It's a nice day, to go to a wedding in a Vivien of Holloway Kitty dress

‘Tis the season for weddings! Yey! Who doesn’t love a wedding? I adore getting dressed up for events and an excuse to buy a nice new dress is always appreciated.

This was the first wedding I have been to since my own wedding so it was really fun to see it all from the other side of things.

As it was a summer wedding I decided to go with something light and floral and luckily for me Vivien of Holloway had just put a new Kitty dress on their site in peach and royal blue florals.

I have ranted and raved about the Kitty dress so many times I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how wonderful it is again. But if you had any doubt, it is amazing. It is still my favourite design of their dresses by a very long way. It's just soooo flattering!

Because of the dress’s blue tones I wore the dress with a blue light cardigan and a pair of blue highwoods from Lotta from Stockholm. I felt they were the perfect summer accessories.

I made a particular effort when pin curling my hair I let them dry and set for even longer than usual and gave them a very thorough brushout. I was really very pleased with the result, it ended up being far smoother and sleeker than usual. I only wish I knew what I did differently this time that lead to the lovely smooth curls. But sometimes you just need a bit of luck with hair.

Outfit Details

Dress: Vivien of Holloway

Cardigan: Monsoon

Shoes: Lotta from Stockholm

Belt: Vintage

What is your dream wedding guest outfit?

Vintage Event: Riding the old trains at the Bluebell railway 1940s weekend

A little while ago I went to the Bluebell Railway for their Southern at War weekend. It was a whole weekend of memorials and activities dedicated to preserving the memory of WWII.

The Bluebell railway is a preserved heritage railway and it has many working steam trains there for visitors to ride and authentically kept stations, platforms and surroundings. This meant that the whole place was the perfect location for a weekend of vintage style frolicks.

I decided to get dressed up for the event and wore a true vintage 1940s green dress and a (late) 1940s suit jacket over the top. I got a few compliments on my look and I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

 

 The husband and I got train tickets so that we could explore the other stations and ride on the train. I'm so glad we did as the 20 minute train journey in the vintage carriage was lovely, there were so many bluebells along the line too it was clear to see where the line got its name from.

Here is one of the lovely steam trains:

And me by one of the carriages:

There were also other period vehicals on display too from vintage army vans and trucks to fire engines.

Best name for a car ever!

Something that I really liked was the fact that they had renactors around who were playing the role of the home guard, as well as singers, dancers and stalls selling vintage wares. All of these things added to the authentic feel of the weekend and I loved it. I also really liked how many visitors had decided to get dressed up too, there were moments when you would look down the train platform and see only people dressed in 1940s clothing and it really made you feel like you had stepped back in time.

 

There was also a flypast by a Hurricane which did a pretty amazing job.

 The railway platforms were great places to be a bit silly to take pictures, there were lots of props. I especially liked the huge pile of luggage!

Outfit Details:

Dress: Vintage

Jacket: Vintage

Gloves: Vintage

Bag: Vintage

Hat: Vintage

Shoes: Rocket Originals

Yeah, I went pretty hardcore on the outfit this time around.

Have you ever been to a reenactment event?

Jennie on Jenny: My New Favourite Skirt from PinUP Girl Couture #JennyJuly

I have always lived the look of a big full skirt and a fitted top, whether that comes in the form of a Dior New Look dress or in the form of a full skirt and t shirt. So it was only natural that I fell in love with the Jenny skirt. Even without seeing one in real life I knew they would be amazing. They come in a vast array of novelty prints and colours with huge gathered skirts that really emphasise the waist to hip ratio.

 

In the last 6^th months or so I have been so obsessed with PUG. No, not little doggies, but Pinup Girl clothing. In particular their Jenny skirt. The skirts are not cheap, retailing at around $100 but after a lot of scrimping and saving I managed to scrape together enough money to try a Jenny skirt from the Magic of Mary Blair Collection.

The design I went for was the commuter skirt which was in a gorgeous olive green with a 60s novelty border print featuring train commuters in shades of black and white. I almost felt like this skirt was designed for me ESPECIALLY given the name ;)

I bought the skirt form UK PUG stockists Deadly is the female who were great, super quick delivery and really well packaged.

Once it arrived I decided to wear it for a picnic with my husband in the park. Much fun and frolicking was had, and I spend a ridiculously large amount of time twirling around and lounging in the grass.

 

Pretending to be a statue... as you do.

Now, shall we discuss the skirt itself?

I LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!! It is the best skirt ever. I feel really special when I wear it - which utterly amazing given how down I have felt about my figure lately.

It swishes when you walk and it really makes me feel like a 50s siren.

It is really full and made with a very thick brushed cotton, it feels very sumptuous and has an almost shiny, luxurious feeling to it. There is also sooooo much of it, like, yards and yards - totally justifies the price.

Now a lot is made about the sizes of these skirts and the fact that they are small fitting. I ordered and XL and when I measures the waist it was 32 inches. This is what I would expect for a UK 14 so the sizing seemed about right to me.

The thing that I really especially love about this skirt how well it swishes and twirls, I imagine it would be great for dancing too! In fact, here I am mid-twirl, looking like I am about to take off. Lulz...

I have decided that I love this skirt so much that I have even ordered another Jenny in the Italian landscape print. I look forward to showing you that skirt too!

Outfit Details:

Skirt: Pinup Girl

Top: Primark

Shoes: Rocket Originals

Bag: Vintage

Several other bloggers I follow are also obsessed with Jenny skirts like Miss Amy May and Atomic Amber of the British Belles. In fact Miss Amy has even started #JennyJuly so that other Jenny obsessives can showcase their pretties. Check them out if you want to see more of Jenny.

A Pinup-Style Stars and Stripes Outfit for the 4th of July

Ah, who doesn’t love a good holiday?! Especially one that you can dress up for. Now I may not be from the USA and maybe it is a weird conflict of interest if a Brit dresses up for 4^th of July but what the heck. I did it anyway.

 

Back in November I made a skirt for my appearance on a panel about women in comic book movies. I dressed as a retro version of Wonder Woman with a blue circle skirt printed with white stars.

It was only during the depths of winter that I accidentally got the skirt out of my wardrobe while wearing a red stripe t shirt. I actually took until I looked at the skirt and the top in the mirror that I realised how much it looked like the ol’ stars and stripes of the USA.

I decided to save the outfit for the 4^th of July for obvious reasons.

So here is my USA themed outfit:

It was rather a lot of fun to wear and I can’t help but feel that I will end up wearing it again.

Outfit Details:

Skirt: Home made

Belt: Charity shop

Top: Primark

Shoes: Lotta from Stockholm

What do you think? Have you ever dressed up as a flag? It seems like a good Eurovision party idea…

Thrifty Vintage: A summer dirndl skirt and a retro jumper

Wow its warm isn't it! I can't decide whether I love the warm whether because it is a chance for me to experiment with new outfits, or whether I hate it because EVERYTHING is too warm.

One day when it wasn't soooooo hot I decided to wear a new to me dirndl skirt in a cotton gingham check. It has a gorgeous gathered skirt that manages to be full, but also quite flattering. I also love the black lace trim at the bottom of the skirt as it add a bit more to the look of the skirt (I am a bit obsessed with border print skirts and that type of thing so I have been on the look out for anything with a border feature).

The best part though is that it only cost £9 from eBay!

 Also on a side note words cannot describe how pleased I was with my hair in these photos!

I have also discovered a new brand of shoes, I am sure lots of you vintage lovers will know of Rocket Originals, but if you haven't you should check them out. Their shoes are not cheap (between £60-80) but they are made in the UK from old vintage designs. I want all of the pairs in EVERY colour.

Outfit details:

Skirt: Vintage

Shoes: Rocket Originals

Top: Wallis

Necklace: Vintage