It feels kind of redundant to write an intro into these accidentally-only-twice-yearly outfit posts now because I can’t help but feel I need to point out that I’m not a deeply unsocial person (not deeply, anyway,) who never does anything, I’m just a somewhat-unsocial person who has vulnerable loved ones that I can’t risk passing anything along to, thus curtailing my social life. So, in line with not wanting to harp on that once again, I’m also gonna stop Continue reading
If you’re an avid reader of this blog then you’ll perhaps feel these photos are familiar, and that’s because they are. Early this year I bought the Stella dress by Lady V London on sale and fell completely in love with it, but because it sold out during said sale it seemed mean to review it here on the blog. Since it’s so lovely, though, I still wanted to shoot it, so I incorporated it into the outfit I wore to review the Peta flats by Charlie Stone Shoes. Fast forward to this Black Friday and I was hopeful that the Margot dress, a similar shape to Stella but sleeveless and collared, might be on sale, and when it was I excitedly bought one. I noticed as I did so that Stella was back in stock this season, and still is in many sizes across the 3 available colours, so I decided it was time to give Stella the review she so deserves.
I’m not an orange lover by any means, but a rich rust shade absolutely proves my exception to that rule. If anything, burnt apricot tones are some of my very favourite of all colours, and certainly some of the tones I most look forward to in autumn. Whether it’s on my person or on the trees (and thus, eventually, the ground,) the cinnamon tones of fall is probably the single thing that brings me the most joy in that season. As such, it can be no great surprise that I fell in love with this Tawny dress by Hell Bunny the moment I clapped eyes on it. It may be dreary and wintery outside now, but let’s fall back into autumn with Tawny.
Folks who aren’t a fan of heels are often still lovers of wedges, and for good reason. For many, heels are too painful or too hard to walk in, but wedges are very forgiving on both of those issues. And these Martinique wedges look good while forgiving our feet!
Twice a year I look forward to the release of Miss Candyfloss’s lookbook for their new season. It always goes the same way; the second I realise it’s online I rush to load it up on my phone, then take screenshots of all my favourite items, whiiiiich basically ends up being at least 20 products. Over the following weeks I periodically revisit those screenshots, daydreaming about my favourite pieces and wondering which events in the coming season I will wear them for. (I mean, there’s a bit of sensible budgeting that happens there in my brain, as I whittle down what I’ll realistically be able to buy myself, but still, in the daydreaming part I can enjoy them all.) Somehow, there’s always one stand out piece that’s my favourite at first glance, and it always remains so in anticipation of its release, even if that’s months later. For SS20? My favourite was Flava-Rose, and my, she sure lives up to that in person.
How did I get here?
It seems crazy to me now but it’s been 7 years since I began dressing pinup. That term, of course, technically refers to the models whose mass produced pictures were pinned up as posters back in the last early to mid-century. These days though, for those of us within the vintage style community it’s just so much easier to say ‘Oh I dress pinup’ than ‘I love the fashion and beauty aesthetics of X decade(s) so I dress that way daily/part-time/for special occasions.’ Plus, there’s the fact that for many of us vintage-style lovers owning actual vintage is impractical, inaccessible, or too expensive, thus adding in the additional complicating factor that the word ‘vintage’ has a genuine descriptive meaning that may not technically apply to the modern reproduction clothing hanging in our wardrobes.
So, uh…things are pretty different these days, huh?
I used to give a little summary at the start of my monthly outfit round ups, but I stopped after a while because I just didn’t think it was a necessary component of those posts. Now, though, it would be weird not to address what’s going on in the world, which is obviously the rapid and wide spreading of Covid-19. I know different countries are and will continue to be in varying levels of isolation and lockdown; here in the UK we’ve been officially social distancing since just before the middle of March, with a more extensive ‘essential work and travel only’ lockdown beginning shortly after.
As such, I obviously didn’t socialise in March as I usually would have, and since I only dress up in my vintage style lovelies for socialising that means the chance to get pinned up as usual evaporated a few weeks back. What you likely don’t know, though, is that I’m often anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks behind in uploading some of my outfits, because I’m lazy and the whole process involves a tedious transfer from camera to computer, then to the cloud, then on to my phone in order to even post an OOTD on Instagram. So for the remainder of March after social distancing began I had been posting old outfits I had accumulated in an accidental backlog.
Meanwhile, in reality, I moved in with my brother’s family, where I will be living for the duration that this virus remains a threat, and until the middle of last week I’d been continuing to go to work because by day I’m a full-time warehouse supervisor at a warehouse that is part of the supply chain. Now that I’ve been furloughed, I’m sure there will be days that I decide to dress up just to have something fun and remotely normal to do, but these outfits below are some of my last ones I have banked and once they run out you and I will both have to get used to sporadic outfit shots taken against a new background (!!)–where exactly that will be, I haven’t figured out yet. I tried to take a couple of my outfits over Easter weekend but my first choice had dubious lighting, so it’s back to the drawing board on that.
All of this is to say that I don’t currently intend to shut down the blog entirely during the duration of this pandemic–for now, I’ve had messages saying that for those quarantined at home or struggling to cope with the sudden changes we’ve all had to make they’ve found that it’s nice to still be able to keep up with others in our vintage community online and to still share pictures, outfits, chat, etc. While that remains a joyful and helpful outlet for myself and others I’m more then happy to keep Instagramming and blogging when I can.
Please be assured that any photos taken outside are done so within the safety of my garden. I want to focus as much as I can on promoting small businesses that will need extra help to stay afloat during this crisis in the hopes that we can help them make it out the other side of it, so where possible I’ll be doing garden-shot reviews for that purpose. Overall, I just want to be totally honest with you that I’m abiding by any government guidelines, I’m doing my best to supply and care for the vulnerable and elderly within my community, and that, just like everyone else, I don’t know where this is all going and will likely make adjustments as needed as time goes on. All we can do is care for one another, be vigilant, and do our part in being a supportive, proactive community.
I hope you and all your loved ones are safe and well, and continue to remain so. If you care about looking at pretty outfits please scroll down to enjoy 3 minutes of mindless vintage oblivion, but if not thank you for reading this update. Stay home and stay safe!
All my love
You surely know by now how much I love vintage-inspired bangles, so I’m happy to spotlight another small business today by featuring Bow & Crossbones, another woman-owned vintage inspired jewellery brand that produces gorgeous pieces I can’t help but collect.
What’s this, sunshine? When I tell you we haven’t had sun at the weekend in weeks it’s no joke–lately it’s been all rain almost all the time, so my hair has been nothing but frizz, the blog has been near silent because I’ve been unable to shoot, and my garden now has what can only be described as swamp-patches. But behold, with a bit of sun not only do I feel lighter and brighter, but I get to share one of my favourite things with you; new Miss Candyfloss. Roll on spring and brand new pretties!
Miss Amy May 