Pretty in Plaid [Stop Staring! Dorathy dress]

Posted on November 20, 2015 by missamymay

I don’t have a huge amount of experience with Stop Staring! I’ve only tried some of their wiggle dresses before while modelling for Deadly Is The Female and In Retrospect. I’ve always wanted to try some of their swing dresses but none had taken my fancy enough to order internationally until I saw this grey plaid Dorathy dress on Miss Victory Violet recently.

I put it into my cart on the SS website just ‘in case’ it ever went on sale then promptly forgot about it. Within a few weeks Stop Staring! held a $85 dresses sale, and what would you know, not only was the Dorathy dress included but I also happened to be in the states, meaning I could get free domestic delivery rather than shelling out the fees to receive it in the UK. Time for me to give Stop Staring! a whirl!

Stop Staring! Dorathy grey plaid swing dress Continue reading →

Feelin’ Fatale [The Pretty Dress Company]

Posted on November 16, 2015 by missamymay

If you’ve never come across The Pretty Dress Company prepare to begin some intense coveting, because their name is apt and honest. When I saw this gingham Femme Fatale prom swing dress for the first time a few months back my want was immediate and intense. I’ve daydreamed about it ever since–that may sound sad, but I don’t care. I like pretty dresses and I cannot lie. Shan’t and won’t. And this, my little darlings, is definitely a pretty dress.

The Pretty Dress Company Black & White Femme Fatale Gingham Prom Swing Dress Continue reading →

Doll Me Up, Darling!

Posted on November 9, 2015 by missamymay

If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll have seen past mentions of Doll Me Up . They’re my number one choice for getting LA Splash lip products delivered inexpensively to the UK, and my black evening dress gets a lot of wear, particularly as it’s easily thrown on when I make last minute plans. It’s comfortable and simple, yet people always compliment me on it. I’ve recently bought it in red and know that this dress, too, will become a wardrobe staple that receives constant wear.

Doll Me Up have really expanded their stock lines this year, offering a wide selection of cardigans, both cropped and not, one of the prettiest selections of hair scarves I’ve ever come across, and tons of separates to mix and match. More often than not I’m a dress wearing girl, but DMU have plenty to offer there too. Recently I got my little British paws on the Sunrise to Sunset dress, one I’ve been wanting for an age, and took to the Texan woods to photograph it for you with help of my dear friend Sarah.

Doll Me Up Darling Tootsie Cardigan sunrise to sunset Dress Continue reading →

Shonna’ll Keep Me Warm [Hell Bunny]

Posted on November 5, 2015 by missamymay

Hell Bunny always release a selection of new coats in their new Autumn/Winter lines each year, this year releasing 7.

Top L to Bottom R: Elvira coat, Rock Noir coat, Bacall Trench, Lulu Coat

The new line is gorgeous but none of the coats were quite what I was looking for. I wanted faux fur for warmth and a bit of glamour, and I wanted the a-line shape that would define my waist but allow the flare of my skirts. The new range looked to me like they would sit too boxy on my frame, so I looked at their AW range from last year and decided their Shonna coat was perfect. Continue reading →

October Outfits Round Up

Posted on November 3, 2015 by missamymay

It’s been a crazy month. I’m currently on my long-awaited vacay in America, attending a friend’s wedding in Virginia followed by a long stint in Texas with my friend Sarah. The weeks leading up to my trip were packed full of prep and pre-blogging, and some of the outfits I wore just didn’t get documented because I was so pushed for time. Here, though, are the outfits I did manage to capture for you.

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.

Handmade Dita inspired cardigan (tutorial,) Flamenco Mermaid Skirt by PUG, belt from Primark, Funtasma heels

Continue reading →

Classic Cassandra [Chi Chi Clothing]

Posted on October 30, 2015 by missamymay

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.

Chi Chi Clothing London Cassandra dress Continue reading →

Pinup Halloween: Witch

Posted on October 26, 2015 by missamymay

We’ve reached the final Halloween costume in my series of outfits that have a pinup spin. I debated whether or not to even bother including a witch in the series, as it’s widely regarded as one of the laziest of Halloween costumes, alongside the devil and a black cat. That though, I decided, was the beauty of it. If you put a lot of effort into them, even those over-used characters can produce a great costume. You can go to town with intricate makeup on a level akin to face painting, you can craft and create detailed accessories that flesh out the character. Or you can do what I did, which is grab a bunch of black things out of your wardrobe, add an old broom you had lying around from a Harry Potter costume for your niece a few years ago, and a 50p witches hat from Asda. A pinup witch is an excellent option if you’re on such a strict budget that you don’t want to spend out anything at all to make your costume, because I bet you have enough black pieces in your wardrobe to put something together, and also a great option for a last minute costume you weren’t prepared to need.

Personally, even though it’s predictable, this was my absolute favourite costume of the bunch. There was something so fun about layering as many black items of varying texture as I could to make this costume, probably because I’m typically a girl who loves to wear bright colours and tends to overlook plain black pieces as they can feel more formal to me. I enjoyed the change to take on the bad witch character in contrast to the sweetness of my other earlier costume ideas of Snow White and Dorothy from Oz, and that is something else I feel recommends the witchiness; in addition to being easy and cheap (how dare you!), with this costume you get to be as mean and bad as you want. Which is fun. And you also get to cackle. Which is also fun. Plus there’s this.

witchpinup Continue reading →

Pinup Halloween: Beetlejuice

Posted on October 25, 2015 by missamymay

beetle

You know how it goes. Bettlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

It was such a cult classic movie that those of us who are old enough to have seen Beetlejuice during the late 80s or 90s tend to associate chunky black and white stripes with the character. I own a bold black and white striped Jenny skirt from Pinup Girl Clothing that almost always spurs people to say ‘Beetlejuice!’ at me whenever I wear it, no matter what other colours I add into the style. Because of that, I thought I’d add Beetlejuice into this pinup Halloween costume series as I know a lot of pinups have a passion not only for vintage style but also for all things dark, spooky, moody and creepy.

beetlejuice Halloween easy costume pinup vintage Continue reading →

Anchors Away – Two Ways With Papow & Flo [Guest Bloggers]

Posted on October 19, 2015 by missamymay

Today’s guest post is brought to you by British blogging duo Papow & Flo. You can find them both on said mentioned fabulous blog, where they cover everything about their vintage style, including how to make it work for different body types and skin tones, and on their Papow & Flo Facebook page. Today they’re showing you how easy it is to take one dress and style it multiple ways to be either casual or dressier for any occasion. Over to you, girls!

Hello readers! We are Cacao Papow and Florence Flounce (Papow and Flo) – this week’s guest bloggers for Miss Amy May. If you’d like to find out more about us, you can follow our blog or find us on Facebook.

Being birds of a feather, we have quite similar tastes. This can end up with both of us owning the same outfit…tricky – if both of us fancy whipping out a similar look. With popular vintage reproduction brands, this problem can crop up quite often (especially at big events). To help remedy this issue, we took the same dress and styled it in different ways. Hopefully, this can give inspiration for individualising a certain piece of clothing or more options for what to do with pieces in your wardrobe. Continue reading →

Pinup Halloween: Snow White

Posted on October 18, 2015 by missamymay

snowwhiteoriginal
In the same way that I am regularly told I give off Dorothy vibes when I wear pale blue and my red bedazzled shoes, I also get told there are Snow White vibes happening if I wear any combination of yellow, navy and red, and not necessarily all three colours together. I think there’s something so iconic about Snow White that even if, technically, you’re not wearing all the right colours from her outfit and in the right combinations across your clothing pieces, people still see her influence in your outfit. That means that even if you don’t have all the pieces you think you’ll need to create an accurate costume depicting this pale princess, actually, you probably have enough to get away with it. Good news if you’re in need of an easy Halloween costume!