The Brit and The Belle: Hawaiian Hideaway

Sarah Forshaw (@Forshawsarah) and Miss Amy May  (@miss_amy_may) are southern belle and southern brit pinups, respectively, who found one another on Instagram part way through their pinup transformations in mid 2013, at which point they tentatively, then all of a sudden, become devoted and divine friends. Bonding over their urge to bring full on glamour to their every day lives, their shared opinions on cake, and their fierce nerd hearts, the two quickly began to look upon one another as fabulous sisters–who simply hadn’t met yet outside the confines of the interwebs. Due to finally meet IRL to share many squishy hugs and swing-skirted spins in fall 2015, they’re opening up their friendship and their closets to you in this shared blog post while they eagerly await their meeting. It’s been quite a while since my darling Sarah and I have been able to join forces for another installment in our The Brit & The Belle series, but finally we’re ready to share another joint post with you. Sarah and I are alike on many different levels, too many to list. Two of the easiest to focus on is our shared belief that a good dress is a terrible thing to waste by waiting for a good excuse to wear it, and our love for Pinup Girl Clothing. The combination of those two things means we both happen to own the same fabulous dress in the same colourway, the orange and purple Pinup Girl Clothing Hawaiian Hideaway dress. We don’t want to taunt you too much with this dress because unfortunately it’s now out of stock after going on super sale at $60 down from $160–yeah, no wonder that bad girl sold out, and fast. (Such a sale is part of the Pinup Girl Clothing Online Yard Sale, where no item is over $60 and the sale section is updated regularly.) So while we’d like to focus a little on the dress and it’s fit to give you PUG newbies an idea of the brand’s quality, we want to focus as well on the parts of us that aren’t so similar; our differing sizes, shapes, colouring and styles. I, Amy, am pale and red-headed compared to Sarah’s olive skin and rich brown hair. I’m an L/XL in most reproduction style clothing, curvy, modest of bust and generally quite soft around all my edges, while Sarah is, despite being my same height and curvy herself, much more slender, toned, and a touch broader of shoulder, a dainty size S-M. We admire each other’s styles but don’t often find our wardrobes overlap–in part, though, possibly due more to Sarah’s admirable shopping restraint and my lack thereof. To us, this dress is fun, classic, summery and stylish. In the L it fits me snugly without being uncomfortable, the pockets are handy (no pun intended,) and I feel a bit like a tropical princess despite the fact that where I live in England we have probably never had even a second’s worth of weather that can be deemed tropical. As my lovely counterpart stated it is not often she and I have the same pieces, because I tend to be more restrained in my spending (buyer’s remorse is a beast) and Amy is far bolder than me and is more likely to snap up what she wants. I feel the same could be said of our styling, I tend to be a bit more reserved and Amy lives by the motto “Go Big or Go Home…and then relax in your curlers and yoga pants.” To be completely honest she’s my hero. Despite these difference in our style and shopping habits neither one of us could resist the charms of the Hawaiian Hideaway.  I found the fit of this gem to be comparable to the fit of PUG’s Ella, decent room for the girls but not baggy, cinched waist but not suffocating, and the skirt is what dreams are made of. The Hawaiian Hideaway made me feel as lovely and as exotic as Dorothy Lamour. The cut of this dress is not only flattering on both of us, but the bold colouring works on both of us and our differing colourings; the bolero can be used as a safety blanket for ladies who are perhaps less happy with their arms, like Amy is, or simply for the killer style bonus that it is, while I’m happy to rock the dress bolero free and bare shouldered. In our differing sizes of S and L it looks just as lovely, and can be worn with petticoat and without. It’s an easy dress to save for vacations and tropical themed events, parties or restaurants, but we think it’s important that no woman stares at a dress in her closet and repeatedly pushes it aside because she doesn’t want people to stare, to think she’s tried too hard, to ponder where she’s going or to scoff and deign it ‘too much.’ None of that matters. If we give in to the notion that clothes are nothing more than a way to cover up our socially-deemed-unviewable body parts then we lose a rich, fun and wonderful way to express ourselves, not only our personalities but also our views on life. Wearing a dress you like when you like for no reason other than wanting to express that you like it is a tiny, unimportant, joyful act of rebellion, of stylish stubbornness, of expression and chicness and certainty. And we Brit and Belle both fully support all of those things.

Fashion Friday Heads to PUG

Happy Friday my lovelies! Words cannot express how excited I am to share this week’s post with you all. Last month I had the great fortune to take a trip to the Los Angeles area, I got to check out Hollywood, Venice, Santa Monica, a few other surrounding areas and best of all I got to visit Burbank! Now what is so special about Burbank you may ask? Well it just so happens to be where Pinup Girl Boutique is located! I did it, I lived the dream of every girl who loves pinup style, I actually got to walk through those magical doors that transport you back to days gone by simply by surrounding you in all things beautiful. I can only compare the experience to that of being a small child who just got their allowance and walked into a candy store. When I first arrived I hardly knew where to look first, there was something I “needed” everywhere my eyes landed, dress after beautiful dress, separates that were so beautiful they could make you cry, and accessories so fantastic you finally understood what it would be like to be an actual Barbie Doll.

   I was in my element you guys!

Seriously Pinup Girl Clothing has something no other stores have nowadays, not only are there clothes like that of days gone by, but there window displays are witty and beautiful, and they give you the individual attention that used to be the norm in our grandparents day and age. True customer service to go along with perfect products? Yes please! As soon as I walked in I was greeted with warm smiles and hello’s, while I was going through picking out dresses to try on, one of the lovely ladies of the store said she could go ahead and put them in the dressing room that way I didn’t have to carry them around while shopping, and while trying on the dresses I was praised with the sweetest of compliments, that truly made me feel beautiful and special. The girls of PUG are beautiful, sweet, and incredibly friendly and helpful if you ever have the chance to go to the boutique BY ALL MEANS GO! Oh also they’re having a yardsale this Sunday so if you’re in the area you certainly don’t want to miss it. If however you do not live in the area you can at least buy the clothes on line, and let me tell ya never in your life are you going to be able to buy ready made clothes that will flatter and fit this well! Yes PUG is a little on the higher end but in this case you’re not paying for a brand you are paying for true quality!

Now on to the dresses. I already knew what I wanted when I walked into the boutique. I am a planner shopper 😉 but I did try on a few things just for kicks, just a few things mind you. I knew if I tried on everything I would inadvertently want everything.

Now I knew that I wanted the Ella Dress but I wasn’t entirely sure what color I wanted. It was nearly impossible to choose they were all so beautiful, and never in my life was I more tempted to blow the budget and buy a second dress when I tried on the ever so sexy Vamp dress! I mean wowie wow wow! This dress does magical things for ones curves…I feel a future purchase coming on you guys. After lots of giggling, going back and forth with which dress I wanted, and conversing with the girls in shop over which Ella I should get I finally picked a color.

The Blue Ella! It was difficult to decide as all the Ellas were just delightfully beautiful, but there was just something about the blue I couldn’t pass up!Needless to say this dress made me feel like a star!I just cannot get over the skirt of this dress! So much glorious fabric, honestly this is why I didn’t feel the least bit sorry about buying this dress, not only is it beautiful, but when you think about how much the fabric would cost you if you were to make this garment yourself it would be well over the cost of this already constructed perfect masterpiece. Plus all of PUG’s pieces are made in the USA, now talk about feeling good about your purchase.Oh ya did I forget to mention? This dress has pocket!!!

Clearly happy about my purchase

Sunglasses: Urban Outfitters

Dress: Pinup Girl Clothing How can words even do this dress justice? The colors are spectacular, the fabric quality is out of this world, the fit is superb and very much true to size, plus its just so pretty! The moment I walked out of the dressing room I couldn’t help but say “I feel like a princess” which is what every girl wants right? This dress is all about detail the gathered peasant bodice, grosgrain bow under the bust, wide waist band, and pockets make for such a glorious combination. I heard all sorts of incredible reviews on PUG pieces and I felt like maybe they were too good to be true. But it is absolutely true. PUG is quality and beauty wrapped up into the most perfect garments you will ever have the pleasure of wearing. Its easy to waste money on cheap pieces of clothing and make do, but wouldn’t you rather buy something that will last through trends as well as wear and tear? I say yes to investing in ourselves, our closets, and in a business that really listens to its customers, and caters to women of all shapes and sizes.

Petticoat: Malco Modes

Shoes: Payless not the exact pair I am wearing. The ones I bought were on clearance so they’re no longer available.

I really hope you all enjoyed this post and that you check out Pinup Girl Clothing. Happy Friday!