Miss Candyfloss pieces can sell out fast–so fast, in fact, that often a piece is entirely sold out before my order reaches my hands, let alone before I can even hope to shoot it and get up a review for you. Because of that today I’m doubling up in today’s post, before these dresses have a chance to sell out! So let’s take a look at the Tatum-Lee and the Edelie-Tea-Burgundy.
The fact that Miss Candyfloss release a Lookbook well in advance of each season is both a blessing and a curse; the former because it allows you time to plan out your purchases for the season according to your budget, and the latter because when you spot an item that captures your heart it can feel like an eternity passes waiting for its release. There’s always a dozen items I covet in each lookbook, easily, but this Monroe-Lee was my favourite of them all, which is saying something considering the Marilyn inspired Autumn-Winter line of this season has been my favourite ever of all of Miss Candyfloss’s gorgeous lines. I can imagine it’s hard to live up to such anticipation and praise, but this dress does so easily.
I’ve heard it said that everyone has a base colour they build their wardrobe around, either black, navy, brown or grey. I’ve never felt I had an overwhelming pull towards any of those neutrals but if I look at my wardrobe on the whole I can definitely see that I’ve ended up with black as my neutral base. It might be funny, then, to consider that the past couple months I’ve become a bit obsessed with trying to add greys and browns to my collection, and have become increasingly frustrated with the limited options. Can I find a brown tweed swing skirt anywhere? No. A plain grey one then? No!
Thankfully, though my search for separates has been disappointing, my beloved Miss Candyfloss is happy to lead the charge with beautiful grey dresses that could never disappoint.
I love sleeved dresses for the colder months but I don’t often buy them because all of my vintage-style shopping is done online, and of course anything that doesn’t fit requires the more testing rigmarole of arranging and posting a return compared to the fairly simple task of walking a hanger back to the clothes rail it came from. When it comes to sleeved dresses it’s the threat of the likelihood of a return that deters me, because my large upper arms regularly determine that long-sleeved dresses which technically fit are, in reality, too uncomfortable to wear.
Nothing bugs me more than a sleeve that’s so tight across the biceps that I can’t move my arms in a normal range of movement, let alone even sit still comfortably without feeling tight compression or pinching. Which is why I am always so grateful that Miss Candyfloss, the verifiable winners of creating the best vintage-inspired Autumn-winter designs, always scale up their sizes beautifully and I have never yet experienced any discomfort when donning one of their sleeved dresses. The fact that all of those dresses are also achingly glamorous and chic almost comes in second to the grand scale of my gratitude and relief.
It’s that beautiful time of year again. Yes, I do sort of mean autumn, but mostly I actually mean it’s time for Miss Candyfloss to start releasing their Autumn/Winter line. Miss C release such superb winter collections that I genuinely get excited in mid summer just anticipating what each year’s newest seasonal offerings might be. They can always be relied upon to produce chic, timeless, sophisticated designs, which cover every occasion from dinner party glamour to office-friendly. They are, in short, my favourite company for cool weather wear, and this year’s Marilyn Monroe inspired collections have once more surpassed my high expectations.
I’ve been aware of Retrospec’d for some time. It’s a vintage-inspired Australian brand founded and run by two sisters, with all their pieces made in Australia, largely from fabrics designed in-house. They pride themselves on making their garments to the highest standard, and lover that I am of high-quality vintage style pieces, I don’t know why I never really sought them out before now. I think I must have confused them with other Australian brands that aren’t available to order internationally and thus wrote them off as unattainable to me. Recently, a few different pinups I follow all mentioned them at a similar time and it spurred me to seek them out, curious to at least see what their full range looks like on the whole. Spoiler alert: it’s gorgeous.
Retrospec’d do ship internationally, for a really reasonable flat rate price, no less, so as soon as I realised that I began to peruse their online shop in earnest. I think there are some pieces that are only available in their Newtown NSW brick and mortar store, judging by items I’ve seen on their Facebook that I can’t find on their website. Still, there were at least half a dozen items that leapt immediately onto my most fervent wishlist. Since I would be ordering from Australia to England and dealing with customs charges, I decided to be sensible and pick my favourite item from the sale section as my first taste of the brand. I loved the cut of the Norma Jean dresses, so I opted for the Sunday Rose print. Continue reading
This is one of those dresses. You know the kind, a dress that makes you gasp or gape or murmur ‘wow’ the first time you see it. It’s a dress that immediately goes on your lust list, and yet for some reason you dont find it in your cart or in your hands for an age, and you’re not sure if you ever will. Maybe you can’t afford it, or you’re on temporary no buy, or it’s not the kind of dress you usually wear even though you love it, or you’re just not sure if you’ll suit it’s cut. You want it really badly but you’re half convinced it’s not meant to be.
The Marilyn dress by Glamour Bunny was one of those dresses for me. It was love at first sight, but the fact that it was a wiggle (I’m a swing girl,) all white (possible spills? Maybe unflattering on my shape?), embroidered (a bit fancy?) and £85 (probably too much for a dress I wouldn’t wear often) held me back.
Thank God for the festive season sales. Glamour Bunny very rarely does sales. During that period last year they offered 40% off for a day, and for Black Friday this past November certain dresses were discounted, but not all. I hoped they would offer something good for their Post-Christmas sale and I was delighted to see they offered 50% off. Marilyn, darling, it’s time you and I make it official.
The Niagara dress by Pinup Girl Clothing is a ruched wiggle dress heavily inspired by the pink dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the movie Niagara. The original dress from the movie, designed by 3-time Oscar winning costume designer Dorothy Jeakins, was such a hit after fans saw the movie that copies were made and sold in 1950s department stores. Dorothy originally made and screen tested the dress in red, as seen below, before it was decided that the hot pink version that appeared in the movie was the winning colour. Pinup Girl Clothing tip their hat to the design of this dress by making it in both the hot pink and red colours Dorothy designed, as well as black and a tiffany blue. In the past other colourways, such as navy and bronze taffeta, have also been made.
Like the dress worn by Marilyn in the movie, the PUG Niagara dress features an underbust cut-out, ruching on the stomach, and a wide collar-bone bearing neckline. The PUG version, while incredibly similar, has a front slit, more pronounced ruching, and a smaller keyhole. Continue reading
Miss Amy May 