February Outfits Round Up

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You guys, I can very nearly smell spring in the air! That may not seem like a big deal, but given how much fog we’ve had over the last few months (the Dementors are definitely breeding,) it’s amazing how exciting it is to get a sunny day. Not even a warm day. Just a sunny day. I very much enjoyed darker colours and heavier fabrics this winter, but I’m finally excited for my spring/summer wardrobe to come out to play. Bring on the florals, bright colours and tropical prints!

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In Love With Iris [Louella DeVille]

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Iris Frenchie Dress Louella DeVille Clothing YOSPS

In case you haven’t heard of Louella DeVille, I’m here to do you a favour by telling you: y’all, you need to know about Louella DeVille. It might spark your sense of recognition if I tell you that this clothing line is designed by and sold through what was once Your One Stop Pinup Shop, an Australian pinup boutique that has in the past included brick-and-mortar stores, pinup pamper photography session packages and, a while back, the original beginnings of this clothing line, before owner Bek’s lovely daughter began to walk and Bek put the line on hold.

Over the following years as her little girl grew, Bek grew her business with those Australian stores, as well as photographing hundreds of ladies in their pinup finest in her studio. Last year Bek moved the store entirely online, becoming Louella DeVille Boutique, and recently, finally, the time came for her to bring her ideas of her own vintage inspired clothing line back out to play. Continue reading →

Watercolour Reflections [Miss Fortune]

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Sometimes you see a skirt and you know you want it right away. For me, that often happens with landscape border print skirts. I find border print skirts are so uniquely vintage in style that they capture the attention and imagination of people from all walks of life. When I wear one out and about, a middle-aged lady might might stop me the pedestrian crossing to fawn over my Italian landscape skirt. A trendy guy my own age might pause on public stairs to let me by and tell me as I go that he thinks my outfit is great, with the skyline of Paris swishing at my knees. The worker behind the supermarket till might take a moment to ask about my Venice city skirt before we begin ringing up my groceries. People just like a good landscape print, I think. So it’s no surprise that as soon as I saw this Miss Fortune Amsterdam print skirt I was smitten, and so too have been many people that I’ve encountered while wearing it.

Miss Fortune UK Boardwalk Amsterdam Reflections in Watercolour Skirt Continue reading →

A Dress Called Lana [Vivien of Holloway]

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We may be gearing up to move into spring, but this autumn/winter season I developed a serious thing for burgundy and I don’t see that affection going away any time soon. It’s not even that I didn’t like the colour before only to suddenly see the merit in it, but my liking of it increased so suddenly you might be forgiven for thinking that the case. Possibly my normal obsession with red simply spread wider at the edges, encompassing the moodier, darker iterations of the shade, but no matter how it came to be, where it brought me was to the here and now, with my claret Lana dress.

Vivien of Holloway are renowned for producing their staple dress designs in dozens of different colours and patterns, leading to ladies with collections of Halter Neck Circle Dresses or Sarong sets. I noticed the Lana dress for the first time perhaps the winter before this one, so I’m not sure if that was it’s first release or whether I was just blissfully ignorant before then. What struck me most about this design was the beautiful draping of the neckline. I’m not really a 40s girl when it comes to my own wardrobe, much as I appreciate the styles, but when it came to Lana, I had little choice in the matter. Pass over that drape-age?  I think not. I could resist the style  when it came mainly in dark florals, but once this claret was released, I was powerless.

Claret Lana Dress vivien of Holloway Continue reading →

Sky Blue, Gingham Too [Collectif]

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Collectif Blue Jade swing dress Red gingham Lucy Cardigan

I feel like every season I say Collectif has outdone their last season, and yet here we are again, with li’l ol’ me fully in love with Collectif’s SS17. The particular torture of this love affair is that I actually got to view the line last September, so I’ve had 5 months of remembering what beauties lie ahead of us and eagerly awaiting the releases with grabby hands while also not trying to wish time away purely for the sake of clothes. But, you know, I was tempted to. Because if you haven’t seen Collectif’s new offerings rolling in to the New In section on their website, you might want to take a little look at the new arrivals, as well as at their Lookbook to see what other magic they’ve got in store for us. Continue reading →

Lookin’ Bangin’ [Classy Rebel]

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I’ve never had a fringe, ever, in my whole life. Not even a sad blunt one in childhood imposed against my will. I had blonde, ringlet-curly hair as a young child that turned into brown curly-frizzy hair by the time I was around 8 years old, growing darker and somewhat more frizzy as I grew older. The idea of introducing a fringe into that equation and lumbering myself with something I had to wash, style and possibly straighten on a near daily basis seemed like a burden there was little point in entertaining, even as around me I watched almost every female peer I had get trendy sweeping bangs cut in. Continue reading →

January Outfits Round Up

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I’m not gonna lie, 2017 started off rough. There were some family health scares and accidents that, coupled with an insane workload throughout the whole month in my department at work, really left me feeling low on energy and not much in the mood to dress up some days. I think sometimes since vintage dressing is such a time-consuming and energy-intensive style that ladies can look at pinups who wear this style every day, or at least regularly, and think ‘Wow, they’re flawless and they seem to find it so easy! I don’t think I can do that,’ then get put off the idea of dabbling with the style.

So in the interest of full disclosure, I want any of you lovelies who sometimes feel that way, or who feel discouraged in general by the seemingly perfect pinup lives so easily presented on social media, to know that that perfection or ease or even excitement isn’t necessarily the full truth. While typically getting dolled up gives me energy and positive feelings, this month I’ve just been too low on energy to enjoy it in the same way. Normally wearing jeans and a hoody in public makes me feel weirdly both exposed and invisible, but this month it’s often what I’ve felt I’ve needed simply because I just couldn’t be bothered to care about my appearance so much. And there’s nothing wrong with that, whether that’s a temporary or a permanent status for anyone, but I wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone that you can wear what you want, when you want, and it doesn’t mean anything other than ‘this is the outfit that I wanted to wear today.’ You do you, boo.

Saying that, I got my 50% off Collectif order through this month, holla, and that injected a little more excitement back into my wardrobe. I have a week off work in February and I’m hoping to fill it with some fun activities and much procrastinated productivity, so here’s hoping next month leaves me feeling revitalised and ready to get my pinup on with my usual enthusiasm.

Happy New Year to you, if I haven’t said it already; I hope January has treated you kindly and that you feel hopeful and happy wherever you are. And now, on to the clothes!

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Gold Jacquard Juliette swing dress by Collectif, old Aliexpress necklace, Deluxe clip in Bettie Bangs by Classy Rebel, old New Look shoes

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My Makeup Faves: Edition V

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It’s been quite a while since I’ve done one of these (uh, last April) and there’s lots of new items I’ve found that I love so let’s waste no more time. Here are all my latest favourites of the new products I’ve tried in the past few months. Continue reading →

True Inspiration [Heart of Haute]

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I’ve been into black clothing much more this winter than I ever have in the past. It’s always been chic and smart to me, but suddenly I’ve been more interested in black clothes of different textures, fabrics and finishes. Anything black with an interesting design detail has been more likely to catch my eye, so when I first saw images of this Heart of Haute Inspiration top I suddenly became a YES SIREE SIGN ME UP OYESOYESOYES THATS IT RIGHT THURR GOOD LAWD MA’AM HOT DAMN internet meme reaction of a person.

As with the HoH Divine Jacket I reviewed last week this top immediately jumped to the top of my wishlist, but with pre-Christmas budgeting in action I didn’t purchase it until several weeks later during Cyber Week from Deadly is the Female, UK stockist of many of the best quality vintage inspired brands. The moment it arrived it jumped to the top of another one of my lists, the Super Comfortable But Also Really Chic Clothing To Wear list. That’s one of my favourite lists because it means the items on it don’t require my squishy bits to suffer for my glamorous tastes by way of cinching and pinching, so right away this top was a winner.

Heart of Haute Inspiration top Deadly is the Female Continue reading →