Miss Madison [Lady V London]

Posted on March 28, 2016 by missamymay

madisonb There are certain styles of vintage dresses that are regularly recreated amongst vintage reproduction clothing companies. One of the most popular of these styles is that of the flared swing dress with the contrast ruched bust. It’s one of the first vintage silhouettes I fell in love with, years ago long before it ever occurred to me that I could begin dressing in that style. I remember seeing a vintage dress featuring this bust style in a movie and thinking it was the most feminine, lovely design I’d ever seen, and yearning for clothes to still be made that beautifully. Continue reading →

Keen on Norma Jean [Retrospecd]

Posted on March 21, 2016 by missamymay

I’ve been aware of Retrospec’d for some time. It’s a vintage-inspired Australian brand founded and run by two sisters, with all their pieces made in Australia, largely from fabrics designed in-house. They pride themselves on making their garments to the highest standard, and lover that I am of high-quality vintage style pieces, I don’t know why I never really sought them out before now. I think I must have confused them with other Australian brands that aren’t available to order internationally and thus wrote them off as unattainable to me. Recently, a few different pinups I follow all mentioned them at a similar time and it spurred me to seek them out, curious to at least see what their full range looks like on the whole. Spoiler alert: it’s gorgeous.

retrospecdwishlist

Retrospec’d do ship internationally, for a really reasonable flat rate price, no less, so as soon as I realised that I began to peruse their online shop in earnest. I think there are some pieces that are only available in their Newtown NSW brick and mortar store, judging by items I’ve seen on their Facebook that I can’t find on their website. Still, there were at least half a dozen items that leapt immediately onto my most fervent wishlist. Since I would be ordering from Australia to England and dealing with customs charges, I decided to be sensible and pick my favourite item from the sale section as my first taste of the brand. I loved the cut of the Norma Jean dresses, so I opted for the Sunday Rose print. Continue reading →

Marin & Me [Hell Bunny]

Posted on March 7, 2016 by missamymay

Hell Bunny Marin Dress Navy Nautical

Hell Bunny’s SS16 line offers the same varied mix of styles as their usual lines–some truly cutesy stuff, a bit of tropical, some kitsch, a range of plain staples, and a touch of nautical. For the first time they’re offering handbags too, but the piece that most stood out to me, lover of nautical themes that I am, was the Marin dress.

Available in red and blue, this dress sports a full circle skirt, pockets, a rounded neckline reaching up to self-tie shoulder straps and a nautical print featuring everything from rum bottles and ragged flags to crabs, ship wheels and compasses. My 4 year old nephew had great fun studying the print recently when I went to spend the morning with some of my family, although he did question why a ship would be in a bottle–I dunno, little dude, people have hobbies, I can’t explain how that ever came to be. Continue reading →

February Outfits Round Up

Posted on March 1, 2016 by missamymay

For the shortest month, February really didn’t feel all that short. I definitely felt like I had lost inspiration for getting dressed in a lot of cases because I’m just fed up of all the rain we’ve been having here in England, constantly messing up my hair and making my yearning for tropical prints look out of place. I’m looking forward to March with high hopes that it might finally bring us some sunshine, because if not the next monthly wrap up might just include a lot of me looking annoyed in sweat pants and hoodies staring out of rain-splattered window panes. You’ve been (only half jokingly) warned!

Navy Isabel dress by eShakti, red sateen slide belt by Pinup Girl Clothing, hand bedazzled flats (tutorial)

Continue reading →

You’re Just Such A Sweetie [Heart of Haute]

Posted on February 29, 2016 by missamymay

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times; I’m not really a novelty, kitsch kind of girl. I say that as a base rule so people can understand that my taste tends to lie in the more classic area of the spectrum and not often in the red-cherries area, but there are times here and there where I find myself liking something that’s distinctly more cute than it is distinguished. I can get down with select Erstwilder brooches. I can appreciate a candy cane hair accessory at Christmas. I wouldn’t turn down a cottage print circle skirt in winter. I like a good souvenir print.

And I instantly fell in love with the Meadow Daisy Print Sweetie dress by Heart of Haute.

Heart of Haute Meadow Daisy Sweetie Dress Continue reading →

Getting Kitschy With Erstwilder

Posted on February 17, 2016 by missamymay

erstwilderlogo

I’m sure you’ve heard of Erstwilder. At this point unless you’re super new to vintage style, I’d be shocked if you hadn’t spotted Erstwilder brooches staring up at you from the collars and bust lines of dozens of modern pinup style loving girls across all of social media, if not in real life. The Australian brand produce hundreds of limited edition quirky and kitsch novelty brooches, for which they’re best known, as well as earrings and necklaces in that same theme.

From diner girls to dapper professor foxes, cute sloths (which is saying a lot, because sloths freak me out) to hot air balloons, from studious owls to camper vans, Erstwilder have and do find inspiration just about everywhere. Continue reading →

London Edge [SS16 Most Anticipated]

Posted on February 12, 2016 by missamymay

Last year was my first year at London Edge, an alternative and vintage style clothing trade show in London held twice a year to preview upcoming Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter lines from clothing brands. The show exists primarily for stockists to scout out the upcoming season’s offerings so they can choose what they want to stock in their in-store and online boutiques, but London Edge invites bloggers too so that they can bring the news of the show to their readers.

This year I was super excited to go to the SS16 February show, sure that some of my favourite brands would have some truly awesome stuff coming up soon. I was not wrong. Several brands, including Collectif and Voodoo Vixen, released their SS lookbooks online a few weeks before London Edge, so I had seen a lot of what they had to offer before I attended, but there were still tons of companies whose spring and summer offerings were still under-wrap beforehand. Plus, there’s something about getting to see items in person, even if you can’t try them on, which is so much better than trying to get a full sense of them online. Bearing all that in mind, I went up to London this past weekend armed with a feverish sense of clothing curiosity and my camera, with one of my pinup besties, Giselle, at my side to trade off comments, gasps and admiring groans with as we combed through the rails. Continue reading →

Photoshoot Outtakes & Bloopers [Round 3]

Posted on February 10, 2016 by missamymay

I wasn’t joking when I said there were so many photoshoot bloopers from the last calendar year that it would take more than one post to share them all. In today’s gallery you’ll see all the usual categories of awkwardness represented, from WTF Is My Face Doing to Whoops I’m About To Fall, but this time around you’ll see a lot of I Find It Awkward Waiting For The Lighting Settings To Be Tested and the occasional Oh Look At This Weird Thing Growing Over Here. You ready? Let’s go, kiddos! Continue reading →

Scratching That Seven Year Itch [Glamour Bunny Marilyn]

Posted on February 8, 2016 by missamymay

This is one of those dresses. You know the kind, a dress that makes you gasp or gape or murmur ‘wow’ the first time you see it. It’s a dress that immediately goes on your lust list, and yet for some reason you dont find it in your cart or in your hands for an age, and you’re not sure if you ever will. Maybe you can’t afford it, or you’re on temporary no buy, or it’s not the kind of dress you usually wear even though you love it, or you’re just not sure if you’ll suit it’s cut. You want it really badly but you’re half convinced it’s not meant to be.

The Marilyn dress by Glamour Bunny was one of those dresses for me. It was love at first sight, but the fact that it was a wiggle (I’m a swing girl,) all white (possible spills? Maybe unflattering on my shape?), embroidered (a bit fancy?) and £85 (probably too much for a dress I wouldn’t wear often) held me back.

Thank God for the festive season sales. Glamour Bunny very rarely does sales. During that period last year they offered 40% off for a day, and for Black Friday this past November certain dresses were discounted, but not all. I hoped they would offer something good for their Post-Christmas sale and I was delighted to see they offered 50% off. Marilyn, darling, it’s time you and I make it official.

Glamour Bunny Marilyn Dress Seven Year Itch Continue reading →

January Outfits Round Up

Posted on February 1, 2016 by missamymay

It’s been a busy month, catching up with friends after the Christmas break and enjoying a weekend with one of my London friends, Giselle, coming down to stay. And, of course, there was Jenny January, the style challenge event I host in January on social media revolving around the Pinup Girl Clothing Jenny skirts and dresses. If you wanted to read about that event in particular you can find my blog post about it here, but if not you’ll find all my outfits represented below.