I am all about stripes. If they’re white and navy? I could not be any more about stripes, no way, no how. A striped vintage style dress is so chic and classic that it literally never goes out of style. Add in how easy it is to style a dress like that and you’re laughing. It’s surprising to no one, then, that I’m pretty loved up with this Dolly & Dotty offering that’s new in their summer range.
There’s several different ways a dress can win me over: by it’s colour scheme, it’s print, or it’s overall shape. This Illustrated Rose print Liliana dress but Lady Voluptuous got me on all three.
When the Liliana dress was first released a few months back I immediately wanted to try it. I’m a sucker for off the shoulder dresses because I think they’re flattering on every body shape and size, so this Bardot sleeved full skirted number easily ticked that box. The way the sky blue of the print’s background interacts with the pinks, purples and greens of the floral pattern left me in no doubt this was a summery, bright look that I would be happy to wear.
I first discovered the Thea dress by The Pretty Dress Company last September when I donned the red pencil version to model for Deadly Is The Female’s Christmas campaign for Vintage Life magazine. It was love at first slinky wiggle, but as I don’t wear a lot of pencil dresses I spent half the shoot in that dress cooing over the draping of the neckline and half lamenting that I would kill to have it in a swing style instead.
Fast forward a few months and my Thea swing daydreams became a reality. The Thea prom dress features the same gorgeous draped off-the-shoulder neckline and stretch twill fabric as the pencil version, but with a full swing skirt perfect for twirling. All of The Pretty Dress Company’s pieces are designed and made in the UK, so to celebrate that I decided to take my new Thea in this stunning patriotic cobalt blue out for a spot of strawberry picking, as it’s such a great British tradition at this time of year.
Unique Vintage really know how to do gingham. At this point I’ve sort of become an accidental collector of the picnic-tastic print, rarely able to resist adding a new gingham piece to my wardrobe, but one of my all time favourite gingham pieces is this UV Manhattan swing dress.
It might even have been my first UV purchase, it was too long ago to remember now. It’s one of those pieces that’s so gorgeous that every time I wear it people ask where they can get it, which makes me feel a bit guilty and sad when I have to admit it’s long gone. Today, thankfully, I won’t be putting you through such heartache, because this San Vicente gingham halter dress is not only a new offering from Unique Vintage in their SS16 line, but it’s also widely in stock in sizes XS-4X and comes in both pink and black gingham. Continue reading
Dolly & Dotty are a fairly new vintage style clothing company, based out of Brighton in the UK and offering a selection of budget-friendly retro style pieces in UK sizes 6-24. I first found them a few months back when I came across the two dresses below and fell in love.
L: Anna dress, R: Polly dress
At the time both dresses were out of stock, so I inwardly whimpered a bit, tried to find them in stock anywhere else, failed, inwardly whimpered some more, then gave up. It wasn’t until Dolly & Dotty and I were in contact recently that I remembered the dresses that had escaped me, and I was thrilled to find that the Poppy dress, at least, was back in stock in Continue reading
I’ve been aware of The Pretty Dress Company for a while and you recently will have seen me review their gorgeous Femme Fatale Gingham prom dress, but that wasn’t actually my first TPDC piece. Back in August, they offered a Bank Holiday 20% off discount code that I could ill resist. It was a tough call what I wanted to get because there were just so many beautiful pieces, but I followed my heart to the Priscilla dress in lemon gingham.
A classic midi sundress with wide, flat pleats making up the full skirt and spaghetti straps, the shape of this dress is one of those classic, quintessential summer style sundresses that I love so much. It’s lined, closes with a back zipper, and has pockets, my forever favourite. Just as the weather was getting ready to welcome autumn I took this dress with me to my September modelling job for Deadly Is The Female, a long time stockist of The Pretty Dress Company. There, Deadly team members photographer Gayle/Porcelain Photography and hair stylist Lauren/Lolita Noir indulged me in shooting this beauty as we wandered around the gorgeous Somerset town of Frome, Deadly’s home.
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Miss Amy May 