply fits me like no other brand does, which means at any given time I inevitably have 10-20 items on my wishlist waiting to one day join my fairly extensive collection. The Molly dress is one of those wishlist items that has been chilling in my virtual One Day closet ever since she was released last summer. She comes in 4 colourways–navy with white polka dots, yellow with white polka dots, black cherry print and white cherry print–and I’ve been lusting equally over both the navy and yellow versions for months, never quite sure which one to choose until PUG graciously offered to send me a Molly of my own. It came down to little more than a mental flip of a coin, but I opted for the navy, my love of nautical colourways winning out.

Pinup Girl Clothing Molly Dress Continue reading

Hourglass & Proud [Pinup Girl Clothing Flamenco Mermaid Skirt]

I have a thing for mermaid skirts. It’s kind of an inconvenient ‘thing’ to have because not a lot of companies design great dresses or skirts with a mermaid hem. Even when they do it can be difficult to find one online because some companies list it as fishtail while others get real basic and call it a ruffle hem. The search can be arduous. It has vexed me many a time before. I was pretty psyched, therefore, when I saw a while back that my favourite brand, Pinup Girl Clothing, had produced a mermaid hem skirt that wasn’t just a mermaid skirt, but elite.

This Deadly Dames Flamenco Mermaid skirt is a gorgeous high-waisted cotton sateen design with a ruffled lace mermaid skirt and a pleated skirt back. And It. Is. Stunning. I lusted after it for a long while before I finally got my hands on it and when I did I was not disappointed. I took it out for a spin in historic Lewes town a couple weeks back paired with the previously reviewed Pinup Girl Clothing Dixiefried Vintage Bustier top and had great fun confusing the locals with my early Saturday morning glamour, rain be damned.

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Peachy Keen [Voodoo Vixen Chelsea Dress]

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I first saw this Voodoo Vixen Chelsea dress when I attended London Edge last month. As soon as I saw the peach gingham print I was on board, but even more so once I saw the adorable bow feature neck. So I was really pleased when this dress was swiftly released in their Spring/Summer line and Voodoo Vixen were kind enough to send it to me.

chelsea8 Continue reading

Thrilled by Frills [PUG Bustier Review]

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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bustier2 Continue reading