A dress made for sunshine and good times, Solange is a maxi dress that’s ready for fun. Offering rainbow-but-not-really, it boasts yellow, sky blue, white, pea green, and deep red stripes for a bright, playful print.
Hell Bunny always offers great tropical prints, typically creating one or two new ones every year for their spring/summer range. This year sees the return of the Ukulele print from SS21 but now in pale blue and green tones, and the release of this lush Adelaida print, a darker, earthy take on what I often think of when I think of tropical prints—namely, colour and lots of it. In fact, the Adelaida print doesn’t feature tropical flowers at all, and yet something about the print still tells my brain it’s a tropical print, but like, in a chilled way. Is it just me?? Let’s take a closer look so you can decide.
One of the great things about dressing in mid-century inspired clothing is that you can achieve a fully authentic look and yet with those the same clothes you can often create an outfit that feels very modern. The day dresses especially easily translate to modern looks, as a cinched waist and flared skirt has been considered a flattering silhouette ever since. So, for folks who can only or want to dress vintage part time, having a wardrobe of versatile pieces that can be worn dressed fully up as well as smartly to work or casually at play is crucial. To me, therefore, a solid-coloured swing dress will always serve well, because it can inevitably be styled to fulfil all those functions. Today we’re looking at Heidi as just such an option.
I’m one of those people who is always early. The mere thought of arriving only on time, let alone late, stresses me out, so I prep and I plan and I arrive early, even if that means sitting in my car for 15 minutes before I turn up, only 1 minute early, to an appointment or social gathering.
Hell Bunny is the brand version of that. Twice a year, they’re the first brand in the vintage-inspired clothing world to begin releasing their latest line, sometimes getting out their first seasonal pieces before other brands have finished releasing their last straggling items from the season before. It always makes me chuckle. And so, many of their SS23 items have been out for weeks now, with others coming soon. This Nancy dress was one of their first spring drops and while I greatly appreciate Hell Bunny’s reliable promptness, it is in fact still January and was 2°c when I shot these photos, so please think warm, spring-like thoughts for yesterday’s Me as we look at this dress together.
If there’s one thing ya girl likes, it’s velvet for cold weather months. To be honest, I also love it for occasion wear all year round, as England is usually cool enough for that to be easily possible. A nice velvet gown for an evening function? Chef’s kiss! I mean, right now, on the heels of a heatwave and anticipating yet another, yeah, maybe we’re all feeling a little velvet-adverse at this precise moment. I geeet it, I geeet it. But picture the scene: you wake up to a crisp September day, there’s a freshness to the air, you’re excited about the prospect of the leaves falling but there’s still a month or so until they do, you’ve got plans for that evening you’re looking forward to, and this blue velvet Orion dress is hanging on the back of your wardrobe, ready to go. Doesn’t that sound nice? So, with that in mind, let’s look at this plush little baby!
You might think you recognise this green check print from a recent post, and that’s because you do! Hell Bunny are great at releasing multiple items made from the same fabric, so if you spot a new pattern or print in one of their ranges then in all likelihood there will be 2-3 items you can peruse to decide which one best suits your needs. As a person who doesn’t wear trousers when dressing vintage that’s reassuring, because I can often spot a fabric I love on a pair of their pants and know it will also be used for a skirt or a dress as well. In this instance, this Beryl print is used for the Beryl pinafore dress I reviewed a couple weeks back, a swing skirt, and this Beryl Mid dress. It’s a buffet of Beryl!
Hell Bunny are incredibly organised and much of their latest autumn-winter line is already out. Yes, we’re currently in a heatwave in the UK, but the early releases are still something I love about them because it kind of bums me out when I buy an item I’m excited about but it’s too late in the season to get much wear out of it before it’s time to switch my wardrobe over for the changing weather. That won’t be the case here, as I’ve got this little number all ready for when the weather turns cooler so I can wear it all season long. Did I go all pink and clammy shooting it for you early one morning last week, just so I could blog it for you? Yes, of course I did, because blogging is actually deeply unglamorous and there’s no getting around the fact that it often requires the photographing of summer dresses in February and autumn pieces in August. So let’s look at this cute pinafore and pretend none of us are sweaty right now as we dream of September.
When it comes to layers, I’m a bit of a hoarder. I have cardigans in pretty much every colour and more than my fair share of coats, because of course my brain allows for the necessity in the differences between, for example, a lightweight trench and a faux-fur trimmed glamorous, thick coat. Saying that, it occurred to me recently that I only have one casual jacket and it’s a cropped faux leather piece. That works a lot of the time when only a jacket is called for, but for some outfits it doesn’t quite hit the mark I’m aiming for, or sometimes England’s penchant for humidity means it’s still a bit much. Thus, I was delighted to discover the Ravenwood jacket by Hell Bunny. As a cropped piece and more lightweight than leather, it will work perfectly for many a casual outfit. I loved it so much I couldn’t decide between the black and the brown. Well, lucky me, today I get to show you both!
It’s official, we’re entering my favourite time of year, that sweet spot between April and May when both the blossoms and the bluebells are out. I shared some bluebells loveliness with you all over the weekend, so today it’s time to give the blossoms a little more of their due as we look at a dress that is, actually, pretty much pure summer–I don’t have any tropical palms or banana leaves to hand though, so the blossoms will have to do while we all pretend I wasn’t cold shooting this dress at 8am in the April early morning wind. (Please, I do it for you.)
The items I feature here on my blog tend to fall into two categories–one, this item is something I’m obsessed with because it utilizes a bunch of my favourite design features and my preferred aesthetic; or two, this item is more unusual compared to my typical choices and yet I love it anyway. Today’s piece is more from that second category but not really, because while I’m not often into novelty prints they do occasionally court my fancy, and such a summery print on a classic vintage dress shape, printed on that blue? I don’t know how I was supposed to resist.
Miss Amy May 