Dear Dolores [Collectif]

Posted on October 5, 2015 by missamymay

The Dolores Doll dress by Collectif has been around for years, as well as the top of the same name and style. Both have been available in a multitude of colours and prints, new colourways available every season as a staple that some pinups collect almost religiously.

I’ve owned two Dolores tops in the past, a polka dot and the feral leopard print, but as someone who opts for dresses 90% of the time over an outfit made up of paired separates, my Dolores’ were constantly overlooked and eventually passed on to people who would get more use out of them. I love peasant style tops, finding the display of the collarbone and shoulders really feminine, sexy and classy all at once. The only thing that gives me pause with peasants, though, is that sometimes I think the ruched sleeves can hit my arm in the wrong way and can highlight my chubby uppers, as we shall now call them. There’s nothing wrong with having a little arm squish going on–for all but maybe 10% of the population, I think, some degree of upper arm softness is a lifelong constant. But I don’t always want to showcase it. For that reason I stayed away from the Dolores dresses, thinking perhaps that ruched cuff sleeve would do me a disservice.

Buuuut. Then Collectif had a super, super killer sale lately to clear out summer stock ready for their AW pieces. Dolores dresses went from £50 a piece down to £12-14 each. I mean. Come on. What was I gonna do? I’m sure my arms can’t be that bad to pass up a bargain like that.

I bought the blue gingham Dolores thinking that the dress looked like it would be super comfortable, easy to wear and a great option for throwing on for optimal cuteness either when I was in a rush or when I needed something for the times comfort takes absolutely top priority, like for travelling or really long days out. I was absolutely right about that as the Dolores is all of those things I expected it might be. After a stressful day at work last week I put it on one evening for a bit of chill time in the garden, picking some of our apples and watching the sun start to set–and trying to avoid our cat popping into every picture, because she trailed me the entire time.

Collectif navy gingham Dolores dress Continue reading →

September Outfits Round Up

Posted on October 1, 2015 by missamymay

Autumn is here! And I have mostly been ignoring that fact! I keep meaning to bust out the mustard yellows and the plummy purples and the moody reds, but so far I’ve been wearing a lot of white after Labor Day like a bad bitch–Labor Day isn’t a thing here in the UK, so it doesn’t matter, but even if I was I still would not give up my white cardigans for anyone. Y’all can eat your fashion rules.

It’s been an awesome month. With my recent trip back to Frome to model again for Deadly Is The Female and a Very Potter Weekend spent with some of my darling pinup buddies touring the Harry Potter Studio Tour in pinup versions of our favourite Potter characters, there’s been some fun playtime in my wardrobe choices this month.

Click on the pictures for a closer look! You can find links in the description to any item that is still available to buy. Anything not linked is from a past season and cannot be found for purchase any longer and/or is not available to buy online.

Lemon gingham Priscilla dress from The Pretty Dress Company, New Look cropped white cardigan, PUG Red slide belt, hand bedazzled flats (tutorial here)

Continue reading →

August Outfits Round Up

Posted on September 3, 2015 by missamymay

As far as Augusts go, this one has kind of failed at the one thing I expect of it: to at least try to be decently warm and sunny. We had so much rain there were floods locally, and if I’m totally honest with you I had a bit of a stressed, low energy month personally that made it hard for me sometimes to summon the motivation to make anything more than a base-level attempt at taming my appearance or styling my outfits. I used that low energy as an excuse to both avoid setting my hair so often and to embrace wearing my hair up more. Thanks to #JennyJuly, July passed without me wearing a wiggle at all, failing my once a month self-imposed Wiggle Dress challenge as part of #LovingMeIn2015, so this month I made up for that multiple times with several body hugging outfits.

Black Going Steady dress by Unique Vintage, eBay necklace, bracelets and lace bolero, bedazzled by me (tutorial) clutch and heels. Olive is wearing the Glamour Bunny Marilyn Dress

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Gingerly Does It [Collectif Ginger Dress]

Posted on August 17, 2015 by missamymay

Anyone who’s followed me for long enough knows I’m a sucker for nautical coloured clothing–put some combination of red, navy or white together and I will probably love it. Another thing I love, but have rarely found in affordable repro, is a winged bust. So it’s time to say hello to Collectif’s Ginger line.

When Collectif launched their SS15 line I was thrilled to see they had included a winged bust in some wiggle dresses, a swing and a playsuit. And then I was sad that all those pieces featured novelty prints, something I’m very picky about and rarely partake in. The atomic flamingo wiggle dress was adorable–but not my style. The strawberry print play suit was super cute–but a no for me with that much fruit appeal.

I don’t know how it snuck by me, but I didn’t realise until recently that there was a nautical colourway of this dress, the navy and white Sailor version of that winged bust design available in both a wiggle and a swing dress. A mere week after I came across this information Collectif launched one of their infamous half price sales. Wing busted, sailor swing dress named Ginger, come to mumma!

Collectif Ginger Navy & White Swing Dress Continue reading →

Havana A Good Time [PUG Havana Dress]

Posted on August 13, 2015 by missamymay

The Havana dress by Pinup Girl Clothing is one of those dresses I’ve overlooked for a long time because it is, in no bad way, rather plain and simple. I’ve always assumed the particular neckline would look boxy on me, someone who is bottom heavy, not particularly large of breast nor slim of torso. I figured that without a lower neckline, more delicate straps or a distracting print this dress would probably give me a bit of a trunk torso and highlight my ‘flaws’ rather than flatter them.

The red colourway, the only one that had ever truly tempted me, sold out months ago, and I never wanted the olive, black or purple colourways. This summer a Midnight blue colourway was announced and I found myself reconsidering. Suddenly I came to wonder whether I should try out the cool toned cabana stripes colourway, one of only two printed colourways, because I reasoned that the stripes might be more flattering on me than any of the plain colours, as prints have a camouflaging effect for lumps and bumps. But while I lingered over my decision as to whether even the stripes might make this dress work on me that colourway, too, sold out.

So there it was. It was down to me and the coming soon Midnight Blue. A battle of wills. Who would win? Would I cave? Well obviously. But would Havana be kind to me, flattering and gentle and nice? Or would she throw me and my cake-padded waist into sharp relief and unflattering focus?

Pinup Girl Clothing Havana dress Midnight Blue Continue reading →

Summer Whites In Eveline

Posted on July 13, 2015 by missamymay

A lot of people are afraid of wearing white. Some people are definitely spillers–my younger sister and my mum are two of such people–but even those who are able to drink coffee and eat spaghetti without a comical mishandling of the consumption often have a white fabric fear. I’m here to tell you guys that it is not that serious. Really.

Sure, wearing white when you know you’re going to be spending a full day with young kids or helping a friend to move house is probably a bad idea, but think about it; how often do you come home from a typical night with friends or a shopping trip and go ‘Damn, I got stuff all over myself. How did I do that?’ Probably next to never. If that’s the case I hereby formally invite you to be part of The Fearless Summertime White Dress Wearers Society. (Okay, we’ll work on the name.)

Because a white dress in summer time is basically as chic as it gets. You might think that’s an exclusive club that you’re not allowed to join, but I’ve forced my way inside it without an invite so if anyone asks just tell them you’re with me.

Unique Vintage Eveline Hell Bunny Dress Continue reading →

Sweet, Fair Isabella [Lady V London]

Posted on June 3, 2015 by missamymay

The Isabella dress by Lady V London isn’t a new design for the company, but as it’s rapidly approaching summer they’ve added a lovely selection of new prints to their SS line of the style. When an email announcing as such hit my inbox last week the pink rose on cream floral colourway immediately caught my eye. A few days later, thanks to the generosity of Lady V, I had it in my happy little hands (and on my body) ready to show you why I fell for it.

isabella rose cream lady v london

I love this colourway. I know that will surprise some of you as I am nothing if not outspoken about my almost-all-encompassing hatred of the colour pink, but one of the few ways I can not only stand the shade, but indeed like it, is when included in floral prints, especially when balanced out with touches of green or blue. This print, therefore, is perfect. The cream background keeps this print from being ‘too girly’ for a girl like me whose sentiments typically run somewhere between the bold and the classic, and the latter is certainly a perfect word for this print. Continue reading →

PRAWK, Polly Wants Some Parrot Pants!

Posted on March 20, 2015 by missamymay

I don’t really do pants. There was a time while I was heavily overweight that I lived in jeans, scared dresses made me look fat, and a time before that in my teens, when I was much less overweight than I believed myself to be, when I lived in skirts, convinced trousers were the fat-highlighters. These days I feel perfectly comfortable in trousers weight-wise, but I’m so in love with the new look silhouette that rarely do I want to give up my full skirts for time spent in pants. Saying that, I’ve always been curious about the Pinup Girl Clothing Capri pants nonetheless, hearing awed rumours that they were a wonder of construction that fit both one’s nipped in waist and accommodated a bodacious backside. That, I knew, was something I had to experience for myself. The features of the capri pants that were supposed to achieve such wonderous results can be found similarly in other PUG pants, like their cigarette pants and high-waisted pants, so when PUG released their Laura Byrnes California High Waisted Cropped Trousers in Parrot Print I was both delighted by the print and super curious about the fit. As a non-pants dweller, I had never got round to ordering a pair to try, but when Pinup Girl Clothing offered to send me bottoms to match my Dixiefried Vintage Bustier Tops I knew the Parrot Pants had to be requested. Because, you know. PARROT PANTS.

Ahem.

Let’s take a look at the parrot-y goodness in action.

Pinup Girl Clothing High Waisted Pants Parrot Trousers Continue reading →

Good Golly Miss Molly!

Posted on March 16, 2015 by missamymay

Molly. Oh Molly. Y’all know I love a Pinup Girl Clothing dress–PUG simply fits me like no other brand does, which means at any given time I inevitably have 10-20 items on my wishlist waiting to one day join my fairly extensive collection. The Molly dress is one of those wishlist items that has been chilling in my virtual One Day closet ever since she was released last summer. She comes in 4 colourways–navy with white polka dots, yellow with white polka dots, black cherry print and white cherry print–and I’ve been lusting equally over both the navy and yellow versions for months, never quite sure which one to choose until PUG graciously offered to send me a Molly of my own. It came down to little more than a mental flip of a coin, but I opted for the navy, my love of nautical colourways winning out.

Pinup Girl Clothing Molly Dress Continue reading →

Peachy Keen [Voodoo Vixen Chelsea Dress]

Posted on March 5, 2015 by missamymay

chelsea7

I first saw this Voodoo Vixen Chelsea dress when I attended London Edge last month. As soon as I saw the peach gingham print I was on board, but even more so once I saw the adorable bow feature neck. So I was really pleased when this dress was swiftly released in their Spring/Summer line and Voodoo Vixen were kind enough to send it to me.

chelsea8 Continue reading →