That’s right, it’s that time again, time for me to show you all the most awkward, unattractive, and downright weird outtakes from more of my blog shoots. Continue reading
Bloopers & Outtakes [Round 4]
5
Tag Archives: fashion blogger
London Edge [SS16 Most Anticipated]
Last year was my first year at London Edge, an alternative and vintage style clothing trade show in London held twice a year to preview upcoming Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter lines from clothing brands. The show exists primarily for stockists to scout out the upcoming season’s offerings so they can choose what they want to stock in their in-store and online boutiques, but London Edge invites bloggers too so that they can bring the news of the show to their readers.
This year I was super excited to go to the SS16 February show, sure that some of my favourite brands would have some truly awesome stuff coming up soon. I was not wrong. Several brands, including Collectif and Voodoo Vixen, released their SS lookbooks online a few weeks before London Edge, so I had seen a lot of what they had to offer before I attended, but there were still tons of companies whose spring and summer offerings were still under-wrap beforehand. Plus, there’s something about getting to see items in person, even if you can’t try them on, which is so much better than trying to get a full sense of them online. Bearing all that in mind, I went up to London this past weekend armed with a feverish sense of clothing curiosity and my camera, with one of my pinup besties, Giselle, at my side to trade off comments, gasps and admiring groans with as we combed through the rails. Continue reading
January Outfits Round Up
It’s been a busy month, catching up with friends after the Christmas break and enjoying a weekend with one of my London friends, Giselle, coming down to stay. And, of course, there was Jenny January, the style challenge event I host in January on social media revolving around the Pinup Girl Clothing Jenny skirts and dresses. If you wanted to read about that event in particular you can find my blog post about it here, but if not you’ll find all my outfits represented below.
Nina Skirt from Pinup Girl Clothing, Black Sabrina Top by PUG from Deadly Is The Female, Magnetic Crystal Starburst brooch from eBay, self-bedazzled shoes (tutorial)
Gorgeous Gigi [Miss Candyfloss]
Everyone should be able to wear whatever they want, without judgement or comment. Saying that, there are certain things I won’t go near personally because I just don’t feel they work for my body and the way I most like to highlight its features. Maxi dresses don’t show off my waist enough with that large expanse of skirt flowing straight down beneath it, and capped sleeves aren’t kind to my chubby upper arms. I store weight on my lower stomach and have wide hips, as well as considerable butt (awww yeaaah,) but those things mean when it comes to trousers and shorts, I just steer clear most of the time for simplicity’s sake, since I can’t be bothered searching for the perfect fit. Playsuits and jumpsuits, therefore, are clothing pieces I rule out, because when trying some on in the past I’ve found they don’t fit my lower body well and make me feel self-conscious about my squidgy tummy. No one really wants that.
However, I’ve been seeing some bodacious babes rocking some amazing retro jumpsuits lately and it made me feel some things. Miss Victory Violet, Simone of Atypical Girl Clothing and Kerry of Audrey Star’s Boutique are all working their jumpsuits like it’s nobody’s business, and it got me wondering.
L to R: Atypical Girl’s Simone. Audrey Star’s Boutique’s Kerry, and Miss Victory Violet
Pretty Pia [Voodoo Vixen]
I have a thing for winter appropriate prints, checks, tweeds and weighted fabrics. They never go out of style, which means when you buy a piece in that kind of fabric you know you can wear it year after year regardless of the passing current trends. This holds even more true when the pieces are vintage inspired, so I was pleased to see that Voodoo Vixen made several pieces in their AW15 line that fit this outline.
The Pia pencil skirt is the one that most caught my eye from the VV workwear appropriate new pieces. It’s a lightweight highwaisted grey pencil skirt sporting a tweed inspired print with kick pleats in the back. From the same AW line I picked up the Sophie top, a black three quarter sleeved top with plenty of stretch for comfort and a great button detail staired neckline.
Vendula London Funky Bags
Typically I’m not one for statement accessories beyond a big crystal necklace. I tend to play it safe and classic with my style choices, even though that sometimes means I fall in love with a lemon wedge shaped clutch bag or a handbag shaped like a house and talk myself out of buying it because I’m not sure how to wear it. Every once in a while I realise how silly that is, since my motto in general is to wear whatever you want because life is too short not to indulge in even the smallest of things that make you happy. Which is why today I’m writing about Vendula London.
Vendula London is, in case you couldn’t guess, a UK based brand, who are 100% animal friendly. They offer a range of unique, funky and quirky bags, from clutch bags to handbags, totes to cosmetic bags, luggage tags, tablet cases, you name it. They’re stocked globally, and when I saw some of their book style clutch bags and quaint traditional English building inspired bags I fell in love.
Cover Up In Style [Wingz]
I have a lot of dresses. I love them all, perhaps not equally, but a lot. More than most women love their clothes. So it frustrates me and saddens me somewhat when autumn, winter, even parts of spring (and summer here in the UK, to be honest) come around and require me to either trade in my sleeveless and strappy dresses or else layer them beneath a cardigan. And don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with a cardigan. These days they’re a fashion staple, a downright given. I’m sure you, like I, own approximately 20 in different lengths and colours, necklines and sleeve lengths. They’re useful and warm, but there’s no escaping the fact that cardigans cover not only your arms but at least some of your dress too. And on some dresses, that is nothing more than a shame.
I own plenty of dresses with beautiful feature bustlines, gorgeous prints, even embroidered patterns. I recently bought a v-neck sleeveless dress with exquisite embroidery that winds all the way down from the shoulder straps over the bust and waist towards my hips. It makes me think of Christmas and feels especially appropriate to wear this time of year, but the lack of sleeves means that if I layer a cardigan atop it I cover up some of the beautiful embroidery that makes it so special.
Which is why I’m maybe a little too excited that I found Wingz. I stumbled across them on Facebook just a couple weeks ago and was immediately drawn in. Wingz is a line of sleeves that you can layer under almost any neckline dress or top because they’re designed as an under-top with a super low bustline that layers over your bra, creating sleeves you can layer under tops and dresses to keep warm without effecting the lay, cut or style of your clothes.
July Outfits Round Up
Another month gone and it’s been a cracker! This month not only did I host Jenny July, which means there’s a whole host of Jenny centric outfits to go over in this post, but I also had the pleasure of meeting Pinup Girl Clothing’s founder, owner and head designer, Laura Byrnes. If any of you have ever noticed just how PUG heavy some of my outfit wrap up posts have been some months and goggled at how much PUG that must mean I own, I can assure you that nothing was more difficult than deciding which pieces to wear to meet the Supreme Overlord of my favourite brand.
That glory aside, July has been a weird month of temperature fluctuations, with some hottest-day-of-the-year highs and some drizzly, autumnal lows, so this wrap up should involve a strange mix for a mid-summer month. It also features me wearing my hair up more times in one month than I have probably done total for the entire rest of the year up until now.
Click on the pictures for a closer look! You can find links in the description to any item that is still available to buy. Anything not linked is from a past season and cannot be found for purchase any longer and/or is not available to buy online.
Discontinued Pinup Girl Clothing Spanish Fan Print Jenny dress, PUG cropped cardigan in mint, PUG red sateen grommet belt, and New Look mint flats
Cats, Parks & Picnics [Voodoo Vixen Katnis]
I’m kind of a big kid. I may be 29-years-old but it’s still a legitimate life goal of mine to make a large fort out of cardboard. Things have been crazy busy lately and with The Pinup Picnic In The Park coming up in a couple weeks that busyness isn’t soon set to relent. So, rather than the usual blog shoot involving pretty scenery and me trying my very best to look put together and glamorous, this weekend I indulged my inner child by throwing on my new Voodoo Vixen Katnis dress, packing the picnic hamper I got for my birthday, and heading to the park with my sister Sarah and 4 of my niblings (definition: plural, gender-neutral term for nieces and nephews.)
I had visions of us getting tons of adorable family shots on all the park pieces and a shining, cohesive snapshot of cuteness on a picnic blanket together. Anyone who has children, or even their own niblings, will know that I should have lowered my expectations. Because when you’re toting a crew of four children what will actually happen is your 9-year-old niece will not-very-subtly hint that you should take model shots of her on every piece of park apparatus; your 11-year-old nephew will lounge around in the giant swing because he’s so tired from the dog waking him up at 5.30am; your almost 4-year-old nephew will want to take pictures of you with your expensive DSLR camera and will think squeezing the camera with deep intensity is the way to get it to work; your not yet 2-year-old niece will be so intent upon repeatedly going down the slide that she won’t want to pose for any selfies with you; and the perfect family picnic shot you dreamt of will actually turn out like this…
Amy, we don’t have time for pictures, there is food to be served
So, a typical Saturday, really. I should have known better. Let the madness begin! Continue reading
Sweet, Fair Isabella [Lady V London]
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.
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
Miss Amy May 