Lumberjack Cute [Heart of Haute]

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.

Heart of Haute Red Buffalo Gingham Dinette dress

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My Own Sherwood [Hell Bunny]

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]

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:

Miss Candyfloss Valeria-Bo Dress

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Of Pleats and a Bow [Hell Bunny]

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.

Green Madison dress Hell bunny discount code

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August Outfits Round Up

August has been a weird month of, you guessed it, mixed weather so there’s been a lot of swinging back and forth between summer styles and more Autumnal pieces. Soon it will be autumn in earnest and I’m looking forward to the launch of AW17 from my favourite brands, particularly with London Edge this weekend. Come back to the site on Monday for the full run down of the event and lots of pictures of upcoming releases!

Kelsie dress by Unique Vintage, Lindy Bop Joyce shoes

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Tartan and Lucite [Hell Bunny + KookiDeLou]

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.

Hell Bunny Peebles 50s tartan dress kooki de lou lucite bag reproduction

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Sweet Sunday [Joanie Clothing]

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

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Draped in Velvet [Dolly and Dotty]

I’m one of those people who’s pretty bad for encouraging others to buy the extravagant evening dress even when they don’t have a special event on the horizon. The way I see it, life is too short not to do the things that make you happy, and if one of those things occasionally is buying a fancy dress that actually made you gasp or groan or swoon a little bit when you saw it, that can’t really be a bad thing. Putting on a special dress that is too fancy for every day life has a certain kind of feeling that comes with it, a grandness, a fizz of excitement, a bubbling of childlike wondrous joy that you get to wear something so wonderful and look great in it.

Even if, like me, you own far too many dresses, there’s still something extra special about putting on an evening dress that makes you feel like a princess, a lady, or an old Hollywood screen siren. The latter is the realm of fancy we’re entering into today, with a floor length velvet gown from Dolly & Dotty that makes me feel like laying atop a piano and pouting my way through a breathy solo number.

black Eleanor dress by Dolly & Dotty

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It’s All About MAK

There’s a MAK cardigan for every outfit. No, really!

If you’ve ever gone on a hunt for cropped cardigans to pair with your cinched waist vintage dresses then odds are you’ve come across the MAK cropped cardigans. A wholesale label, they supply their cropped cardigans in dozens of colours to vintage inspired stockists all over the world. Those stockists sometimes vary in the name they give the product as well as somewhat in price or the colour selection they offer, but no matter your favourite place to buy them, the MAK cardigans are fan-favourites in our community.

Personally, considering I own them in 16 shades, I can attest to how useful they are in a pinup’s wardrobe. And thanks to MAK sending along yet more to add to my ever-growing collection, I don’t see that my addiction to these cardigans will be letting up anytime soon.

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S-S-S-Samantha [Malco Modes]

For most of my pinup life I have been an adamant, ardent and stubborn petticoat wearer. It would not be a rare finding to search back through my history to find double stacked petticoats utilised to get the maximum puff factor for a special outfit. Generally speaking, the notion of going without a petticoat has been both laughable and off-putting to me, like suggesting I spend my life barefoot despite all that I would consequently find myself stepping in. Despite that, I’ve had some experience in recent months going petticoat-free occasionally when this little island of ours suffered through a couple of heatwaves. Having to forego the fluff to minimise my layers during those hot patches, did not, you will not be shocked to hear, convert to the other side. I still am and suspect I forever will be a petticoat lover.

As such, I have a not-insubstantial amount of experience with petticoats. I’ve tried the stiff ones and the soft ones, the scratchy and the puffy, the more expensive and the downright cheap, and through it all my number one choice, the brand to which I keep returning time and again, is Malco Modes. Made in Tennessee for decades and utilising only the best quality materials for their creations, their chiffon petticoats provide the maximum softness and promised volume for your buck. Their Jennifer petticoat, measuring 22-23 inches long, is my standard go-to petticoat for almost every skirt and dress I own. The only times is falls a little short, very literally, is for use with my longer dresses, the 26 inches or longer hems that would display a sad drop-off effect when paired with Jennifer’s shorter length. Well it’s a good thing there’s a Malco Modes solution for problems of that hem-length, and that is Samantha.

Malco Modes Ivory Petticoat Samantha

Left without a petticoat, right wearing Malco Mode’s Samantha petticoat

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