Glorious Gilda [Hearts and Found]

Posted on June 26, 2017 by missamymay

I’ll tell you what–there are many ways we Brits are poorly adapted to dealing with hot weather, but for me one of the things I struggle with most is how uncomfortable I find tight seams and waistbands during hot weather. That might sound weird, but just picture it; you throw on one of your favourite dresses in the comfort of your cooled bedroom in the morning, then go out into the sweltering day only to realise a few hours later as you sit sweating at your desk, or on the bus, or waiting for your friend to turn up to your lunch date, that it was a mistake. Because in that moment, while you’re feeling hot and sticky and fed up, you realise that this dress–which was always a bit on the tight side because you were technically between sizes from this brand and you opted for the smaller size because it looked better on, even though you have to wear particular underwear with it–is actually fresh hell.

The waistband, which normally feels like it’s flattering your waist by cinching it in by sheer force of the fabric, is digging in to the clammy skin of your waist, and the bust feels like it’s squeezing your poor boobs, and the whole thing is just too tight and uncomfortable for humidity and summer and oh god why did you do this to yourself, this is not the kind of weather for sucking in and posing and remembering in every moment to be poised. You should have picked out one of your dresses that’s a bit looser, airier, one of those ones you normally have to add a belt to in order to feel it fits properly.

Or, you know, you should have worn one of your dresses that was literally made for you, custom measured in every aspect to fit your body. That, my friends, is what I’ve been doing a lot during our little British heatwave, and thanks to Hearts and Found I’ve been so much more comfortable for it.

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Peckish Parakeet [Emily and Fin]

Posted on June 22, 2017 by missamymay

Somewhat shy of novelty prints as I am, I do appreciate a print with novelty features that doesn’t shout them out at you at first glance. This is much easier to achieve in a repetitive all over print than, say, a border print skirt. Still, if it’s a choice between a print featuring a mid-action blaring circus scene or a muted leaf print featuring some sneaky birds, I’m going to opt for the latter. And what do you know, the Tropical Parakeet dress from Emily and Fin features just that.

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Roses in the Sky [Lady V London]

Posted on June 19, 2017 by missamymay

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.

Illustrated Rose Liliana dress Lady V London plus size

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Stripes Never Fail [Miss Candyfloss]

Posted on June 15, 2017 by missamymay

Every season I look forward to visiting the Miss Candyfloss booth at London Edge, not just to see what pretty things will be coming out in the new line but also to have a little chat with the lovely ladies behind the brand. On the whole Miss Candyfloss is a classic, fairly modestly styled line, offering a ton of staple wardrobe pieces that can be worn across seasons and across occasions. For their Autumn-Winter ranges I love to see what sleeved dresses they put out because they truly excel at making them, but for their Spring-Summer lines I get excited to see what prints they’ll be focusing on for the season.

For SS17 they’ve given us The Housewife Collection, featuring a lot of fun options for novelty lovers, with daisies, multicoloured bicycles, kitchen utensil prints, and gingham galore alongside solid pastels and brights. As I’m not much novelty-inclined a lot of their printed pieces aren’t for me, but the very first moment I spotted the beige, mocha and blue stripes of this Lovis-Dora dress in their Lookbook I knew I would be ordering it as soon as it came out. Continue reading →

Pom-poms, Ruffles & Stripes, Oh My! [Voodoo Vixen]

Posted on June 12, 2017 by missamymay

One of the best things about being a style blogger is that you get to see some of your favourite brands’ upcoming lines early, allowing you to plan out your buys and picks for that impending season. It’s also probably one of the worst things, because in the bitter middle of winter you will see and fall in love with a dozen fabulous summer dresses that not only make you fed up of the cold you’re weeks and weeks away from escaping, but you also have to wait months yet for those dresses to be released, knowing they are coming and that you are a terribly impatient person who struggles to wait.

When I say ‘you’ of course, I mean me, the impatient, deeply flawed clothes addict who is both blessed and cursed every 6 months to be able to go to London Edge and see what beautiful things we will all be cooing over for the upcoming season. One such beautiful thing I saw at the last LE in February is this Adelyn dress by Voodoo Vixen, a dress that would immediately have become my favourite pick of the season had Voodoo Vixen not offered such a strong SS17 line that I think my 3 favourites will forever be equally tied and adored. My other two picks, of course, are the Violet and Deliliah dresses, both strappy, flower trimmed little numbers made of lightness and springtime happiness and wonder. Adelyn is similar in the same respects of being a strappy, happy little number, but this baby has some sass and hotness on offer to boot.

Dress: Adelyn dress C/O Voodoo Vixen
Shoes: Old F&F Tesco

This dress is beyond perfect for summer. Apart from the fact that it’s obviously so vibrant and fun, with its stripes and cute ruffly pom-pommed sweetness, it’s probably the most comfortable dress I’ve tried from any brand this season. Like the Deliliah dress, this is because the entire back of the dress’s bodice is made from elasticated smocking, giving the dress tons of stretch and room for movement. The double spaghetti straps aren’t adjustable, something I had got used to from my VV summer dresses, but luckily for me they’re the perfect length as they are. Both the ruffle feature of the neckline and the hem of the skirt are trimmed with black pom pom edging, beyond cute, and the full flared skirt has pockets deep enough to securely hold my phone in its bulky battery case. This dress closes with an invisible side zip, although I was very happy to find that unlike most side zips this one didn’t get stubbornly stuck trying to zip up over the bump of the waistband.

I have this dress in my usual Voodoo Vixen XL and thanks to the smocking it’s generously sized compared to the size chart. VV pieces do tend to run a little larger than their charts state as a rule, but for comparison an XL is listed for 40 inch busts and 33 inch waists, but this dress flat measures at 40-46 in the bust and 32-37 in the waist. Voodoo Vixen had to scale down their Curve line this season due to a stockist change, so sadly there was very little on offer from this line for their plus customers (they do have plans to expand the Curve line again moving forward, thankfully.) The generous stretch in this dress, though, does mean that 1X girls at least might be able to pick up this dress style in this XL and find that it works for them.

This dress arrived on my doorstep on Tuesday last week and since then I’ve already worn it twice; if that doesn’t tell you just how comfortable and lovely this dress is to wear, then I don’t know what will. There’s also the fact that everyone who saw me in it told me how much they loved it, something that, for me, an almost constant wearer of new clothes, is often the mark of a stand-out piece. You know, just in case you had any doubts.

The Adelyn dress comes in sizes S-XL for £55, although discount code vintage20 will get you 20% off your order. Voodoo Vixen ship internationally.

Statement Making Feet [La Veintinueve]

Posted on June 9, 2017 by missamymay

I’ve spoken before on the blog about wanting to challenge myself more often with styling statement shoes, so I’m pleased I’ve been given the chance again to do just that.

For me, shoes featuring multiple colours, varied textures or even a solid print feel harder to style in an outfit than something plain when held up against my print-heavy wardrobe. Still, I often see such shoes and am instantly enamored with them, wishing I was better at knowing when to clash patterns and mix in unusual colour combinations. You know what they say, though–how can you expect to get better at something without practise. And so practise I shall, this week thanks to the lovely offerings from the Spanish retro boutique brand La Veintinueve. Continue reading →

Tropic Like It’s Hot [Hearts and Found]

Posted on June 7, 2017 by missamymay

I’ve featured Hearts and Found a couple times already here on the blog, as they’re my favourite custom makers for vintage inspired clothing. The variety of fabrics they offer is amazing and constantly updated, meaning it’s very easy to check their Etsy store every few weeks and discover, whoops, you need to order a new dress because whaddayaknow, there’s a new fabric you love.

For me, the fun thing about keeping up to date on their latest selections is that it provides a delightful surprise when I discover a fabric I wouldn’t have expected myself to want and yet absolutely do. For example, as a rule I tend to be really picky about novelty prints as there’s a limit as to just how novelty I’m willing to go, and yet this Tropic Like It’s Hot pineapple print won me over the moment I saw it. Now it’s one of my favourite summer dresses to throw on for a comfortable, bright fun look to go out in the sun and enjoy my day. Continue reading →

She Who Dares [Dancing Days by Banned]

Posted on June 5, 2017 by missamymay

You’d be forgiven for not being fully in the know about the set up of Banned/Dancing Days, because they’re a wholesale only brand and have only recently split up their company by styles with a name change, but don’t worry, I’m here to help you get to grips with it. Banned Apparel is an alternative style retailer that’s been around for years, functioning as a wholesale-only brand which means they don’t sell any of their clothing straight to their customers themselves, selling only to in-store and online stockists who pick and choose which pieces they want to offer to their own individual customer base. Since Banned has always produced vintage inspired lines as well as more alternative lines, they decided to make the distinction in those styles clearer by moving their vintage inspired items into their own brand, Dancing Days by Banned.

For this reason, it can take a bit of searching sometimes to track down where you can find their items for sale, because sometimes a stockist might list the item as branded Dancing Days and others still insist on listing it as Banned. There are a ton of Dancing Days stockists, though, and my favourite ones I’ve found that carry a lovely selection of their pieces are Top Vintage, Unique Vintage, Audrey Star’s Boutique, Tiger Milly, Starlet Vintage and Blue Banana. Continue reading →

Fairytale Hostess [Pretty Retro]

Posted on June 2, 2017 by missamymay

I am all about yellow. I remember growing up that when my eldest sister said her favourite colour was yellow and I thought ‘Yellow?! No one likes yellow that much.’ Back then it was the colour of smiley face stickers, highlighter pens, and ice lollies. As I got older, particularly in the last few years, I’ve grown to love the colour in a new way. Now it’s sunshine and daffodils, pineapple and baby chicks. It’s bright but also soft, happy as well as sweet.

Despite all the ways I’ve grown to love yellow, I’ve still found it to be an under-appreciated colour on the whole. Every time I wear it, though, I find it seems to open another person’s eyes to the joys and the potential in the colour that they hadn’t considered before, and that makes me even happier still to wear it and champion it all the more. And in the yellow Hostess dress by Pretty Retro, it’s very easy to help people see just what a beautiful offering of a colour that yellow is.

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May Outfits Round Up

Posted on June 1, 2017 by missamymay

You guys, it’s been hot here. Well, the British version of hot. We’re talking 22-25°C if you go by the weather forecasts, but 31°C if believe the temperature dial on my best friend’s car, which she insists that we do because we’re British and pathetic and it makes us feel a bit better to say we’re suffering in 30+°C and not just 22°C.

Oh, and it was my birthday too, which means there was a bit of glam involved in some outfits. You know, whatevs. I’m old now so it’s barely even exciting (she says, despite the fact that she still has at least 4 celebrations and books her birthday off work.) Like I said, whatevs. All of this is to say, May was a rather nice month.