Fashion Friday: Hot Dame

I will make no excuses for lack of posting…But I had a little freetime this week and I thought hey I should post a little look for you all. This week I am featuring the hottest little black dress I’ve ever had the good fortune to wear! The dress is The Vamp from Pinup Girl Clothing.

Hair Flower: Gift from Miss Amy May

Earrings: Charlotte Russe/Similar

Necklace: Gift/Similar

Dress: Pinup Girl Clothing I actually tried on this dress when I went the the pinup girl clothing boutique many moons ago and fell in love instantly…but alas I was a little too broke to buy it at the time…but as the saying goes “Good things come to those who wait”. The dress went on sale, and is still on sale I might add, so I finally bought my PUG first love. The Vamp is the perfect LBD, form fitted to show off the curves, yet modest enough you wouldn’t feel awkward if you ran into your Grandma while out and about. The fabric is a sturdy cotton poly blend but still comfortable, as reference I am 36″ 27.5″ 36″ and the Medium fits me quite comfortably. Basically The Vamp is everything you could want out of a LBD…But if black isn’t your thing this dress comes in other colourways as well!

Shoes: Restricted

I hope you all enjoyed this post and thank you for putting up with me and my lack of posting. Happy Friday!

 

Fashion Friday Featuring AC Clothing Pt 1.

Yes! Week 3 and I still haven’t dropped the ball on blogging! Haha I have to admit though I almost didn’t make it, I didn’t know what I was gonna post about, but hallelujah my parcel from Apostolic Clothing showed up just in time for me to crank out a shoot and a review.

Apostolic Clothing was founded on the principle of  providing fun and fashionable modest pieces. In a world or extremes it can often be hard to find clothing that is modest without it looking like a gunny sack as well as finding clothes that are on trend but still leave a little to the imagination. So coming across AC is like breathing in a breath of fresh air. You can read more about the beliefs and principles of the company here.

Now onto the fun bit! PICTURES!

Blouse: H&M

Skirt: Apostolic Clothing Can we just take a minute to appreciate how fun the print of this skirt is? I absolutely adore the pattern just the right amount of quirky and feminine. The cotton/poly blended material itself feels very sturdy no flimsy tissue paper skirt here, and the size chart is very accurate, I’d suggest though if you do fall between sizes to size up. My waist measures 27.5 inches and the medium is precisely for that measurement, so there’s not really any wiggle room there, so just keep that in mind whilst ordering. All in all I am incredibly happy with my new skirt and I have a feeling I will be getting a lot of wear out of this fun little number.

Shoes: Restricted Footwear

I hope you all enjoyed this post, that you check out Apostolic Clothing, and that you keep an eye out for Pt 2 of this feature. Til then happy Friday my lovelies.

Fashion Friday Featuring Unique Vintage

Hello my dears I’m so happy its Friday aren’t you? This week I am sharing all about my gorgeous Jane Doe dress I got on sale from the always darling Unique Vintage.

As you probably know Unique Vintage is of my favorite companies, the variety of stock they carry is unbelievable, their customer service is extraordinary, and there is always some sort of sale happening. But more than that this company has a beautiful soul, I’ve never seen a company so invested in their customers, they’re always posting incredibly sweet comments and promoting diversity and body positivity. Honestly it makes me a little bit teary eyed when I think about how much love and support there is in the UV Darling community. So many brands feel so absent from their work, too much corporate and not enough kindness, that is a statement you could never make about UV. So if you’re looking to buy from a company you can believe in Unique Vintage is it.

Now enough gushing lets get to this dress 😉Really feeling those Peter Pan vibes!

Because twirling and pretend ballerina-ing is part of the breaking in process 😉

Dress: Unique Vintage  this dress is on sale on their site so unfortunately most of the sizes are gone, so if your size isn’t available you can get this dress from  Queen of Heartz. I have been on the hunt for a super cute peter pan collared dress ever since I got my bangs (Ya I want to channel Clara Oswald) and like manna from heaven this dress appeared in my online searches and I immediately knew I had to have it. The material of this dress is mostly cotton so its sturdy but still has gorgeous movement, the keyhole detailing adds just the right amount of subtle sexiness, the wide waist band provides definition and glorifies that hourglass silhouette I love so much, and the skirt is oh so fabulously full, taking this bad boy for a spin on the dance floor is going to be a blast let me tell ya! To put it simply I am thrilled with my new purchase.

Shoes: Restricted Shoes

I hope you all enjoyed this post and that you check out Unique Vintage and Queen of Heartz the best companies around! Happy Friday!

#iamunique

Hello my dears its been a while since I’ve posted anything that wasn’t a strictly fashion post. Yes this one will have to do with fashion but I promise it will be so much more than that.

One of my favorite companies in the world: Unique Vintage has started a campaign I could not be more pleased with. The #iamunique  campaign encourages people to really love themselves for who they are. Basically you use the hashtag and talk about what makes you different and why you love yourself for it…Sure it sounds simple enough but openly stating your truest self and your rawest emotions can be a little scary especially on the interwebs, where kindness, understanding, and acceptance aren’t exactly a common theme. But I felt called to take the plunge and put myself out there.

Basically I used to wear what was “in” and pretend to enjoy the things that “everyone else” did and in turn was miserable, truly miserable. By wearing what was “in” I felt ugly because #iamunique I have a less than common figure and most clothes aren’t designed to flatter someone with short yogi legs, a ridiculously long torso, and line backer shoulders. I only wish I could go back in time and talk to little Sarah who was crying in dressing rooms wishing to be like everybody else and tell her how happy she would become the moment she embraced her truest self.

I have loved the pinup style for most of my life, even at the age of 4 I worshiped Audrey Hepburn and her flawless glamour. But since pinup was considered over the top by so many I had resigned myself to boring socially acceptable clothes for far too many years. I was denying who I really was everytime I bought myself a pair of skinny jeans and a graphic t-shirt. But all of the denial stopped the very moment I slipped on my Unique Vintage wiggle dress “just for kicks”. Needless to say I bought the dress, but honestly it was so much more than that, it felt like I had bought myself the freedom to be ME.
My first real pinup dress changed everything for me.

By realizing how right I was about my fashion choices I carried that same confidence into other areas of my life. I no longer pretended to enjoy the music that everyone else was listening to, I would unashamedly tell people my big plans for the weekend consisted of  of staying home baking, marathoning Doctor Who, and and snuggling my dog, and if I found something funny I would laugh my witchy cackle and maybe snort a little too. I was no longer ashamed of who I was. I loved me and I didn’t have to fit societies rules to do so.

 Going steady dress

Brenda Dress.

I’m not like everybody else and that’s okay, in fact its more than okay, Its fan-freaking-tastic! By being my truest self I have had so many opportunities open up to me, I’ve become bolder, braver, happier and the people who have chosen to love me for the real me are absolutely irreplaceable. In all honesty I probably wouldn’t have half the friends I do now if I hadn’t started dressing pinup. I discovered myself, and a community of so many beautiful hearts and minds. I just want to extend a huge thank you to Unique Vintage for starting this campaign of self love as well as to my wonderful pinup community that inspires me daily and reaffirms me. Like I said in my #iamunique insta post “yes I am unique but that doesn’t mean I don’t belong”.

Fashion Friday: Workwear You Can Wear Again

Well hello my darlings. I hope life is treating you quite well. For this week’s Fashion Friday I thought I might share a Workwear outfit made of pieces you can wear while at the office or simply out and about with friends.

If you’re anything like me you don’t like clothes you can only wear on certain occasions. If I bought something I want to wear it often, I want my money’s worth…so if I ever get married the whole wedding dress situation should be interesting 😉

The whole model thing always comes back to this.how I think I look when I fix my hair.

How I actually look apparently.

Blouse: H&M

Skirt: Cotton On

Tights: Target

Shoes: Restricted Shoes

So what do you guys think of the outfit? Polished enough yet still versatile? What are some of your favorite work to casual pieces? I love hearing from you guys so drop me a line and let me know what you think, and as always Happy Friday.

Restricted Shoes Holiday Look.

Goodness gracious! How is it almost Christmas? Where did the time go? I hope you’ve all got your shopping done and are able kick back, relax, and enjoy the Holiday Season.

Restricted Shoes and I wanted to help further that relaxation by partnering together to not only give you a couple of Holiday Party Outfit Inspirations, but also provide you with a discount that will definitely help you chill out. Simply use the code SF40 for 40% off sitewide now through January 31st. Andy Williams sings about how this is the most wonderful time of the year, but it can also be the most expensive, so I know how a good bargain is a gift in and of itself.

It seems to me the 60’s look comes in every winter, I mean who doesn’t want to channel their inner Betty Draper at their next holiday party? But you can still stand out and not look like every other doll there. Break away from the traditional reds, greens, and golds and maybe go for a mint. Mint is totally winter acceptable, just look at the Starbucks menu, mint everything! Oh and be sure to add a heaping helping of sparkle, Christmas lights aren’t the only one’s who get to shine darling.

Earrings: Sam Moon’s/Similar

Dress: Pollypop

Clutch: Charming Charlie’s/Similar

Brooch: Gift/Similar

Bracelet: Sam Moon’s/Similar

Shoes: Restricted Shoes With their bow detailing and white accents these precious flats are going to make you feel lovelier than a Christmas gift wrapped by Martha Stewart herself. One doesn’t always have to don heels to be glam, and if you live somewhere that gets frequent snow or ice, heels can sometimes be a bit of a hazard. Now I’ll be honest, I didn’t find the material on these flats to be incredibly comfortable on the back of my ankles while bare skinned, but pairing them with tights took all discomfort away. Not mention tights are going to keep the cold at bay, and I’m sure with a bit of wearing in the flats will soften up quite nicely.

So if you’re still looking for the perfect “Cinderella” finishing touch to your outfit might I suggest you check Restricted Shoes.

The Brit and The Belle: Little Miss Savage

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.

Sarah: Amy and I have been crazy busy lately, so we’ve been a bit delayed in bringing you this post about accessories maker Little Miss Savage, but finally it’s here!

Little Miss Savage, Emily, hand makes headwraps, necklaces, pins, keyrings and bags/wallets, which she sells on her Etsy store and eBay. When we first came into contact with her we immediately fawned over several of her items, and we were so thrilled when she was kind enough to send us both a selection of cuteness.

​Here are the Grey rose skinny bandana $8.60, Flamingo Original Bandana $10.16, Cup of tea brooch $4.68, Cupcake brooch $4.68, Moth necklace $7.81.

When I first started incorporating pinup looks into my life I found headwraps were one of the easiest ways to achieve a rockabilly/pinup look, and over the years I still find this to be true. I’m much too lazy to pincurl my hair every night, and sometimes you have a last minute outing that you were unprepared for…but you still want to be your cutest most retro babe self, and nothing helps a look get there more than the right accessories. Headwraps are a great way to frame a good hair day, but on the flipside they’re also great for camouflaging a monstrous bedhead hair day, and I can honestly say Little Miss Savage’s head wraps are some of the best I’ve ever worn.

Oh and can we all give Emily a round of applause for her jewelry? The moth necklace I have is so me I cannot even believe it, it’s a little bit edgy and almost has a Victorian taxidermy feel to it, but it’s still pretty and girly. And teacup and cupcake brooches? I mean who doesn’t want to indulge in something as sweet as that?

Below are some of the looks I put together using the headwraps. I didn’t use the jewelry in these pics because they kind of got lost, but in person they’re real statement pieces.

​Flamingo Headwrap: Little Miss Savage

Chambray Shirt: Target

Pencil skirt: H&M/Similar

Wedges: Payless/Similar

​Headwrap: Little Miss Savage

Moto Jacket: Forever 21

Dress: Lindy Bop

Wedges: Restricted Footwear

​Buy me a giant cookie and throw me a party! I finally managed to get some decent bumper bangs. Now when you have a great quiff, pomp, or bumper bangs day the last thing you want to do is mess them up with a tricky bandana scarf situation, this is where Little Miss Savage comes in to play. Emily’s headwraps are made from 100% cotton so they’re not slipping and sliding all about, and you don’t have to worry about folding your scarf just so. Emily has done all the hard work for you by getting rid of cumbersome fabric and leaving you with a streamlined easy to use headwrap that finishes off any look. She’s basically the fairy godmother of the hair accessories world.

 

Amy

Here’s the Music Notes ‘Original’ headwrap £6.49, Anchor ‘Skinny’ headwrap £5.49, Cherry Polka dot ‘Skinny’ headwrap £5.49, Cherry necklace £7.99 and a Pinup Brooch £3.99.

I love the headwraps because I am awful at wrangling headscarves and bandanas, and with a wrap like these all you have to do is throw it on and tie the cute little bow, something I can handle. The availability of them coming as thicker wraps or skinny versions is great because it gives you the choice to have a custom made piece in the width that you most love and the fabric you love–because here’s the awesome thing, Emily hand makes every piece to order so she will create your reversible wrap out of any two fabrics of your choice available in her store. This means that at your request you can have whatever combo you like.

The cherries necklace is adorable. Red is my favourite accessories colour because I find it really pops within a lot of different colour combos. Below I’ve styled it with whites and reds for a classic and casual pinup look but I’ve also worn it with colours like my purple gingham Hell Bunny dress and it totally made the whole look.

I’ve styled some outfits below to show you these cute pieces in action.

Little Miss Savage Skinny anchor headwrap

Tatyana Alika White Blouse

Collectif Red Capri pants

Primark striped ballet pumps

Little Miss Savage Cherry Necklace

Little Miss Savage Skinny headwrap

Pinup Girl Clothing Doris top in white

Collectif Black Capri pants

Primark ballet flats bedazzled by myself

Little Miss Savage Pinup Brooch

Hell Bunny Claudia dress

Red Mary Jane heels

I am just in love with my pinup pin! It’s the perfect addition to any collar or top. At only £3.99 each it’s hard to resist the urge to collect the full set.

Little Miss Savage Musical notes Original Headwrap

Unique Vintage Manhattan Gingham Day Dress

Dorothy Perkins clutch bag

Primark pumps bedazzled by me

Since Sarah has shown you how great it looks to add one of these wraps to a well formed hairdo like her lovely bumper bangs I thought I’d show you the other side of the coin; how useful they are to have around when you’re not doing so well with your hair that day, or in too much of a rush to spend a lot of time crafting yo’ curls.

I have a couple of go-to dos that I whip out when I’m having a busy day or my hair is misbehaving. One of them is what I call the Messy Poodle. It’s like the Lucile ball and carmen Miranda style Poodle Do…but with much less skill. It basically involves piling all of my hair on top of my head as quickly as possible, tweaking only slightly to make sure it doesn’t look totally insane, and then adding a super cute headwrap to detract from my laziness. It’s great on busy work days or when I’m heading out for something more casual.

So if you’re looking for an adorable piece of jewellery or a custom bandanna or two, head over to Little Miss Savage, and while you’re there tell her The Brit & The Belle send her our love!

Amy and Sarah

xxx

 

 

Fashion Friday Restricted Shoes Pt. 3

Hello cats and kittens, I hope you have all had a lovely week. I most certainly have, because I have been having a blast putting together blog posts for you all to (hopefully) enjoy, and I was particularly excited to share this final Restricted Shoes series feature with you, because man oh man these heels are stunning!

Necklace:Gift/Similar

Top: Onzie/Similar

Bracelet: Vintage/Similar

Skirt: Julie Mollo

Shoes: Restricted  See what I mean? Aren’t these babies gorgeous? To me they look like the kind of shoes Audrey Hepburn would wear, and if you know me at all that’s just about the highest compliment you could possibly receive. Again Restricted just knocks it out of the park with the pointed toe, which is so classically high fashion you cant help but feel tres chic, the heel height is just a bit taller than a kitten heel, which is great for me, because for some strange reason I stumble around more in a kitten heel than a stiletto. Please tell me I’m not the only one. Oh and the bow detailing adds just the perfect amount of playful femininity to put these heels in a category all their own. I’m really loving these heels, because they’re classy and grown up, but they’re not the least bit stuffy or tragically “practical”, and I happen to think these shoes will pair perfect with most party dresses this holiday season so that’s another bonus there.

I hope you all enjoyed this post, and the whole Restricted shoes series for that matter. Happy Friday and I will talk to you all again soon!

Oh and if you want to pick up a pair of shoes for yourself starting December 1st-31st use the discount code SARAHFORSHAW30 for 30% off of your purchase, how great is that?

 

Fashion Friday Featuring Restricted Shoes Pt 2.

Well a very happy November to you all! Oh gosh I just love that, wishing you a happy November!  Since we’re finally moving into “winter” Texas is getting the rain it so desperately needs and clearly I could not be more thrilled. I was ever so slightly concerned that it might dampen (haha see what I did there?) our photoshoot, but I think it just highlighted my gorgeous flats from Restricted Shoes all the more. Don’t you?

Hysterically happy about the rain! This is the face of a pluviophile.Earrings: Cracker Barrel/Similar

Shirt: Old Navy/Similar

Jeans: Old Navy

Shoes: Restricted Shoes What a fun spin on the classic oxford!!! The cutout detailing brings a breath of fresh air and a touch of edge to an old favorite, the pointed toe for me is synonymous with high fashion, and the color combo of white and mint keep these bad boys perfectly playful and oh so 50’s! I’m really enjoying these flats a great deal. I’ve had some really bad experiences with ballet flats causing gnarly blisters but the Gimmie is made from really soft faux leather so no blisters for me! Thank God! So I guess what I am saying is these are an all around great pair of flats ❤

I hope you all enjoyed this Pt 2 piece on Restricted Shoes and that you have a very Happy Friday!

Oh and if you’re thinking of getting a pair of shoes, starting December 1st- the 31st use the discount code SARAHFORSHAW30 for 30% off of your purchase.

Fashion Friday Featuring Restricted Shoes Pt 1.

Hello my lovelies. Has this week been exceptionally long for anyone else or was it just me? Well regardless, it is finally the weekend hooray, and I have a wonderful post to share with you all. Today I am featuring Restricted shoes, a family-owned and opperated business that encourages all women to express their own personal style how they see fit, and is there any better way to express yourself than through shoes?  I think not.

Crop Top: Charlotte Russe/Similar

Belt: Vintage/Similar

Skirt: Vintage/Similar

Shoes: Restricted Shoes Well aren’t these shoes just a darling culmination of everything I love in footwear! First off the oxford design is superb, the height and stability of a wedge is killer, and can I just say that a T-strap detailing will get me everytime? I mean there is a reason the T-strap hasn’t been out of style since it first hit the scene in the 20’s. Plus these bad boys are really comfortable, honestly I was rather blown away  by how soft the faux leather is, translations I’m not going to get blisters *Hallelujah Chorus* 😉 all in all I could not be more thrilled by the shoes, they are stylish, comfortable, and positively timeless, what more could a girl want?

I hope you all enjoyed this post and that you check out Restricted Shoes. Happiest of Fridays!

Oh and if you’re thinking of getting a pair of shoes, starting December 1st- the 31st use the discount code SARAHFORSHAW30 for 30% off of your purchase.