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.
The Dixiefried Vintage Bustier top by Pinup Girl Clothing isn’t a new piece, but it’s recently undergone a design alteration so that it fits slightly longer than the previous cropped version, making it easier to tuck into your high-waisted retro bottoms, whether that be shorts, skirts or pants. It’s fully boned, fastens with buttons at the back, and features a beautiful ruffle trim. If you follow me on Instagram you’ll have seen me wearing the yellow version lately with my Laura Byrnes California High Waisted Parrot Print Pants, giving myself all sorts of tropical sassy feels and feeling a bit like a tiki princess.
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.
All 5 Renee dresses, pictures courtesey of Pinupgirlclothing.com
If you read my Titilated by Tartan blog post a few weeks ago listing the tartan/plaid options currently available in the retro clothing market then you’ll remember I was smitten with both of the tartan print dresses Voodoo Vixen have in their A/W line, the Lori dress and the Daphne wiggle dress. When I decided I had to own one of them it was a tough choice as to which I should get–I loved Daphne more but I don’t often wear wiggles, yet while the Lori was super cute with the tied pinafore straps, it also lacked the full skirt that I require almost all my non-wiggle dresses to have. What to dooo, what to dooo.
In the end I got the Lori, and though I’d still love the Daphne I’m glad I got this dress of the two. Being a pinafore dress means it can be worn alone but is also perfect for winter because it’s so easy to layer this dress with various tops or shirts you might add beneath it to not only keep warm but change up the look. For this post I went with a clean crisp shirt underneath to show how versatile the dress is in addition to the obvious styling choices of adding roll neck jumpers, cardigans, boat neck tops, bardots…all sorts!
I love Christmas for a whole host of reasons–the food, the gift giving, the time spent with family, the decorations and festive songs, the food, the break from work…the food. Ha. But since becoming a pinup I’ve also fallen in love with the chance to get utterly dolled up. My idea of ‘casual’ is most people’s idea of getting dressed up, so for me the festive period presents the opportunity to get unashamedly glamorous as well as jolly. I pre-ordered what was to be my Christmas day dress back in late October, but after winning both the Oh My Honey and Deadly Is The Female social media contests which presented me with 2 new dresses, I had to do some party outfit reshuffling. Plus, Unique Vintage had another one of their $25 dresses sales over Black Friday which included a dress I had been coveting for some while, something I obviously bought. So, armed with a literal armful of beautiful dresses, I took the opportunity to get truly trussed up for several occasions this Christmas period and below I’ve gathered together the pictures and outfit details from each event so that you can catch up on it all in one handy place if your own Christmas revelry was too raucous for you to have been able to keep up to date with your Instagram and/or blog feeds this holiday. Let us begin!
The Dress: Pinup Girl Clothing Birdie Dress in Dark Red Raffeta won from Deadly Is The Female
The Occasion: Worn for my Christmas dinner date with my dear friend Steph Continue reading
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.
January
February
I have fairly good luck when it comes to winning social media giveaway contests somehow, something I attribute to the universe balancing out my otherwise terrible luck by on occasion humoring me with a free dress, so I was thrilled a couple weeks ago to win the Oh My Honey Dresses Instagram giveaway of one of their gorgeous candy cane dresses. It arrived a week before Christmas, custom made, and fit flawlessly, a dress so perfect for Christmas that I bumped the dress I had previously ordered for my Christmas day wear to another holiday event so that this confection goodness could take centre stage on the big day. Everyone who has seen this dress has fallen in love with it, so I knew I had to feature it on a blog post to give you a full run down on how I wore it for the most festive Christmas look ever and to let you know a little bit more about the other beautiful pieces this UK company designs and makes here on our fair British shores.
Glitter Candy Canes Dress (Photo belongs to Ohmyhoney.co.uk)
A lot of you know I am a Pinup Girl Clothing addict, and when my UK readers/IG followers ask me where they can find our much beloved PUG in the UK I direct them to one site–Deadly Is The Female.
Deadly Is The Female is a brick and mortar store based in Frome, Somerset, here in the UK. But for those of us who aren’t lucky enough to have visited the real life store their online shop stocks plenty of amazing things to keep your typical pinup happy. In addition to stocking PUG they also carry Stop Staring, Trashy Diva and Tatyana, bringing you swing dresses and wiggles, separates and swimwear, makeup and sunglasses and stoles and handbags and…well, all the best of pretty much everything. They even stock some B.A.I.T footwear, something I’ve personally found hard to track down in the UK so that I don’t have to pay hefty international postage fees and additionally hefty import taxes. New stock flows in all the time, and I love keeping up to date with DisF on their Instagram and Facebook feeds, where they post all sorts of cute retro pictures and meme-like lols as well as shots of their gorgeous stock. Continue reading
If you read my Titilated by Tartan post last week you’ll know I consider Vivien of Holloway the queen of tartan–so I was thrilled to be sent on one of their tartan circle skirts last week! I literally love every single tartan colourway VoH offers in their circle skirts and have wanted one for an age, but I think it was festive fate that the red tartan print I be joined together in Christmas matrimony. For this post I snatched up my new pretty in my pinup paws and headed to one of our good ol’ British cobbled beaches near sunset to snap the pics for this post.
I don’t get away on vacation a lot, but this year I’ve taken a couple of long weekends with friends and family, which is always lovely. Less lovely is the juggle of figuring out how to adapt one’s pinup style to the practical requirements of packing and travelling. It’s tricky sometimes, but being comfortable and stylish on the move is a balance that can be struck as long as you bear in mind a few key components. A big one is the weather.
Travelling in summer means you want to wear something cool as well as comfortable: halter dresses, strapless dresses or 2 or 3 piece sets work well, as long as you remember to take into account your own body and it’s needs: I hate the feeling of a tight waistband if I’m going to be sitting for a few hours travelling, so there are certain pieces in my wardrobe that I just can’t wear for long journeys, like my Pinup Girl Clothing Jenny dresses. On my weekend away this summer I opted to wear my super comfortable red Tiki Temptation dress by Glamour Bunny for the drive to the beach with my family. It has overwiring on the cups to give a great shape to the neckline but the rest of the dress is soft and has give, so it doesn’t dig in while sitting.
Day 1: Glamour Bunny Tiki Temptation Dress
Miss Amy May 