Vixen In Training [Modelling for Voodoo Vixen]

Posted on July 10, 2015 by missamymay

I don’t do a lot of event or experience based posts on the blog because, quite frankly, my life is just not that interesting; I go to work Monday to Friday like your typical worker bee, I spend a lot of my free time with my family and friends, and then another chunk of time on this blog focusing on the fun not-so-usual style aspects of my life. But occasionally I have something cool I get to share with you, and this time it’s my recent experience modelling for Voodoo Vixen.

My fellow British Belle Amber and I were both asked to be part of a Spring/Summer campaign lookbook for VV in early June and we were thrilled to say yes. Taking a day off work, we travelled up to London for a vintage picnic themed shoot early on a Tuesday morning with our hair in pincurls and the usual London commuters staring. The shoot was in east London, east enough that the Londoners on the team considered it Essex while wee country bumpkin that I am still resolutely saw the London around us.

Shooting in public is always an interesting and amusing experience because people can have curious reactions to stumbling upon a photoshoot in action. On our very first set up, with Amber and I posing against a downed log near a pond, a group of small primary school children were ushered past us on a school trip…and were all lined up and sat down on a small hill immediately facing us, for no other apparent reason we could gather than to have a look at what we were doing.

Casual sassy log chilling in the ‘Alison’ dress for Amber and ‘Leona’ for me

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Sweet, Fair Isabella [Lady V London]

Posted on June 3, 2015 by missamymay

The Isabella dress by Lady V London isn’t a new design for the company, but as it’s rapidly approaching summer they’ve added a lovely selection of new prints to their SS line of the style. When an email announcing as such hit my inbox last week the pink rose on cream floral colourway immediately caught my eye. A few days later, thanks to the generosity of Lady V, I had it in my happy little hands (and on my body) ready to show you why I fell for it.

isabella rose cream lady v london

I love this colourway. I know that will surprise some of you as I am nothing if not outspoken about my almost-all-encompassing hatred of the colour pink, but one of the few ways I can not only stand the shade, but indeed like it, is when included in floral prints, especially when balanced out with touches of green or blue. This print, therefore, is perfect. The cream background keeps this print from being ‘too girly’ for a girl like me whose sentiments typically run somewhere between the bold and the classic, and the latter is certainly a perfect word for this print. Continue reading →

Harley All The Way

Posted on May 14, 2015 by missamymay

It may surprise you to learn that the Harley dress in Olive Green & White Fleur De Lis by Pinup Girl Clothing was the first PUG dress I ever bought and that it went unworn for several months. This was not because I lacked the confidence to wear it in my earlier pinup transitioning days or that I felt I lacked an occasion to wear it, but simply that it was too big for me. New to PUG, I had no experience with their size charts, the cut of their clothes or the fabrics they used. At the time with a 32 inch waist I was smack in the middle between sizes, their L catering to 30-31 inch waists and their XL for 33-34 inch waists. This exclusion of the 32 inch waist is present in almost all their styles, except in items made with incredible stretch, such as with fabric like their high quality stretch bengaline, so the dilemma of whether to size up or down is ever-present for me and over time I’ve learned when and why I am able to size up or down.

Pinup girl Clothing Harley Dress Olive and White Fleur De Lis Continue reading →

My Very Deadly Weekend

Posted on April 24, 2015 by missamymay

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I’ve been a fan of Deadly Is The Female for a while. I discovered them early on last year when I was pleased to find they were a UK stockist of my favourite brand, Pinup Girl Clothing, which is a pretty rare thing, as well as a stockist for many other of the best quality repro clothing brands, such as Stop Staring, Tatyana, The Pretty Dress Company and Trashy Diva. I had already been following Miss Scarlett Luxe, the first ever Miss Pinup UK and member of Team Deadly, one of their favourite models who’s been working with them for years. Around the end of last year I began to really want to go visit the store itself rather than merely perusing it online, but when a quick google maps search enlightened me to the fact that it was 3 hours away I knew I had to put that daydream on hold.

So, imagine my surprise and delight in early March when I got an email from owner Claudia Deadly asking if I wanted to model for them at their next photoshoot in April. After some squeaking and much capslock messaging to my friends, I told her, YES, YES, I WOULD LOVE THAT OMG.

The weekend of April 11th-12th came and I awoke at 6am ready to drive from my home in East Sussex to Frome in Somerset, where Deadly is located. That’s a 3-ish hour drive in good traffic and I had high hopes that an early start would ensure that smoother and quicker journey. My mum, Mumma May, was going to come along as she had a friend she wanted to visit in nearby Bath, so off we went with our snacks packed and my hair still in pincurls.

St Catherine’s Street

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Getting To Know Me

Posted on April 3, 2015 by missamymay

I was floored with the response I received last week to my My Pinup Life post. When I share things from my personal life it’s lovely to see people relate to my stories, but it’s also nice to read that people like getting a better sense of who I am. Because of this I recently asked my Instagram followers whether there was anything they’d like to know about me to get to know me a little better, as I know getting a sense of someone online can be hard and a lot of you may not know much about me. Below are the questions I received and my answers. If there’s anything else you want to know just add it in the comments below and I’ll answer.

Teafor2and2fortea: 1) Why did you start your blog and how do you continue to draw inspiration?

After reaching about 2500 followers on Instagram I noticed I was getting regular questions about how to get into the pinup style, pinup makeup and hair questions, and clothing questions regarding brands and fit. I’ve always been a writer in some form or another, most prevelantly young adult fiction through my teens and early twenties, though writing has fallen by the wayside in recent years. I asked my followers if they would be interested in reading a blog by me were I to start one and I was amazed by the enthusiastic response. Having an outlet for my writing again, though more instructional and informative than the narrative and poetic style of writing fiction, has been lovely, and that enjoyable process in and of itself is part of what keeps me inspired to continue. Largely, though, I’m inspired by the responses I get from women saying they found my reviews useful, who tell me they bought their first purchase from X brand thanks to advice I gave and they feel incredible in it, ladies who are kind enough to consider me an inspiration to their style transformation in any small way. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate every like, comment and exchange, both on here and Instagram, and it’s that support and sense of community that urges me on when I’m stressed about scheduling a blog in during a busy week or I’m tired at 6am when I wake up early to take blog pics because it’s the only free time I have for it and I’m eager to get a review ready. I enjoy everything I do here and it’s because of my supportive followers and readers that I’m able to do that. Thank you all. Continue reading →

My Pinup Life: The Opportunities, Body Positivity & Friends

Posted on March 26, 2015 by missamymay

I’ve wanted the Dita Von Teese Her Sexellency longline bra for months and months now. For a long time I was sad that I could not find it anywhere in the UK. I had visions of wearing it much as Dita herself does as a beautiful, slightly raunchy and sexy top paired with a high-waisted pencil skirt. Regularly I looked online for it, only to come across stockists in Australia or America that wouldn’t ship internationally. Finally, unexpectedly, one of my friends on Instagram, lovely Brit-living-in-Australia @Nadiafaye found it on a mall trip, and was not only happy to pick it up for me and ship it over, but even managed to find it at 40% off. An international bargain answering my shopping prayers? What more could a girl ask for?

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My bra arrived in less than a week from the other side of the world and I immediately donned it with my Pinup Girl Clothing Flamenco Mermaid skirt. I added a cropped cardigan to tone down the sauce factor a little bit and because, let’s face it, mid-March in England is not a warm month. Wearing that outfit I felt sassy and sexy and confident, but above all else, grateful. Continue reading →

PRAWK, Polly Wants Some Parrot Pants!

Posted on March 20, 2015 by missamymay

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 →

Good Golly Miss Molly!

Posted on March 16, 2015 by missamymay

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 →

Peachy Keen [Voodoo Vixen Chelsea Dress]

Posted on March 5, 2015 by missamymay

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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 →

Voodoo Vixen With Some [London] Edge

Posted on February 6, 2015 by missamymay

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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!