This final piece from Unique Vintage is another holiday classic. The vibrant emerald green, the subtle shimmer, the flattering, fabulous silhouette? It’s a party dress that will stun this holiday season, and for every event you want to rock it to thereafter.
The vintage-lovers community has a lot of overlap with several other aesthetic communities, one of the most popular of which–or so it seems to me–is the ~*witchy*~ community. That’s never been a vibe that’s interested me, but I’ll tell you what, today’s gown can veer witchy-cute as well as full Hollywood glam and I’m totally here for it.
You know how sometimes you see a dress and fall in love with it, but there’s a little niggling thought at the back of your mind that it just won’t work for you? That’s the experience I had with this dress by Alexandra King for Deadly is the Female. Thankfully, wonderfully, blissfully, I was wrong–and now I have a new favourite that will fit me not just any day of the week or month, but even if I drop a few dress sizes–yes, a few dress sizes, you read that right. How?? Let’s take a closer look at this unique piece.
I’m one of those people who’s pretty bad for encouraging others to buy the extravagant evening dress even when they don’t have a special event on the horizon. The way I see it, life is too short not to do the things that make you happy, and if one of those things occasionally is buying a fancy dress that actually made you gasp or groan or swoon a little bit when you saw it, that can’t really be a bad thing. Putting on a special dress that is too fancy for every day life has a certain kind of feeling that comes with it, a grandness, a fizz of excitement, a bubbling of childlike wondrous joy that you get to wear something so wonderful and look great in it.
Even if, like me, you own far too many dresses, there’s still something extra special about putting on an evening dress that makes you feel like a princess, a lady, or an old Hollywood screen siren. The latter is the realm of fancy we’re entering into today, with a floor length velvet gown from Dolly & Dotty that makes me feel like laying atop a piano and pouting my way through a breathy solo number.
Everyone should be able to wear whatever they want, without judgement or comment. Saying that, there are certain things I won’t go near personally because I just don’t feel they work for my body and the way I most like to highlight its features. Maxi dresses don’t show off my waist enough with that large expanse of skirt flowing straight down beneath it, and capped sleeves aren’t kind to my chubby upper arms. I store weight on my lower stomach and have wide hips, as well as considerable butt (awww yeaaah,) but those things mean when it comes to trousers and shorts, I just steer clear most of the time for simplicity’s sake, since I can’t be bothered searching for the perfect fit. Playsuits and jumpsuits, therefore, are clothing pieces I rule out, because when trying some on in the past I’ve found they don’t fit my lower body well and make me feel self-conscious about my squidgy tummy. No one really wants that.
However, I’ve been seeing some bodacious babes rocking some amazing retro jumpsuits lately and it made me feel some things. Miss Victory Violet, Simone of Atypical Girl Clothing and Kerry of Audrey Star’s Boutique are all working their jumpsuits like it’s nobody’s business, and it got me wondering.
L to R: Atypical Girl’s Simone. Audrey Star’s Boutique’s Kerry, and Miss Victory Violet
Unique Vintage is one of my favourite websites for vintage clothing. I own several glamorous evening dresses by UV and the final dress in our party dress series here. the Dovima, is of that same ilk. There’s no two ways about it. The Dovima dress is pure, unadultered Old hollywood glamour. When it first launched in it’s original black and champagne colourways a couple months back I complained to more than one friend about how beautiful it was and how much that pained me. I had no good reason to buy a stunningly elegant evening dress that couldn’t be dressed down for daytime, and so Dovima and I couldn’t meet and love one another as I knew we should. Plus, in all honesty, I was a little bit worried that my upper hip area might look a bit prominent in a dress so sleekly draped of skirt, so I tried my best to put her out of my head, thinking we were not meant to be.
But it’s Christmas time. That is the party dress season. And Dovima is now available in rich red and emerald green, two of my absolute favourite colours. If that isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is. Dovima and I are obviously meant to be after all. And what better way to finish off this party dress review series than with the love that has blossomed between this beauty and myself.
Vivien of Holloway, UK based and made-in-Britain vintage style clothing brand, know a thing or two about occasion wear. They offer a small selection of classic styles in dozens of colours and prints, and each cut is elegant and timeless. Their Grace dress is a prime example of this, a swing dress with a modest draped crossover bust, a nipped in waist, and a full circle skirt. It would make for the perfect chic party dress for this upcoming festive season, so it’s the first dress in my series of party dresses I’ll be reviewing for you over the next couple weeks. Christmas is coming, so it’s time to trim the tree and fetch the presents in this pretty!
Earlier this AW season Collectif released their Juliette dress, a gorgeous black pencil dress with faux fur trim on the neckline, cuffs and hemline. I swooned and coveted. It was so classic and chic. Warm too, I suspected. And of course it sold out quickly. So I was thrilled to see they were bringing out a matching skirt too. Sporting the same luxiourius faux fur hemline trim, the Andrea skirt has all the glamour of the Juliette dress with the additional versatility of a skirt.
And guess what? I love it.
If you’ve read my past tutorial on using the Sculpture Pincurl Tool to wetset your hair then you’ll know it produces incredible waves as the curls are so tight, but for that reason on those of us with short or mid length hair our set can bounce up pretty high. It produces a beautiful set, but on me personally I like my hair to fall a little longer even when set, and for that reason a few months back I bought myself a couple sets of clip in hair extensions.
The easiest way to guide you through how to set your hair using clip in extensions is to show you, so I’ve filmed the process, including all the information on how to choose what hair pieces you want, and the brush out. Since the hot to video explaining and showing the process is so in depth and lengthy I’ve set the brush out process as a separate video, as I figured ladies who are confident with their vintage hair sets might not be as interested in viewing that part of the process. Continue reading
It’s time for another pretty dress from Chi Chi Clothing! Last weekend I attended the wedding of a dear friend in America, flying over from England to attend after a year’s wait for the happy event. That year long of knowing I would be coming meant I was constantly on the look out for what dress I would wear on the big day. I changed my mind several times, of course, but after I discovered Chi Chi Clothing a couple months back I just sort of knew at the back of my mind I would end up choosing something Chi Chi in the end. I even ordered a dress custom made by another company and was excited to wear that for the wedding, and yet as soon as I saw the Cassandra dress a couple weeks later I knew I had found the winning dress.
With a full pleated skirt that features netting and requires no petticoat, thin spaghetti straps, and a high neckline that is modest but still displays some collarbone delicacy, I fell for the simplicity and understated glamour of this dress.
I wanted to be glamorous and vintage for the wedding, but didn’t want to be too bold or step on any toes, my usual aim for being a pinup at someone else’s wedding, so I decided to pair this with a large faux fur white stole to keep with the glamorous feel and provide a little warmth. I added clear crystal bracelets and a crystal brooch for some pops of glitter, and, because it’s me, I chose my red bedazzled heels and matching bedazzled box clutch.
Miss Amy May 