Outfit of the day: Pink in Brighton

The other week I had a flying visit to Brighton and decided to do a quick outfit post. I totally overshot the number of layers I was wearing as it ended up being no where near as cold as I had expected so I had to carry my beautiful vintage coat for a large portion of the day.

Anywho, as I was in Brighton, I decided to experiment with a colour I rarely ever wear. Pink.

I've had this skirt a little while, it came form Monsoon during the sale around 4 years ago when that folk look was all-the-rage-but-never-actually-the-rage.

I paired the skirt with a very pink jumper. Now this jumper wound up in my possession by mistake as it was listed on eBay as crimson, and my understanding of crimson was something a much deeper and darker colour than this. But unfortunately that is the colour it said on the label so I was stuck with it, so why not try it out right?

If I'm completely honest I'm still not sure about it...

I do adore my 80s across body bag, it is just the right size and so sturdy and well made! Its my go-to bag when I don't have much to carry.

I also had an amazing eBay find where I got 16 enamel bangles for 99p! In loads of different colours. They may not be bakelite, but they're good enough for me!

Here is my black vintage coat that I had to very swiftly remove once the sun came out...

Now my hair is a touch dishevelled in this pic but those curls lasted all day and I was really pleased with the shape of the set. I suppose you get the idea. This set was done with 25 flat pin curls, which seems a little excessive, but I really love the shape it gives and I really do think it gives the curl more longevity.

Skirt: Monsoon

Blouse: Monsoon

Jumper: M&S

Scarf: Thrifted

Coat: Vintage thrifted

Bangles: eBay

Boots: Clarks

What do you think then?

Pink jumper, yey or ney?

This post is largely about hair, but also features a really cute Monsoon jumper

So this thing happened the other week (because I have a huge blog back log at the moment!) where a friend that I haven't seen in quite a while text me about meeting up. Turns out that even though we've been living well over 4 hours apart for the last 10 years we now live about 30 minutes down the road from each other!

What this did mean was that I needed to make myself look presentable at fairly short notice.

Now I'm no expert on vintage hair, but from the 'experts' I have spoken too I have gained a few bits of wisdom. One of the slightly strange tips I've been given is that dirty hair is good for doing vintage styles. Something about the texture allows you to tease and create a sleek look without as much faff as clean hair. A lot of hair stylists use product and curlers to give the hair texture but it seems there is nothing quite as easy as just leaving your hair to grease up.

Here is the style I went for:

                       

This is the product of 3 and a half days of not washing my hair (yeah gross I know). I split it into 3 sections, two on the top and one underneath, teased the top two layers and rolled them into vertical victory rolls. Possibly the neatest I've ever done, and smoothed them using a smoothing comb from Boots.

(I also can't help but think that this make up somehow looks a bit 60s without the lipstick)

I split the back into 3 sections again and did one small roll under and two pin curls at either side.

This jumper is possibly my favourite at the moment, it was from Monsoon in the sale. I simply love the neutral colour and the lace pattern, but the best part is the faux button detail down the back.

The skirt was from a charity shop. It was pretty big on the waist so I used the sewing machine to take in some pleats at the back to make it fit a little better. I think this is one of the greatest gifts sewing has given me the ability to pick up things in charity shops that can be altered or adjusted cheaply to make an improved garment.

So one last thing too, the faux pearls, they were 50p from a charity shop. They're not a bad set and in pretty good condition with a good weight, they are fast becoming a wardrobe staple of mine.

Jumper: Monsoon

Skirt: Thrifted

Tights: Accessorize

Shoes: Clarks

Pearls: Thrifted

With this outfit I wore a pretty sweet coat vintage coat that I got of eBay for £4.99 (incl. postage) but I'll have to save that one for another day!

OOTD: A 1940s style M&S tea dress

Anyone that has spoken to me at any length about my favourite fashion in films will know I adore the Edge of Love. It is wonderful to look at and part of me wishes that I could dress like that every day. I do not think I would enjoy all the poet wife drama though.

A large portion of the outfits are vintage tea dresses and skirts like these:

As such I am a complete sucker for any kind of tea dress. I simply adore this one I found in M&S and I believe that it is still available now. It is black with a red, green and yellow floral print. There are gathered sections on the waist and a little keyhole detail on the neck. All in all I think it is pretty flattering! AND it's under £40.

My favourite thing about the dress is that the mixed coloured print means that it goes with almost anything. My green cardigan that has been such a favourite of late:

Or this vintage 100% wool jumper I got from a charity shop recently for a more casual look. Its so snuggly:

I also decided to wear the dress with some clogs. Ever since I got my Lotta's I have been pretty into clogs and I found this pair in Mind for a measly £5! They are barely worn which is pretty amazing. Since it is winter though, you can't really wear the clogs on their own, so I wore them with tights underneath. I think since they are closed toe you can get away with it, but I don't think I'd try it with my other clogs.

OOTD: A ditsy blouse, green cardigan, burgundy Docs and how I never though I'd wear chinos...

A casual day here at Fancy Dresscapades and the unusual sight of me in trousers. For my work I am not allowed to wear jeans, a plight of many people out there, and its not a big problem for me since I don't wear them very often, but occasionally I'd quite like to wear trousers without resorting to the ol' black work trousers scenario.

Obvious solution - chinos. With all the weird colour combinations of mustard, terracotta and burgundy I did not expect to find a pair of chinos I would like. Apparently chinos are defined by the type of cotton/cotton mix they are made from, and are typically associated with hipsters and old men. Surprisingly, there are a large amount of designs out there, and M&S have some pretty good ones, so I decided to get a pair of dark blue ones with a slim leg. 

The rest of this outfit was from a bit of a charity shop spree, the ditsy blouse is from a charity shop (originally F&F) and the cardigan is merino wool from Gap, again via a charity shop. It is beautifully soft and has pockets too it is possibly one of the best cardigans I've ever had.

Here is a close up on the colour of the cardigan and the pattern on the blouse.

Shoe wise I wore a pair of cherry DMs, Docs or Doc Martens that I got last year with my Christmas money. They are the Serena style and are lined with synthetic fleece so they are really, really warm. I spent most of the snowy days last year stomping around in these boots. I also got a pair from eBay that are black during the summer months for a super bargain price however they are still in Durham. I'm missing them around this time of year. 

Here is one last shot of all of that with my parka jacket. I can't even explain how much I am loving the jacket it is so warm and snuggly, one of the best investments I made this winter, especially for £16!

Chinos: M&S

Blouse: F&F via Salvation Army

Cardigan: GAP via Salvation Army

Boots: Doc Marten

Parka: Topshop via eBay

What's the most useful thing you've bought this winter?

A beehive, a fair isle cardigan and parka jacket

So I am still experimenting with my haircut and I have discovered that I can put it up. I played around with backcombing a little and gave myself a bit of a beehive. I thought the 60s look looked great with these cats eye specs so I was quite excited to put the look together. I used a thick line on my eye too and pale lips (going against my trade mark red).

I decided to wear a retro inspired dress by Holly Willoughby. I adore the peter pan collar on this dress, the lace is really substantial and the dress feels really solid over all so I was pretty pleased with the quality of this dress, especially since it came from eBay for ~£9! It is a little shorter than I'd usually go for but I found that with some thick wooly tights I just about got away with it.

Naturally with all the print on the dress I thought that the best thing I could do would be to team it with more colour with a nordic/fair isle cardigan (I'm not 100% sure what the difference is between the two but this forum helps a little). The cardigan is from Primark which is actually pretty good quality too. I have two similar cardigans from Primark that I have had for about 3 years now and if this one lasts as well, then I will be pretty happy with my £14 purchase!

Not so sure about that. But when you cover it up with a big cosy parka jacket you can't see it anyway.

Dress: Holly Willoughby via eBay

Cardigan: Primark

Tights: Accessorize

Boots: Clarks

Parka: Topshop via eBay

 I think the parka kind of completes the 60s inspired vibe. What do you think?

A trip to Canterbury

Just to warn you before we get started, this post has pictures from mid November. Just in case you were confused by how quickly my hair seemed to be growing!

Anywho, I forgot to post these pictures a little while ago, so I though I'd share them now. I took a trip to Canterbury with the in-laws, I've never been there before, but I felt it was probably worth a visit now I live in that neck of the woods.

I have to say I really like that old style architecture with tudor style cladding, white paint and beams. It is closer to the style of my home town that somewhere like Brighton is so I feel quite at home there. I think its probably why I like Tunbridge Wells so much too. 

Naturally, this post will have quite a few pictures:

Here is me and a wonky door...

I really liked the look of this bread shop, but I have to admit that I find the little robotic baker figure in the window a little bit scary.

HOW COOL ARE THESE LEGO MINIFIG NECKLACES!

Giant sweets...

My very best attempt at an arty shot...

Dare I say, that any town that has plastic Monks in the streets is asking for a little bit of horse play.

Of course in this city of great pilgrimage we couldn't not go to the cathedral. It was rather magnificent I must say. I've never seen such a big cathedral!

And here is what I decided to wear. It is a dress from M&S, late 80s/early 90s by my reckoning and it has a really cool tropical print to it which manages to brighten up a dull day. I wore it with my trusty black M&S coat and a vintage chunky knit cardigan, that you can't really see. This was the first day that it was cold enough to break out my Morlands boots too. I was told that they were from the 1960s, although it doesn't really matter to me, I was only really interested in the lovely fur lining and water proof suede. I've really struggled to find good warm boots for the winter, so hopefully these will be it!

Dress: M&S via eBay

Coat: M&S via eBay

Neck Scarf: Salvation Army

Boots: Morelands via eBay

Oh, we also went to Patisserie Valerie on the high street. I had an ice cream sunday - it was beautifully delicious!

One last picture of the lovely view of the cathedral all lit up.

M&S bunny rabbit christmas jumper

I have a confession to make. I am not a huge fan of the christmas jumper, favouring instead the fair isle/nordic style designs rather than the novelty designs available.

Therefore when a friend of mine had a christmas party that demanded Christmas attire I was sort of stuck. I do have one patterned jumper however, a cute little number from M&S with white bunnies all over it. To be honest, I don't really think rabbits have anything to do with Christmas (or hares either thank you very much John Lewis!) but this was the closest to a Christmas jumper as I could muster.

I decided to wear trousers with my jumper. They are a pair of chino style trousers from M&S and they have a little bit of stretch in them which makes them pretty comfortable and they are quite high waisted too without being jeans so I can get away with wearing them for work :D

I also recently acquired a parka from eBay, I never thought I would be the type of girl to get a parka but my husband swears by his in the cold weather so I decided to try and find one for my work commute. Gotta keep warm!

Parkas seem to be very in at the moment, every other person I see is wearing one and I'm not really sure when that happened... Anywho, this one is from Topshop, but it is second hand and I estimate from the late 1990s early 2000s based on the label, you can see it has been worn, but I got hold of it in good nick and for only £16 compared to to £50-100 price tag I see on new ones so I don't really mind. It is really warm and has lovely deep pockets to keep my rubbish in.

Dressing down did however mean that I had to do something fantastic with my hair! Since I had it cut short I haven't really found the perfect style up do, I think I almost had it with this one, I would make a couple of changes to it if I try again, but overall I was pretty pleased. The best part was that when I took it out it had a beautiful curl set that lasted for 3 days! I really ought to have taken a photo of that...

On a side note, please excuse the silly make up, I wore a bright green eyeshadow and red blusher and lipstick to keep with the christmas theme. In hindsight perhaps a little much but never mind.

What do you think of christmas jumpers? Do rabbits count?

A modern Laura Ashley dress

From some of my previous posts, you might have figured out that I am a fan of Laura Ashley, especially the vintage style numbers from the late 1980s, however this time I've been wearing a floral dress that is a little more recent.

This dress is fairly recent Laura Ashley, although I'm not sure when exactly it is from as I bought it from eBay (as always). I originally saw it about 5 years ago and have been watching out for it ever since. I thought the shape looked pretty flattering with a fitted waist and a slightly flared skirt. The shoulders and arms are a little big for me, but I  so regularly have this problem I've learned where to sew to fix it.

Since it is cold lately however I added a long sleeve shirt underneath the dress but I think it works okay.

I really love the colours of this dress, the shades of pink and yellow remind me of the psychadellic 60s, but with a more subtle style floral version...

I decided to wear one of my favourite beret with this outfit. The colour doesn't quite match, but I think I just about get away with it. I'm not sure I like my hair in this straight way, I think it looks better a bit curlier, but hey, we have to experiment with these things.

Finally I had to do the swish test, although the skirt is a little bit slim to get a good swirl with...

80s Laura Ashley vs. now, what do you think?