Renee, Darling & Daring

Last summer Pinup Girl Clothing previewed the Renee dress, a halter neck dress with faux tied bust, Jenny-esque gathered skirt, and, most notable of all, a midriff cut out. Coming in 5 prints–Tipsy Elephant, Mint Pinup Girl, Navy and white Anchor print, and plain red and plain black–I immediately fell in love. Looking at the dress on Doris Mayday it, of course, looked utterly perfect. But I don’t have Doris’s body, and I have probably bared my midriff maybe thrice in my life? And that is just a guestimate as to what seems likely, not based on any actual memories of having done so. My stomach and its general surrounding area is my low-confidence area. So, while I haunted the Coming Soon section last summer waiting for the Renee (and the other dresses I was lusting after) to drop, I battled with myself as to whether I would have the ovaries to buy Renee when she came out.

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All 5 Renee dresses, pictures courtesey of Pinupgirlclothing.com

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Voodoo Vixen With Some [London] Edge

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London Edge is a fashion industry event at which alternative labels preview their new lines for the upcoming season. As alternative fashion includes retro and vintage styled clothing some of your favorite UK repro brands took up spots in London this past week to debut their Spring/Summer lines. This year’s SS event was sponsored by Voodoo Vixen, and the lovely VV team invited a selection of bloggers to attend the bloggers press day on Sunday to see what exciting things were going on. I was lucky enough to invited, along with 3 of my fellow British Belles, so what was already an exciting day became even more so as it morphed into a mini Belles reunion.

The first thing I did when I arrived at the event–and I do mean the first thing–was head to the Voodoo Vixen stand to peek at their spring line. This beeline excitement stemmed from a hunch I had that they would have at least one nautical piece coming up, and I was right–I immediately spotted a blue nautical print featuring a white ship’s wheel, featured not only on a wiggle dress and a flared dress, but also on an adorable shorts and top set. Hello sailor! There were lots of lovely items I spied from the new season that I loved, but the other stand-out piece that caught my eye and swiftly wooed me was a beautiful peach and white gingham flared dress with a super cute bow necktie detail. The second these pieces go on sale I am snatching them up!

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Belles in the bathroom!

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Vamping Out With Queen of Heartz

Queen of Heartz is a retro clothing brand established in 2001 by owner and designer, Letty Tennant, a lover of fine textiles and classic prints that harken back to the authentic silhouettes and stylings of bygone eras as clothes used to be made. All their clothes are handmade in LA and Orange county, offering quality American-made products crafted with care, and the company even offers a custom made atelier section on their site, Letty’s own favourite part of her business.

For a while I owned a Queen of Heartz piece without even realising I did, as I had bought the navy polka dot QoH Olivia dress through Unique Vintage over a year ago, not paying attention at first to which brand made it. This dress is one of my favourites, not merely because the nautical combination of navy and white is one of my favourite colour themes, but because it just fits so well. Every time I wear it people tell me it looks like it was made for me, and I feel so good in it I begin to believe it myself. The entire dress fits me flatteringly on every conceivable body contour and the skirt perfectly encompasses my infamous double petticoats with ease and grace, something which is sure to win me over fast.

Given that I am so smitten with this full skirted QoH piece, I wanted to give one of their gorgeous wiggle dresses a try. Enter, the Vamp dress! This dress is gothic, chic, sexy and classy all at once. Considering that special dark and sultry vibe this dress oozes, I layered on the black lace and tulle to take some vampish shots especially for this post.

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2014 in Outfits

2014 saw my style evolve from newbie pinup to fully-fledged, fully-confident pinup. I thought that transformation was mostly internal until I looked back at these collages and saw all the small changes I had made throughout the 12 months last passed, from ditching my jeans altogether even for runs to the supermarket to a marked, marked improvement in my hair game. Scroll through below to see my year’s worth of OOTD’s as I posted to Instagram.

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January

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February

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