A vintage Laura Ashley pinafore dress

So I have a bit of an obsession with Laura Ashley. I also have an obsession with pinafores, and the colour blue. So what happens if you put all these things together?

I throw my money at it that's what!

Luckily for me this particular blue Laura Ashley pinafore was only £9 on eBay so I couldn't resist. I really like the deck chair stripe and the large pockets on the front.

The only problem is that the waist and bust are not hugely different in size, which I think is to help it slip over your head with ease but being a 'curvy' lady I like things to fit on my waist since that's the smallest part of me.

That was partially solved by adding a waist belt although I'm currently on a hunt for skinnier one as I'm not sure this one does me too many favours. I do adore the combination of the red white and blue though! 

I'm going to try and hold back from whinging about my fringe again today, since its getting a bit old now. These photos were taken on a lazy day so I didn't do much with it, I swept the fringe back with a hairband and rolled the back using a hair elastic.

I put my hair into a ponytail and puled the elastic towards the end and then rolled it up towards my ears forming a roll. I then pinned the loose bits in place.

It is a little bit loose and isn't necessarily the neatest do ever but it was super quick and I think with a bit of tweaking it could be a great work hairstyle.

So I'm a sucker for Laura Ashley.

Do you have any brands you are always drawn too?

Covering rollers with a vintage headscarf... or looking like a washer woman

I was deleting nonsense from my phone, when I came across these pictures that I never got around to sharing... Oh well, here goes:

What do you do if you've got your hair in rollers and you need to go out?

Hide them under a head-scarf of course! I have no idea if this was actually done, but wearing this type of headscarf it something I associate with my grandmother and house work. It seems I'm not the only one either as a delightful 'gentleman' in the street took the time to point out to me that I looked like a washer woman.

So thanks for that.

I actually don't think it was such a bad look. I am a big fan of the plain (often gypsy-style) top and print vintage skirt. I've seen quite a few pictures of Dita Von Teese wearing a similar look, although minus the head scarf... I reckon that she has one of those fancy vintage style dryers so she never needs to leave rollers in.

Image source (complaining about the outfit of all things?!)

Maybe this whole look is subject to debate? I'm not sure.

What do you think?

Outfit details:

Skirt: Vintage

Top: Gap via charity shop

Belt: Primark

Headscarf: Vintage

Glasses: Fossil

A vintage print skirt

Okay so one bored day I turned to Buzzfeed and came across this list of best Disney outfits and I noticed that there was sooooooo much Frozen in the top 20. I honestly can't say I'm surprised I really like the look of the folk dresses with so much embroidery and stripes and gold trim and petticoats. Its just too much amazingness!

So today I have yet another skirt that reminds me of Princess Anna from Frozen. Mostly its the vertical stripe and floral print although it is in quite summary colours, something you  would not see in Arendelle.

I absolutely love the volume of this skirt, it has a small slip built in with the lace around the bottom to give it extra oomph and make it look that bit extra Disney princess.

For my hair I managed to tuck all my fringe into the hair roll although it did make it a bit poofy. But I thought it suited this look quite well.

Do you have any outfits that make you feel like a Disney Princess?

Outfit details:

Hat: Vintage via ebay

1960s Necklace: Vintage fair

Blouse: Boden via charity shop

Skirt: Vintage via ebay

Bag: Vintage via Sue Ryder

Laura Ashley nautical themed beach hut dress and some car booty

You know when you see something you really like, and then in an instant it is gone? I had that experience with this dress.

After something like that I typically resort to ebay's 'saved search' function in the hope that one day it will pop up, and you know what? It usually does as long as the item is not from too long ago.

Part of the reason I loved this dress so much was because the beach hut print reminded me of Brighton and the blue, red and white are some of my go to colours so I felt that it I was meant to have it. And I'm a total sucker for anything nautical...

I matched the dress with a red cardigan, sunglasses and a pair of clogs from Lotta from Stockholm.

And without the cardigan...

I wore this outfit to a car boot sale to go for a rummage and these pictures were taken after so my hair is what can best be described as 'all over the shop'.

I had a pretty good haul at the car boot, I got a load of buttons for dressmaking, they only cost £3 for all of them which is considerably cheaper than buying them new.

I also got a vintage Kigu compact, a pearl necklace, an early plastics bead necklace and a bangle that looks a little like bakelite to me so I need to investigate it more...

...and I also got a full skirted coat for 50p!

Have you ever been to a car boot sale? Did you find any bargains?

Why vintage repro rocks: A red Vivien of Holloway Peggy Lee dress

You've probably seen me talk about Vivien of Holloway before on her as it is one of my favourite brands and I think they do some amazing vintage reproduction dresses (and jeans, and skirts) and a few have appeared on here in previous posts.

Many moons ago while I was still a poor student I really wanted the Peggy Lee dress, but sadly it came and went from the shop before I ever had the funds to buy it. So when a brand new red Peggy Lee dress popped up on ebay I was powerless to resist (the seller had also listed it as a buy it now for a stupidly low price).

I decided to wear the Peggy Lee to London to visit my parents. They were staying in Stratford next to the Olympic park so I could not resist taking a few pictures against the stadium backdrop (even if it is being converted to a football ground).

I think the dress is a beautiful fit. It goes in and out in all the right places which is one of the real advantages of a Vivien of Holloway dress. If you've not tried one on before then you have to look carefully at the measurements as they are not conventional, they have more room in the bust and hips, perfect for curvy girls.

The dress also has nice big patch pockets, which I'm obviously impressed with if this picture is anything to go by:

My husband and I being completely stylistically mismatched, as always :)

I tried something a little different with my hair. Something a little more fancy. I took inspiration from Vintageous on youtube and attempted this side roll do (on a side note Natalie's tutorials are excellent, really clear and easy to follow I highly recommend them).

It was actually pretty easy to do just following the video step by step, the only part I had difficulty with was getting my fringe in there, its still not long enough to back comp properly so I couldn't really get the volume needed, but I think I just about got away with it.

A super extra added bonus of this hair do was that when I took it out I ended up with a lovely asymmetrical wave. I think if I'd taken some time to brush it out neatly I could have created a lovely pin-up inspired down-do.

Outfit Details:

Dress: Vivien of Holloway

Shoes: M&S