A 1950s Red Vintage Check Dress

Today I want to share a lovely little shirt waisted dress that I got from Snoopers Paradise in Brighton a little while back. It was a touch snug so I've not really worn it often but that's all changed now :D I think the dark red it a perfect colour for autumn.

I got the dress for £20 which is very unusual for a vintage dress, especially one in a size 18 (roughly a modern 12-14) however it had a big hole in the under arm, no slip and some repair needed to the waist. I imagine it would have looked terrible to anyone who didn't sew, but it was super easy to fix up with my sewing machine. Took around 20 minutes including the time it took to dig the machine out of the cupboard.

I have no idea what the fabric is, it is that slightly shiny fabric that is a bit like taffeta but much thinner, I've seen quite a few dresses of this era made from it, and would love to know what it is, so if you have an idea, please put me out of my misery!

To complete the outfit I wore a black cardigan and belt (that actually came with a different skirt, but oh well!) a vintage hand bag and a pair of soft soled clogs from Lotta from Stockholm.

And with my pointy boob cup doreen bra to give it the perfect bust shape:

I also did something a little experimental with my hair. I found that lately I had been missing my blonde stripes so I took a leap and bought some clip in extensions. I got two from eBay and they were super duper cheap (about 99p each) so I thought I'd give one a spin. Quite literally in a hair roll. In hindsight I think I should have put two in there for symmetries sake but I think you get the idea.

Dress: Vintage

Belt: Vintage

Cardigan: M&S

Necklace: Vintage

Shoes: Lotta from Stockholm

Bag: Vintage

Have you ever snagged a bargain because it needed a little work to fix it?

An All-American Party and a Marilyn Monroe Costume

Hey there!

It’s been a long time since I last updated, what with moving etc., but I’m back now and I’ll be posting regularly from my new location in County Durham.

(Although I will still be visiting Brighton and London occasionally!)

So my first update from the North East is to talk about my leaving party – a joint event with my friend Ann-Sofie who was leaving for new frontiers in the USA (I also need to give her credit for almost everything in terms of organising this party!) so we decided to have a USA theme party and attempted to encourage people to dress up as American icons.

I decided to use this opportunity to dress as an American icon I have been a fan of for a while: Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn, even though she has a very classic look, is actually fairly simply styled – classically 50s style, bombshell hair, 50s makeup and ideally the white dress from The Seven Year Itch (of course being a brunette I would require a wig!).

To complete my costume I turned to the website Theme Party Fancy Dress UK to provide me with a Marilyn dress and wig.

When they arrived I have to say I was very pleased with the wig while the quality may not be as good as that of a real hair wig, I found it very affective, and for £12.99 who can complain. It was adjustable for comfort and brush-able so I could attempt to tease it into an appropriate style.

The dress was a little more difficult as it was a generalised size medium, or 12-14, and in order to achieve this the dress needed to have an elasticated back so it could stretch to fit. This meant that the front of the dress provided very little bust support, something that was a real problem for me.

To counteract this problem I needed to sew the strap over the halter neck so that it pulled the neckline up, this spoiled the bist line a bit, but it meant that I could wear a strapless bra with it which made it much easier to wear.

Unfortunate compromises, but I feel that the overall effect was quite well put together.

For the make up I did a simple 50s style flick and red lips. Annoyingly my eyeliner ended up quite a bit heavier than anticipated and my brows, as ever, were too dark I really had to hope that it didn't spoil the illusion too much. Then as I said previously, I loved the wig, I think I’d quite like myself as a blonde occasionally.

The party itself was great fun! It was held at JB's American Diner on the Brighton seafront (I can really recommend their root beer floats!) and there were some really innovative costumes, for example the White House, a hot dog, Minnie Mouse, Catwoman, Rambo, Lucille Ball, Napoleon Dynamite and even a sexy astronaught!

I will miss the fun times in Brighton a lot, but I look forward to my new future in the North.