A Whole Lotta Leopard [Joanie Clothing]

One of the easiest things for a woman to wear is a wrap dress. The great thing about them is that they’re so well-loved and respected that they’ve never gone out of style, so it’s typically possible to find them on the high street and at your nearest mall as well as online. For me, they weren’t something I appreciated until I began to dress in vintage styles. Ironically, though, one of the things I love most about them is that unlike many of the swing dresses hanging in my wardrobe, I don’t feel like I have to style them up in a vintage fashion to wear them.

On days when I don’t have the motivation to get pinned up, when I need to get out of the house quickly, or when it wouldn’t be fully appropriate where I’m going to turn up in a 50s swing dress and floofy petticoat a-swingin’, a wrap dress is easy to throw on, comfortable to wear, and always makes me feel put together even when the effort sunk into that ‘putting together’ was minimal. They’re chic, they’re timeless, and thanks to this Lotta wrap dress from Joanie Clothing, they’re also totally sassy.

Joanie Clothing Lotta leopard print wrap dress plus size pinup Miss Amy May review

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September Outfits Round Up

It’s been a quiet month again since, much like August, my foot pain has limited how far I can travel and when I can be social. Still, I’m excited it feels truly like autumn now, even if the leaves haven’t begun to change yet. Soon there’ll be pretty colours, snuggly evenings on the sofa and the chance to break out my most fabulous and warm winter coats. Bring it!

Me-made Weasley sweater (how to blog post next week,) Blue Jade dress by Collectif dyed Dylon Olive Green and worn as a skirt,  Chestnut Jewel shoes by Hotter, self coloured and cut clip in bangs from eBay, Irresistible Me Rosewood 99J full lace human hair wig.

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Hogwarts Houses Vintage Style: Ravenclaw

This is is, kiddos, we’re at our final Hogwarts House styling post, with my OG house, Ravenclaw. While there’s endless stories I could tell about the way Potter has intersected with my life and vastly improved it, in an ode to Ravenclaw house I wanted to focus in this post upon the books more purely, and my favourite aspects and characters from them.

Miss Amy May Hogwarts vintage style Ravenclaw student pinup plus size inspired Harry Potter Cosplay disneybound Continue reading

Hogwarts Houses Vintage Style: Gryffindor

Here we are, fellow wizards, we’re over halfway through the Houses. I’ve already styled Hufflepuff and Slytherin in a vintage Amy style, and today we look at Gryffindor, along with my story of how the series lead me to face up to some of my deepest anxieties and how it resulted in my flying across the world to attend the wedding of someone I’d never met.

Miss Amy May Hogwarts vintage style Gryffindor student pinup plus size inspired Harry Potter Cosplay disneybound

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Hogwarts Houses Vintage Style: Slytherin

If you missed last week’s posting kick off my Hogwarts Houses Vintage Style series, you can find it here. I began by styling a Hufflepuff themed outfit and by telling the story of how I got into the Potter series. This week I’m focusing on Slytherin, the house for which I would be most ill-fitted, and touching on how the series lead me to make new friends and deal with my dad’s death.

Miss Amy May Hogwarts vintage style Slytherin student pinup plus size inspired Harry Potter Cosplay disneybound

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It’s All About MAK

There’s a MAK cardigan for every outfit. No, really!

If you’ve ever gone on a hunt for cropped cardigans to pair with your cinched waist vintage dresses then odds are you’ve come across the MAK cropped cardigans. A wholesale label, they supply their cropped cardigans in dozens of colours to vintage inspired stockists all over the world. Those stockists sometimes vary in the name they give the product as well as somewhat in price or the colour selection they offer, but no matter your favourite place to buy them, the MAK cardigans are fan-favourites in our community.

Personally, considering I own them in 16 shades, I can attest to how useful they are in a pinup’s wardrobe. And thanks to MAK sending along yet more to add to my ever-growing collection, I don’t see that my addiction to these cardigans will be letting up anytime soon.

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March Outfits Round Up

Spring is heeere (mostly) and it is glorious. I’ve loved fishing out my summer dresses from storage to swap them for my darker, heavier winter duds. Tropical prints, bright colours and pastels have made me so happy to throw on each time I go out, making me feel like spring even on days that the weather perhaps hasn’t done it’s part in representing the season. Plus, I’m so excited that even more SS17 releases will be trickling out over the next month or two, so bring on the summery dresses!

Talis swing skirt & top in green by Collectif, Ice Blue Tootsie Cropped Cardigan from Doll Me Up, Ivory Blossom Falls hairclips by Alternate Normality, old F&F wedges, Luxulite brooch, assorted old bangles, old Primark hat

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Oh You Nomi [Collectif]

I don’t really do trousers, not as a pinup. I wear jeans for work, as well as steel toed boots and a hi-vis jacket, because hello, Warehouse Supervisor life is the glammest of glam. But outside of that, in the vintage style realm of the 50s that I prefer, trousers are either high-waisted fitted styles or high-waisted swing styles and it’s that high-waisted part that I struggle most with. Because while my hips and butt are delightfully rounded food-storers, it’s my stomach that literally takes the cake. Often when I’ve tried these styles in the past what fits my hips won’t fit my waist, or sometimes they’ll fit my waist but they won’t really be truly high-waisted enough on me, ending at that weird belly button height that does favours for no one.

Well, Collectif saved the day, and my butt. Last summer when they launched their Kirsty jeans I heard talk that they were both truly high-waisted and stretchy as all get out. I eventually gave them a try and was delighted to find the talk to be true. Anytime I need to get out of the house quickly or want to be totally comfortable, I reach for my Kirsty jeans, so much so that I bought myself a back-up pair in this past winter 50% off sale. I figured that was me all set for a while with my pants needs.

And then along came Nomi, AKA Kirsty 2.0. Featuring the same high-waisted rise and comfortable stretchtastic denim, these babies are Kirsty jeans with the side zipper replaced by a partial front zip and 3 featured gold buttons, front pockets, and a slightly darker hue. Basically, babies, I love them.

Collectif Nomi High Waisted Pants Jeans Continue reading

On It, Bonnit!

bonnit4

Just sullenly thinking about how much I hate it when my hair gets ruined…

One of the most annoying things about being a modern day pinup has got to be how easy it is for our carefully coiffed vintage hairstyles to get ruined. Whether it’s a long day at the office, a gust of unruly wind, unwanted humidity or a dreaded downpour that makes your pincurls drop, the result is the same: a burst of frustration and disappointment, followed by the agonising decision for those of us less-gifted with our locks as to whether it’s better to leave our slightly sad hair as is or risk restyling it while out and about–and probably making the situation worse. Whenever I attempt and fail at the latter I always wish I’d been better prepared, rarely organised enough to remember to pack both a hairscarf and an umbrella, or perhaps simply to move those items over from one handbag to the one in use that better matched that day’s ensemble. Continue reading

Twinning in Saint Tropez [The Pretty Dress Company] 

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 Pretty Dress Company Saint Tropez Pencil Prom Dress Continue reading