Thrifty Outfit: A Splash of Colour on a Rainy Day

In amongst the scorching days we've had in Tunbridge Wells so far this summer there have also been a few really hellish thunder storms. 

Since its not cold but it is rainy a light rain coat is a must for this time of year. Now rain macs come in all shapes and sizes but my favourite one for brightening up a rainy day at the moment is this blue number from M&S.

I believe this coat is Limited Collection from a few years back and I got it in a second hand shop for under £10 (just). Its shower proof, lined and it has a hood. I think its a slightly too bright colour, but I find that it goes with so many different colours (red/yellow/green/black) that it really isn't a problem.

The jumper was bought online and has a lovely bit of beadwork around the neck. The skirt if old St. Michael stock and is the best shade of green.

Obligatory I'm wearing a hood shot:

Rain Coat: M&S via eBay

Jumper: Unknown via eBay

Skirt: St. Michael via charity shop

Shoes: Clarks

Hands on History: WWI Dress Up - A Nurse From the Great War

While I was a Penhurst place the other week they were having a bank holiday weekend special. Hands on History (and here for their facebook group) were visiting for a WWI themed dress up and photo gallery and a bit of paintballing. They had a mix of authentic and replica costumes and naturally since dress up is a passion of mine I decided to have a go.

This was an authentic WWI uniform:

The one that caught my eye was the replica nurses uniform.

My mum, aunt and grandmother are/were nurses so nursing has always been a big part of my family life. So naturally I am drawn to old nurses uniforms. In fact so is my mum, she has a replica blue nurses uniform from the 1940s and she wants me to make a cape for her to go with it.

I couldn't help but be inspired by these women who served in both of the great wars, or in fact any war, it must be such a tough job I can't even imagine. And the uniforms, while designed that way for very specific reasons, they do not look like the most comfortable outfits.

Image Source

So here is me in the uniform. It was about 4 layers (depending on what you count as a layer) and it was made of quite a thick heavy cotton. I didn't have appropriate shoes to wear in this instance but I was reliably told that the nurses would have worn simple lace up black boots, but you'll have to use your imagination on that front.

Layering wise there was the grey dress, the thick cotton apron, the gauntlet sleeves, the removable cuff, the cape, the hair cover and the hat...

As I was thinking that all of those layers must have been inconvenient I realised that they were there for a reason. A really sad reason. These nurses were dealing with so many injured soldiers that they needed elements of this outfit that could be changed quickly. It really did make me think long and hard about nurses in war. Not that their job is any harder than an one else's in the war, but its something that feels a little closer home than others.

I can say from first hand experience that dressing the part really makes you think about history in a new way! I hope that I manage to encounter Hands on History somewhere else in life as I'd really like to do something like this again!

Vintage Hair Inspiration: Retro Rolls

Ahhhh, victory rolls, poodles, twists and beehives, I love them all. I especially like elevated pin curls (a roll that sits up on top of your head rather than lying flat on your head) largely because they look good on the day, but because they make your hair wonderfully curly after you take them out too.

This is the type of thing I mean, somewhere between victory rolls and a poodle do:

Image source

So now that my hair is getting longer again I have decided to experiment with up dos again.

Here's a more recent attempt at an elevated curl up do:

I'm currently finding my fringe super annoying as I have decided to grow it out and it is too short to do anything with it yet. But soon it will be long enough to get it out the way. Hopefully. As soon as its long enough I'll probably want a fringe again...

Oh well.

(P.S. Look how grey I am!!!)

Comics Unmasked at the British Library and a Vintage Dress

Why hello everyone! Last weekend I went to the Comics Unmasked exhibition at the British Library. It was a really interesting exhibition that covered so many aspects of comic book culture that are still contentious issues today and showed rather excellently how much influence British writers and artists had on comic book culture.

We spent about two hours in the exhibition, which I think is actually quite a lot, and they had comics from victorian era right through to modern ones from this year. My favourite part was seeing original pages of artwork full constructed, in some cased you can see where the sketch lines are and when tip-ex was used to remove errors and to highlight. One thing I learned was that in many cased the text bubbles were stuck directly over the panels in the old fashioned way. I thought they were amazing. Sadly photography wasn't allowed.

They were selling a whole load of really cool merchandise, from comic books to notebooks and buttons:

Since the weather's been so nice lately I decided to wear a sleeveless vintage dress. I love the mix of colours on this, I think its 80s (based largely on the colour) but I do think it fits quite well with a rockabilly style look. So that's how I wore it.

I added a wide cinch belt, matching red ballet pumps and cats eye glasses. One of my favourite accessories at the moment is my moonglow necklace, I've become a bit obsessed with retro and vintage plastic jewellery so finding a super shiny red necklace was a total winner.

To go with the dress I put the hair in a bumper bang. If I'm honest I am amazed by how neat I managed to get it - that pretty much never happens!

Dress:Vintage

Sunglasses: North Laines Brighton

Necklace: Vintage/Thrifted

Shoes: M&S

Belt: Primark

Scarf: Vintage

What do you think of the outfit combo? I wonder if I would make a good comic book character?