Keen on Norma Jean [Retrospecd] 

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.

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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]

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

Fully Customised [eShakti]

eShakti is a clothing website offering a wide range of dresses, tops and skirts, many of which are vintage inspired, and all of which are available to be customised to not only your own measurements and height, but also to the neckline, sleeve length and skirt length you want. You can also ask for zippers to be moved to/from the back or the side and have pockets removed (but what kind of crazy would opt for that?!) And this special customisation fee available on all pieces? It doesn’t cost an arm, a leg, or even your first born. Whether you want just a zipper moved or the entire piece made to your measurements as well as changing the length, neckline and sleeve type, all customisation costs just $9.95 per item. (Previously it has always been $7.50, but over time costs have inflated and they’ve had to implement their slightly higher fee from March 1st.)

They offer designs in tons of prints, colours and styles, all reasonably priced, often available on offer, and, of course, I’ve been dying to try them out for a while. They don’t ship to the UK, frustratingly, and hopefully that will change someday and soon, but I have readers all over the globe, plenty of which live in the USA and Canada, where eShakti ships to, so I wanted to check them out for you guys at least. So, while I was stateside in October last year, I bought 3 dresses in a 3 for 2 deal. Continue reading

Jenny January 2016

The start of 2016 meant it was time for our second annual #JennyJanuary, a style challenge event I began last year in which I asked my fellow Pinup Girl Clothing fans to wear any Jenny skirts or dresses they owned during the week of January 18th-24th and to share their outfits on social media using the hashtag #JennyJanuary. The aim is for lovers of these pieces to interact with each other online in order to share stories about their Jennies, the life events they have lived in them, and to provide each other with style inspiration for new ways to style and wear their Jennies.

Last year the event was a huge success, with other 300 entries and ladies all over the world taking part. (You can read up on it here.) This year, it was lovely to see women waiting excitedly for #JennyJanuary to start, sharing the preparations they were making in planning out their outfits for this year’s event. Continue reading

Froo Froo Fantastic [Voodoo Vixen Petticoat]

I’ve reviewed a couple of petticoats on the blog before, the Malco Modes Jennifer and Lindy Bop petticoats. There were pros and cons to both, and for that reason I’ve been thinking lately I need to keep an eye out for other brands to review to give you more information on a wider selection of available pettis. In that light, today I’m reviewing the Froo Froo petticoat by Voodoo Vixen.

Voodoo Vixen Froo Froo Petticoat Sophie top Continue reading

December Outfits Round Up 

‘Tis the season to be jolly and twinkly and glam! I love Christmas time, even though it’s busy and over far too quickly. Seeing friends and family as much as possible and spoiling them with gifts and joy warms my heart, and I’ll be honest, picking out my outfits for wearing over the Christmas period is one of my favourite parts now. It’s been an incredibly busy month though and I didn’t get to wear as many pretties as I expected. but hey ho, the perfect excuse to start 2016 off with a bang!

As usual, you can find links in the description to any item that is still available to buy. Anything not linked is from a past season and cannot be found for purchase any longer and/or is not available to buy online.

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Manor Print Paris dress by Bernie Dexter from Ginnedupgillys.com, Mint Cropped Cardigan from Pinup Girl Clothing, old Truffle heels

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Lady in Red [Delores Unique Vintage]

As we continue through the chillier seasons my search continues for more half or long sleeved vintage-style dresses, which aren’t always easy to find. It can be easier somehow to find them in thicker, restrictive fabrics, dresses that are smarter or more formal, but a comfortable sleeved piece is rarer. So say hello to the Unique Vintage Iconic Delores dress, a dress that can be both formal and casual depending entirely upon styling! Since Christmas is already nipping at our heels I whipped out this Poinsettia-red dress and styled it simply with the season in mind, thinking of Santa and his big black boots.

Unique Vintage Delores Dress Continue reading

Gorgeous Gigi [Miss Candyfloss]

Everyone should be able to wear whatever they want, without judgement or comment. Saying that, there are certain things I won’t go near personally because I just don’t feel they work for my body and the way I most like to highlight its features. Maxi dresses don’t show off my waist enough with that large expanse of skirt flowing straight down beneath it, and capped sleeves aren’t kind to my chubby upper arms. I store weight on my lower stomach and have wide hips, as well as considerable butt (awww yeaaah,) but those things mean when it comes to trousers and shorts, I just steer clear most of the time for simplicity’s sake, since I can’t be bothered searching for the perfect fit. Playsuits and jumpsuits, therefore, are clothing pieces I rule out, because when trying some on in the past I’ve found they don’t fit my lower body well and make me feel self-conscious about my squidgy tummy. No one really wants that.

However, I’ve been seeing some bodacious babes rocking some amazing retro jumpsuits lately and it made me feel some things. Miss Victory Violet, Simone of Atypical Girl Clothing and Kerry of Audrey Star’s Boutique are all working their jumpsuits like it’s nobody’s business, and it got me wondering.

L to R: Atypical Girl’s Simone. Audrey Star’s Boutique’s Kerry, and Miss Victory Violet

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Pretty Pia [Voodoo Vixen]

I have a thing for winter appropriate prints, checks, tweeds and weighted fabrics. They never go out of style, which means when you buy a piece in that kind of fabric you know you can wear it year after year regardless of the passing current trends. This holds even more true when the pieces are vintage inspired, so I was pleased to see that Voodoo Vixen made several pieces in their AW15 line that fit this outline.

The Pia pencil skirt is the one that most caught my eye from the VV workwear appropriate new pieces. It’s a lightweight highwaisted grey pencil skirt sporting a tweed inspired print with kick pleats in the back. From the same AW line I picked up the Sophie top, a black three quarter sleeved top with plenty of stretch for comfort and a great button detail staired neckline.

Voodoo Vixen Pia Skirt & Sophie Top Continue reading

Pretty As A Picnic [The Pretty Dress Company Priscilla]

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.
The Pretty Dress Company Priscilla swing dress yellow Gingham Continue reading