Patio dresses are popular pieces amongst 50s loving modern pinups. As a plus size gal, whenever I see a patio-dress-clad lovely pop up on my Instagram feed I sigh a little inside, knowing I don’t have the time or the funds to conduct a widespread search for a patio dress that might fit me.
So imagine how excited I got a few months back to be scrolling through my Instagram feed, again (always, basically,) and come across this preview:
Malco Modes is America’s oldest and largest maker of quality petticoats, pettipants and crinolines, having been in business for over 50 years with each piece hand-sewn in their eastern Tennessee facility. Their Jennifer petticoat was my first ever good quality petticoat as a pinup, and a year and a half later it’s still in perfect condition despite regular use. It’s the softest, fluffiest petticoat I’ve ever touched, and I do make a habit of touch testing as many petticoats as I can to compare–you know, not to sound creepy or anything.
The Jennifer is a great everyday petticoat because it’s got medium volume and isn’t too long or too short, meaning it works well for the average pinup. I, though, am a queen of puff. A master of fluff. I love my skirts big and bold and a little bit obnoxious, even. I’ve yearned to try the Malco Modes Michelle petticoat since I first got my Jennifer, recognising it as the superlative among petticoats in circumference, but I’ve been told by the helpful lovelies at Malco Modes that the Michelle is so full it will only fit under skirts with a minimum of 140 inches hem circumference, which excludes a lot of your average repro pieces. Being sensible, I perused the Malco Modes range of fuller pieces and decided the Madeline seemed like an excellent comprise between hem-busting volume and daily pinup practicality. Continue reading
Dolly & Dotty are a fairly new vintage style clothing company, based out of Brighton in the UK and offering a selection of budget-friendly retro style pieces in UK sizes 6-24. I first found them a few months back when I came across the two dresses below and fell in love.
L: Anna dress, R: Polly dress
At the time both dresses were out of stock, so I inwardly whimpered a bit, tried to find them in stock anywhere else, failed, inwardly whimpered some more, then gave up. It wasn’t until Dolly & Dotty and I were in contact recently that I remembered the dresses that had escaped me, and I was thrilled to find that the Poppy dress, at least, was back in stock in Continue reading
It’s here, I made it; My blog is a year old as of this past Sunday! It seems crazy that it’s been one year since I posted my first blog post, but even more so when you consider that the fact it ever happened at all was practically an accident.
This time last year, an Instagram addict and new to having around 2000 followers, I was regularly receiving questions and pleas for tips on pinup hair, makeup and clothing fit from ladies new to the style or simply in need of a bit of help. I was a fairly new pinup myself–still am, relatively, having begun transitioning to this style in early 2013–so I didn’t feel like I had much I could offer, except maybe advice from that angle of adjusting and learning myself. When I asked on Instagram whether any ladies would be interested in seeing me start a blog I was astounded by the number and enthusiasm of the ‘YES!’s I received. So it was settled. I began. Continue reading
Love Ur Look is a UK designed clothing company that produces feminine and flattering vintage style clothing that is all ethically produced. Their dresses cost around £50, their skirts £30 and their tops around £20, which are great prices for repro clothing but especially when you consider that every item is made ethically without cutting corners. Many modern clothing companies outsource to foreign factories willing to overlook minimum age and wage laws, but Love Ur Look consciously chose to seek out ethical production sources both in the UK and India right from their very first collection, ensuring that all workers involved in their production are treated humanely, freely chose their employment and comply with minimum wage laws and minimum age restrictions, amongst other requirements. This ethical background is something I had already heard about Love UR Look, so when designer and owner Ronke recently contacted me asking if I’d like to check out a piece from their new spring/summer line, I jumped at the chance.
You can tell a lot about a company from the way your items arrive, with smaller companies often going the extra length to package their products prettily and with great care. My Love UR Look dress arrived lovingly packed in a printed lavender scented dust bag, something I thought was a sweet touch. The dress they sent me is a floral check dress that they have since named the Floral Picnic dress in honour of The Picnic In The Park event I am helping to host this weekend in London as part of The British Belles.
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When I passed 4k on Instagram I promised a giveaway once Jenny January was over as thanks for all the wonderful support my followers give me, endlessly. But then a crazy thing happened: I gained an extra 600 followers in a week during Jenny January, putting me much nearer to 5k much sooner than I had expected. Now that my busy schedule of late has died down enough that I could get organised to host this giveaway I’m already less than 200 from reaching 5k, somehow.
So, to celebrate not only that little burst of new lovelies finding me on Instagram, but also the readers I have here on the blog (I’ve just passed my 50th post!) I decided to host the giveaway here using Rafflecopter so that you can gain multiple entries to increase your chance of winning for every way in which you might be following me online. Annnnnd I’ve added extra pieces into this giveaway to bump up the prize pack so that the winner will be receiving the following.
Morning you beautiful creatures. The day you’ve been waiting for is here: time to announce the winner of the Malco Modes Jennifer petticoat.
So fluffy, so fluffy, who’s been lucky?
The winner is…. Continue reading
I’ve wanted to try the Malco Modes petticoats for a long time, since seeing pictures of what appeared to be the fluffiest looking petticoats I’ve ever seen. Finally I’ve got my hot little hands on a Jennifer petticoat, thanks to the lovely team over at Malco Modes, and my goodness, this petticoat is my new favourite thing.
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Miss Amy May 
