I’ve wanted a white summer swing dress for years. I’ve got close a few times with a mostly white dress, or a white dress that is fancy but not really summery. In my heart, I wanted a swing style made from broderie anglaise. If it had sleeves of some description, preferably not capped? All the better. Well, finally, I found it! Let’s take a look at Louis Louis among the bluebells.
We’ve had so much sun lately it’s giving me major picnic vibes. I’m not actually going to go on a picnic, because I am notorious among my family and friends for being an indoors cat who does not do well in the sun, nor enjoys bugs flocking to her food. My compromise is to wear gingham, because that’s plenty picnic-y enough for me.
Once you’ve been in the vintage-inspired modern-made clothing realm for long enough you’re often able to recognise which brand made an item of clothing at first glance. Some brands are quirkier with their prints, others have certain signature design details they repeat over and over. For me, I’m usually able to recognise a The Pretty Dress Company item from the timeless simplicity of its design. Typically sleek, understated and endlessly chic, they’re a perfect mixture of 1950s silhouettes meeting the modern world, wearable for vintage lovers and current-fashion lovers alike. Today’s Myla dress is another perfect example of TPDC’s refined elegance.
I’ve never really been one to suffer from FOMO, except when it comes to clothes. So when The Pretty Dress Company released their signature Tilly prom dress in multiple velvet colourways for the 2021 festive season and my social feeds filled up with dozens of gorgeous pinups twirling in their Tillys in the run up to Christmas, yes, I’ll admit, I was jealous. The Tilly is a slight reimagining of their Thea swing dress from a few years back, the same flattering overall shape but with statement bows added to the off-the-shoulder sleeves. I owned the Thea in a cobalt blue and it was one of my favourite dresses to wear, until I gained weight and sized out of it. I still have it, packed away carefully in storage in case I fit it again someday. So for the Tilly dress to offer that same level of glamour and style as Thea did, but in lush, sumptuous velvets…oh, my heart ached. It wasn’t in my winter budget to treat myself to a Tilly, so I felt certain that we would never be–or at least, not this season.
But then one day, not too long ago, I read those magic, magic words: end of season sale, up to 50% off.
Dreams really do come true!
I love getting to try new-to-me brands here on the blog, especially when they’re small businesses, so I’m thrilled today to introduce Weekend Doll to my little corner of the internet. Weekend Doll have been on the scene for almost a decade as a stockist of independent vintage-inspired brands, but this year they launched their own line! I adore when small businesses take the leap into producing their own pieces but even more so when they are dedicated to producing it at home here in the U.K., as Weekend Doll is. That decision is a result of not only wanting to support the British manufacturing industry but also as a conscious effort to reduce their environmental impact by limiting the travel their wares must undertake in order to be ready for sale. With all of those things in mind, I was certainly very excited to try my first Weekend Doll outfit.
It’s been pretty dreary here in the UK for what feels like an age. It’s been rain, showers, and more rain, but in a shocking twist of fate this Bank Holiday weekend has heralded the return of sunshine. So it was wonderful timing that this glorious The Pretty Dress Company piece turned up this week just in time to enjoy said sunshine in true summer fashion–in gingham!
I’ll tell you what, there is perhaps no other brand as aptly named as The Pretty Dress Company. No muss, no fuss, just pretty dresses all around. Today’s post is plenty evidence enough, I think. Let’s look at Leyla.
One item of clothing I absolutely love but don’t wear that often is a peplum top. Why the disparity between my feelings and my actions? Because as a plus sized woman who carries a lot of weight on her tummy I generally feel self-conscious in clothing that displays it, and the average peplum top you find online or on the high street isn’t long enough to get the full tummy coverage that will leave me feeling my most confident. This peplum though? Oh, this bad Betty was deliberately made at the right length to soothe those of us with a little bit of belly bashfulness, and not only does it come in 6 colours, but it comes with a matching wiggle skirt too!
There are many ways it’s hard to be a small business. Having limited resources, the financial pressure of making it work so you can meet your bills or pay for your kid’s after school clubs, the gamble of stocking a new product you believe in that customers might not ‘get’ at first, trying to build up your return customer base as well as your brand recognition so you can reach new potential customers. And if you’re a small business owner who has bigger dreams, who wants not just to stock and sell but to design, to manufacture, to create, it’s harder still to build up and spend out the cost of fulfilling that dream. To create something that is yours and yours alone to offer your customers, something you made with love and passion and great hope. I’m not sure that kind of vision and bravery is something I would ever find in myself, but the beautiful thing about having my own tiny corner of the internet is that I can share the lovely things made by braver, more imaginative people than I, and today I do just that. Today we’re looking at the first dress made for Cerys’ Closet’s own brand, and it’s a made in UK beauty!
It’s news to no one that I love the Claudia dress by Alexandra King for Deadly is the Female since I already own 5 of them–4 of the bishop sleeve dresses and 1 of the bishop sleeve gowns, in the super luxe and impossibly glamorous navy velvet version. I don’t, however, own any of the flutter sleeves, purely because I could never quite decide which colour would make the most sense for me to purchase, on a practical level. Well, Deadly and Alexandra made that decision real easy for me recently by releasing their first ever printed Claudia dress–this navy polka dot flutter sleeve beauty, made to sway and swish in the way of all your most buttery chiffon dreams.
Miss Amy May 