Tag Archives: collectif

Bloomin’ Marvellous [Collectif Maria Woodland Bloom]

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Collectif’s AW line has been bumper this year, with tons of gorgeous pieces and new prints. Of the latter, one of the most popular has to be the Woodland Bloom print, a gorgeous dark blue topped with blooming flowers in dusky pinks, muted greens and soft pops of periwinkle blue. It’s such a pretty and seasonal appropriate floral print that for a while I couldn’t decide which piece I wanted of those made in this print; the swing skirt, or dress, or pencil dress? Finally I decided on the swing dress, Maria. It gives me broody, autumnal feelings, in a pleasant fairytale kind of way, so I took to the woods to shoot it.

Maria Woodland Bloom Dress Collectif Continue reading →

Dear Dolores [Collectif]

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The Dolores Doll dress by Collectif has been around for years, as well as the top of the same name and style. Both have been available in a multitude of colours and prints, new colourways available every season as a staple that some pinups collect almost religiously.

I’ve owned two Dolores tops in the past, a polka dot and the feral leopard print, but as someone who opts for dresses 90% of the time over an outfit made up of paired separates, my Dolores’ were constantly overlooked and eventually passed on to people who would get more use out of them. I love peasant style tops, finding the display of the collarbone and shoulders really feminine, sexy and classy all at once. The only thing that gives me pause with peasants, though, is that sometimes I think the ruched sleeves can hit my arm in the wrong way and can highlight my chubby uppers, as we shall now call them. There’s nothing wrong with having a little arm squish going on–for all but maybe 10% of the population, I think, some degree of upper arm softness is a lifelong constant. But I don’t always want to showcase it. For that reason I stayed away from the Dolores dresses, thinking perhaps that ruched cuff sleeve would do me a disservice.

Buuuut. Then Collectif had a super, super killer sale lately to clear out summer stock ready for their AW pieces. Dolores dresses went from £50 a piece down to £12-14 each. I mean. Come on. What was I gonna do? I’m sure my arms can’t be that bad to pass up a bargain like that.

I bought the blue gingham Dolores thinking that the dress looked like it would be super comfortable, easy to wear and a great option for throwing on for optimal cuteness either when I was in a rush or when I needed something for the times comfort takes absolutely top priority, like for travelling or really long days out. I was absolutely right about that as the Dolores is all of those things I expected it might be. After a stressful day at work last week I put it on one evening for a bit of chill time in the garden, picking some of our apples and watching the sun start to set–and trying to avoid our cat popping into every picture, because she trailed me the entire time.

Collectif navy gingham Dolores dress Continue reading →

Gingerly Does It [Collectif Ginger Dress]

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Anyone who’s followed me for long enough knows I’m a sucker for nautical coloured clothing–put some combination of red, navy or white together and I will probably love it. Another thing I love, but have rarely found in affordable repro, is a winged bust. So it’s time to say hello to Collectif’s Ginger line.

When Collectif launched their SS15 line I was thrilled to see they had included a winged bust in some wiggle dresses, a swing and a playsuit. And then I was sad that all those pieces featured novelty prints, something I’m very picky about and rarely partake in. The atomic flamingo wiggle dress was adorable–but not my style. The strawberry print play suit was super cute–but a no for me with that much fruit appeal.

I don’t know how it snuck by me, but I didn’t realise until recently that there was a nautical colourway of this dress, the navy and white Sailor version of that winged bust design available in both a wiggle and a swing dress. A mere week after I came across this information Collectif launched one of their infamous half price sales. Wing busted, sailor swing dress named Ginger, come to mumma!

Collectif Ginger Navy & White Swing Dress Continue reading →

The Classic Trench With A Little Extra Swing [Collectif Dietrich]

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I am a lover of big skirts. Not just big, massive. Gathered circle skirts so roomy I can fit two petticoats underneath. Which is all well and good in summer when I can flounce around as circumference-ly bloated as I please, but come winter it becomes a problem when I need to find a coat that will encompass such voluminous extremes without awkward gaping. There are a few retro repro brands which produce good quality coats, and even ones with a full swing skirt, but I wanted a coat that was classic and weather adaptable without being a super heavy fabric or out of this world glamorous (I know, that’s probably the only time you will witness such a sentiment being expressed by yours truly.) Basically I wanted a classic trench coat but with a big ol’ skirt.

Enter Collectif. This Dietrich swing coat of theirs has been around a while and available in a few colourways. I’ve come close to buying it a few times before but always when it technically was not the right season to be spending £95 on a coat. Collectif are pretty good at having regular sales, though, so at the end of summer I snapped it up for £60. Who doesn’t love a third off? Well you’ll be thrilled to hear that right now it’s on sale for an even smaller sum of £47.50, less than half price. Good luck resisting that!

This coat has all the classic structure and detailing of your timeless trench coat, with a swing skirt that really will keep your skirt entirely covered. I took one of my beautiful friends and her camera out with me on a dreary Saturday to show you just how well this coat will protect your precious pinup duds this winter season, including testing its capabilities of wrangling my infamously double-petticoated dress beneath.

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Beginner’s Guide To: Retro Clothing Brands

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In the retro clothing style arena there are two clothing shopping options: true vintage, which is when you purchase clothing made in the original era, and reproduction or ‘repro’ clothing, which is clothing that has been designed and produced (often on a mass scale) in the style of the fashion from a bygone era by a modern company. The benefits of buying one or the other type of clothing depends on your clothing needs, budget and your taste.

Vintage clothing can vary in price and quality, depending on where it is purchased and how well the item has been taken care of over the years, and while many people proclaim it is perfectly possible to find plus-sized vintage clothing, I myself have always struggled to find items I like within my budget that would actually fit me (and I’m a modern UK 12/14, technically not even plus-sized.) This problem with sizing is one of the main benefits of reproduction clothing, as modern designers realise that the modern woman typically doesn’t fit the same proportions as our glamorous 50s counterparts. Thus, repro clothing is thankfully made in a variety of sizes, and it is repro clothing brands that I’ll be providing  a summary of in this post. I’ll be telling you what kind of items each brand produces, the size scale, the price scale, where the brand is based, and where you can buy their items.

I’m going to use a price scale here to give you an idea of what the typical price point is of these brands. For a clothing range that typically costs £30-50 across their range I’ll say ‘Low,’ mostly over £50 but nearer £100 is ‘Med,’ and typically £100 roundabouts or over is ‘high.’ Continue reading →