We’ve had so much sun lately it’s giving me major picnic vibes. I’m not actually going to go on a picnic, because I am notorious among my family and friends for being an indoors cat who does not do well in the sun, nor enjoys bugs flocking to her food. My compromise is to wear gingham, because that’s plenty picnic-y enough for me.
Once you’ve been in the vintage-inspired modern-made clothing realm for long enough you’re often able to recognise which brand made an item of clothing at first glance. Some brands are quirkier with their prints, others have certain signature design details they repeat over and over. For me, I’m usually able to recognise a The Pretty Dress Company item from the timeless simplicity of its design. Typically sleek, understated and endlessly chic, they’re a perfect mixture of 1950s silhouettes meeting the modern world, wearable for vintage lovers and current-fashion lovers alike. Today’s Myla dress is another perfect example of TPDC’s refined elegance.
I did a styled 3 ways post back last Spring about the Deadly is the Female Claudia gown, as a one off. That post was inspired by the fact that I didn’t let myself buy a dress I really wanted until I realised just how versatile it could be for me. This post, though, will almost be the opposite; I wanted the Tilly Velvet prom dress by The Pretty Dress Company for a couple years, but because it was so obviously an occasion dress, and also happened to be outside of the budget for what I will usually spend on a dress, it was totally off my conceivable buy list until it went on sale this January. Even once it was on sale I couldn’t help but um and ah over it, not just because I’ve largely got into better habits about fully thinking through bigger purchases, but also because it mostly felt like a special occasion dress, and as much as I love those and believe they need not be saved for best, realistically I couldn’t deny that I have so many fancy dresses that I really didn’t need another one, especially in the (hopefully!) tail end of a pandemic. Continue reading
I’ve never really been one to suffer from FOMO, except when it comes to clothes. So when The Pretty Dress Company released their signature Tilly prom dress in multiple velvet colourways for the 2021 festive season and my social feeds filled up with dozens of gorgeous pinups twirling in their Tillys in the run up to Christmas, yes, I’ll admit, I was jealous. The Tilly is a slight reimagining of their Thea swing dress from a few years back, the same flattering overall shape but with statement bows added to the off-the-shoulder sleeves. I owned the Thea in a cobalt blue and it was one of my favourite dresses to wear, until I gained weight and sized out of it. I still have it, packed away carefully in storage in case I fit it again someday. So for the Tilly dress to offer that same level of glamour and style as Thea did, but in lush, sumptuous velvets…oh, my heart ached. It wasn’t in my winter budget to treat myself to a Tilly, so I felt certain that we would never be–or at least, not this season.
But then one day, not too long ago, I read those magic, magic words: end of season sale, up to 50% off.
Dreams really do come true!
It’s been pretty dreary here in the UK for what feels like an age. It’s been rain, showers, and more rain, but in a shocking twist of fate this Bank Holiday weekend has heralded the return of sunshine. So it was wonderful timing that this glorious The Pretty Dress Company piece turned up this week just in time to enjoy said sunshine in true summer fashion–in gingham!
I’ll tell you what, there is perhaps no other brand as aptly named as The Pretty Dress Company. No muss, no fuss, just pretty dresses all around. Today’s post is plenty evidence enough, I think. Let’s look at Leyla.
Some dresses serves as an epitome of a certain time, or feeling, or season. This little number from The Pretty Dress Company? Well this dress is mostly certainly spring.
When it comes to the company I keep, I’m a real girl’s girl. I enjoy talking about makeup, hair and clothes, all the clichéd things that then take on a whole new life of their own when you’re someone who’s adopted a vintage style. Luckily, my pinup friends are happy to indulge me in these subjects, and none more so than my bestie Giselle.
Beautiful, whip-crack smart and stylish in all manners, Giselle is most definitely my better friend-half. We share a lot of the same loves and opinions, one of which is that we adore The Pretty Dress Company. When the opportunity presented itself for us to twin in one of our favourite pieces from their Summer line, the Saint Tropez dress, we needed zero convincing.
The Saint Tropez pencil and swing dresses are exactly as chic and classic as the name would suggest. Available in white and silver stripes, as we chose, white and pink, or pink and silver, in every colour it’s a simple dress that still easily stands out. While I’m a swing dress girl and Giselle more of a wiggle fan, we recently donned our matching frocks during a weekend of fun together to show you just how wonderful this dress is.
The Forest Seville fabric from The Pretty Dress Company is just one of those prints that you can’t help but love. It’s a rich, dark green sporting a pretty, colourful floral pattern, destined to look good on every woman of every skin tone because it is sumptuous and classic and just plain lovely. When it first caught my eye it was on the Hepburn dress, though it’s available in three other dress cuts as well, but it’s that same Hepburn dress I kept thinking about months after I first spotted it whenever I rifled through my wardrobe and lamented my lack of dark green clothing.
L-R: Hepburn, Cara, Gina, Hourglass
The print reminds me of English country gardens, of quaint afternoons, of plates of scones and tinkling china and being very proper. It’s elegant and understated, so it only made sense that once I was lucky enough to get my excited little fingers on it that I would take to one of those English country gardens to shoot it for this review. Continue reading
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.
Miss Amy May 