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!

Vintage Outfit: Red vs blue reversable vintage cape

Oh, it's been a little while since I last posted, but luckily I'm back with something pretty cool!

I am a mega fan of a vintage cape, I now have 3 in my collection, and so far one of them featured on my blog back in this post. I am now sharing my super versatile winter cape!

This cape was a pretty lucky eBay find and I managed to snipe it for just under £20. The best part is that it is two capes in one as it is reversible.

I honestly have no idea when this cape is from, a wild guess would be 60s/70s but I don't really know. Plaid is one of my all time favourites and especially the various red types that are around, this pattern is red and blue so that it goes with the simple blue on the under side.

Here are each of the reversible sides of the cape:

(the satchel came from Yoshi by the way, they have some really lovely printed leather bags!)

Here is a close up of the tartan. 

I actually have a little Scottish blood in my family so I had to look up the tartan (the Scott family) and found that it was a red one, as I had expected, but it is red and green not red and blue.

It can be quite difficult to properly dress a cape as the size and shape can sometimes make you a bit wider in unusual places. I think dressing with simple lines under a cape is a good idea as I feel that something too poofy and flouncy would spoil the effect.

My outfit of choice continued the red and blue theme with a navy blue pencil skirt, vintage red jumper and a peter pan collar blouse.

These glasses are some of my current favourites from the Ozeal website. I'm also really pleased that my hair is finally long enough to be able to do rolls and things. I pleased that I'm finally getting the hang of styling it enough to maybe have a go at telling you how I do it... although perhaps a little more practice first.

Vintage cape: eBay

Bag: Yoshi Satchels

Scarf: Thrifted

Pencil Skirt: St. Michael

Jumper: Vintage thrifted

Brogues: Clarks

Blouse: New Look

Wearing a cape always makes me feel a little a super hero.

Do you have any clothing items that make you feel super?

1950s pincurl set and a polka dot dress

Ah... the pin curl... something I've often strived for but never really successfully managed.

I've curled my hair ever since I was in school. It was around the time that hair straighteners became a massive trend and rebelling agains all the girls in school with polka straight hair I started wearing my hair in curls. Ever the rebel.

Actually I just thought I wanted hair like Sailor Neptune:

Who wouldn't.

My method of choice, rags and the occasional bendy roller, but I stopped using these when I was introduced to the victory roll be a friend and I started using the standard up do day set, next day bouncy curls that so many vintage fans use. Somehow though, pin curls never really worked for me.

I don't know if it was because my hair was too long or I didn't have the right pins, but I just could not get them to work.

But then I tried again after I had my hair cut a couple of months ago and guess what, they worked! I'm going to blame seeing a scene on Masters of Sex where Virginia had curls around the hair line and I decided to give it a try.

If you aren't sure what I mean by pin curling then here is a picture of Marilyn Monroe curling her hair to demonstrate:

thisismarilyn.com

It is pretty much pinning little spirals of hair close to your hear so that they set over a period of time, in my case, over night. You then remove all the pins, unravel the curls and 'brush out'. Its the brishig out I'm really bad at generally, but with a bit of persistence it seems to work out okay.

So here is the results of my first really proper pin curl set:

Its pretty far from perfect, but its my best effort so far, and the curls brushed out really nicely!

Obligatory mirror #selfie I look like a total idiot with the most bemused expression I could manage:

(On a side note my phone case is a Megan Lara design from Red Bubble, her art work is bloody awesome!)

I'm not going to pretend that I know enough about setting the curls to discuss curl direction or how to plan to create a wave shape, but I am trying to learn, one day when I am amazing at this, and less lazy, I will try to post some kind of guide... maybe.

Last but not least, here's the rest of my outfit. Its a Laura Ashley dress with a poka dot print and my favourite M&S cardigan of the moment. What do you think?

Dress: Laura Ashley

Cardigan: M&S

Shoes: Clarks

What methods of curling have you used?

Vintage Outfit: A polka dot skirt and green vintage shoes

Oh the cold days are well and truly here which is why my faux fur trim coat from Monsoon has made a reappearance. It is so warm, and I love the fact that I don't need to wear a scarf with it because of the fur trim.

I think after christmas must be the time when people clear out their wardrobe as I'm having a pretty good run in the thrift stores these days.

This skirt is St. Michael by M&S and probably from the 1980s judging by the label. It is unusually for a me a little bit too big and I may need to sew the waist to repair it a little bit but the colour was so lovely. I ADORE that heritage green colour and naturally a polka dot print makes things even better.

The jumper is from Next, but again via a charity shop and it is navy with a very subtly fleck and elbow patches. Totally geek chic. I thought this would be perfect for my work wardrobe.

I have a real problem with glasses now and I got these ones in the perfect glasses sale for a measly £18, including lenses and coatings! Also, I was so pleased with how my hair turned out after a pretty lazy pin curl set. I think I am finally getting the hang of this 50s setting :D

Last buy not least, here are my green shoes. Again, I think they are from the 1980s and are similar to the shoes my Nanna used to wear an awful lot. Good green shoes are so hard to find so getting these in a charity shop for £2 (YES £2!!) I simply had to get them.

Jumper: Next Thrifted

Blouse: Matalan Thrifted

Skirt: Vintage M&S Thrifted

Shoes: Thrifted

Glasses: Perfectglasses

Do you have any green shoes?

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.

Worn on TV

Just a quick post today.

I stumbled across the website WornOnTV.net and spent a significant amount of time browsing on there. It is quite an american website, so I'm not sure how useful it is for us Brits, but it does make for interesting reading.

I for one learned that almost all of Zooey Deschanel's lovely dresses are from ModCloth. As if I'm surprised.

Turns out that I am not alone in my ZoDe fandom and there is a sister site wholly devoted to her looks.
What would Zooey Deschanel Wear?

Here are a few of my current favourites from the site:

Red New Girl Dress

Black Bow Sweater

Turquoise skater dress

Many thanks to Linda for running these amazing sites! I hope the clothing inspiration keeps going long into the future.

Why getting to customise your looks in games is awesome (and less vain than it may seem).

The field of video games is a pretty fast moving one. I wasn't around when those original arcade smashes like Space Invaders and Donkey Kong were all the rage (although I have played re-releases) and some of my earliest gaming memories was on my family's Atari. They were simple games; catching fish, crossing a road, navigating a moon buggy across a crater... but since then things have become more complicated.

We wanted more interactivity, more customisability. It wasn't just about games letting us play as Mario, they were about letting us 'be' Mario. Role Playing (and fantasy) Games were my first experience of being able to name your character. In particular I remember playing Ocarina of Time on the N64, circa 1997, and deciding to call Link Jennie. As the Great Deku Tree spoke his words of wisdom I remember thinking, 'its so cool that he uses my name... but it is a shame that Jennie doesn't look a bit more like me'. 

When it comes to Zelda games, I learned the error of my ways (I often call Link Link now, although I regularly call Epona Stinky... because I have the brain of a 5 year old), and I thing that changing the look of an icon like Link would be an error, however, in other games I think changing the look of the characters is a huge step into developing more engaging game play.

Very recently I have been playing Pokemon X on the 3DS. There is a heavy element of player customisability in this game that wasn't present in earlier games (most likely due to graphical limitations) but with an improved game engine came more dressing up options. 

Standard options happen at the start of the game, name, sex and then you get to choose from on of 3 looks. I was pretty disappointed by this as none of them were even close to me:

I went for the middle one. However as the game progresses you get to the amazing Lumiose city (blatantly based on Paris) and things start to change, you can get a hair cut! AND Contact lenses! Then things start looking a little more familiar.

This is my character with my customised features, but the default outfit (with a blue hat instead of pink).

It is not long either before you can access the clothing stores in the various cities throughout the game. Some are more expensive than others, and for one of them you have to prove that you're stylish enough to be allowed to enter. 

Just like Pretty Woman!

A stylish establishment... With rude staff.

As a result of this, you are able to build up a collection of outfits to again, make your character seem a bit more like you. The outfits themselves are a little stereotypical, with a bit too much pink and too many miniskirts, but overall they cover quite a few bases.

Towards the end of the main part of the game I found my favourite outfit, and the one I have been wearing ever since. A lovely blue dress coat with fur cuffs. I would TOTALLY wear this one.

And perhaps this is the point, I know this character, I understand and identify with her. She is how I wold like to be if I lived in the Pokemon World.

Oh and did I mention she's a champion?

And she has a kick-ass Eevee team, the original customisable Pokemon.

Nintendo are onto a winner with this kind of game detail, but lets face it, other games have been doing this type of thing for some time. Getting to choose FemShep in Mass Effect, focussing on every minute race and look detail of your character in Skyrim its obviously not just me that likes this kind of customisability or why would other games do it too?

I suppose it is all part of the Effect philosophy, where everything you do, every choice, has an impact on the world you're playing in. A sort of pseudo free will, if you will. Did you ever play with the lives of Sims characters, taking away their fridges and gambling with the Grim Reaper to give them a second chance? Its all just another version of us wanting to have influence over a world we are investing time in.

One game that combines the customisable look element, and decision making/social responsibility beautifully is Animal Crossing. All the AC games have elements of this, but none more so that New Leaf. I mean you're the Mayor! You can build things, approve planning permission (sort of), ban a nightclub or sell at a flea market its all there.

On top of this you get to pay your mortgage and succumb to the pressure of expanding your living space and scouring the shops to ensure that your furniture matches.

This is my green room, I make my guests wait here before I interview them...

And here is my walk in wardrobe room...

And this is me, doing a spot of cosplay...

Just like real life... sorta.

Its not just in game now though, how you look forms part your avatar, you icon for the various social gaming circles out there. Just like your facebook profile picture it says a lot about you.

I initially tried to make my Mii avatar as close to me as possible, similar hair lined eyes red lipstick. But then vanity takes hold and I gave her a smaller nose, I look at the people I meet on street pass and wish i could do something silly with my face but no, I like this one. Because this is the one I can identify with.

Of course, if you play street pass games you earn costumes to wear:

I think I make a good blonde...

And before you start crying out that its not just Nintendo that are doing this, I know, in fact, here is my avatar on XBox, not that it gets used much, as i tend to play on the hubbies.

I love the fact that the 'vintage look' has become popular enough that victory rolls had a hair preset! However, I really feel that this more realistic avatar is least like me, but you know, that could just be because I am too stingy to pay £0.69 to buy a new virtual skirt?

Customisation is a right, not something to be paid for.

Overall, I think changing the way you look is just an extension on game play, and adds an extra dimension of engagement and personalisation, not vanity, but then, I'm someone who likes dressing up. Maybe I was always going to love this aspect of games.

Do you spend much time thinking about your characters look? 

Do you have any cool avatar looks?

Send pics to @JennieDresses on Twitter, I'd love to see your characters.

And my DS friend code is: 1220 - 60646 - 2417