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.

In Your Easter Bonnet…

Hallelujah it is spring (for those of you still dealing with freezing temps I’m sorry) but here in TX we’ve thawed nicely and to me nothing signifies spring more than warmer weather, easter Sunday, and lovely spring dresses. So before you head out to the overrun department stores to buy your Easter duds, check out a few of these options I’ve already picked  for you that can be bought in the comfort of your own home. Because who doesn’t like shopping in their jammies?

 

Unique Vintage.

Dress 1 Blue Chiffon Swing  Dress 2 Mustard Polka Dot  Dress 3 Black and White Floral

Queen of Heartz.

Dress 1 Hawaiian 2 pc Dress 2 Dolly Teal Dress 3 Fabi Green

 

Pinup Girl Clothing.

Dress 1 Maria Purple Floral Dress 2 Yellow Molly Dress 3 Cream Floral Vamp

 

So what do you guys think? Any of these dresses make it onto your must purchase list? Are you as excited for spring aka dress season as I am? I’d love to hear from you so be sure to drop me a line even if its just to say hi. Happy shopping and Happy Wednesday.

Fashion Friday Featuring Miz Mooz

Woo hoo we have made it through yet another work week, aren’t Friday’s just the best? Even when I do work the weekends I still look forward to Fridays because I really do love posting my Fashion Fridays, and when I have a brand or product that I’m excited to share with you all I’m especially anxious for the weekend to get here.

Well as far as I was concerned this weekend couldn’t get here soon enough, because I have found the most adorable outrageously comfortable shoes in existence, and they are from the absolutely stellar company Miz Mooz. This extraordinary brand started off in a basement in New York City, and in traditional New York City style they grew to incredible heights, and now have their products stocked by several independent retailers. If you check out their products you are sure to see why they have had such success. I’m a relatively picky person so its rare for me to like several products from one company, but I can honestly say I would wear every single pair of shoes Miz Mooz has. Their attention to detail is really the clincher for me, so many companies have almost identical looking products, because let’s face it you can only reinvent the “heel” so many times 😉 but somehow Miz Mooz manages to capture the classic elements every shoe lover looks for yet still have that unique edge every individual wants.
Because breaking in a new pair of heels requires one to twirl…its a very scientific process 😉
And because you all need to know that silly “wanna be chorus girl dance moves” happen behind scenes.

Necklace: Belonged to my father/Similar

Cardigan: H&M

Bracelet: Gift/Similar

Ring: Gift/Similar

Dress: Go Insane

Petticoat: Malco Modes

Heels: Miz Mooz How do I even begin to explain the Safari’s? The Safaries are flawless, haha but seriously these heels are absolutely wonderful, the oxford and wing tip details make them a stylish classic everyone will love and want, but beauty isn’t everything you know. How many of us have a pair (or several pairs) of shoes that we bought just because they’re pretty, only to later realize we made a huge mistake, and these pretty shoes feel about as good as walking on legos? Well Miz Mooz knows their stuff and has created  a beautiful pair of shoes that just so happen to also be the most comfortable pair of heels I’ve ever worn. The stacked heel is a reasonable height so its easy on your arches, there is a built in cushion too so that’s especially good for your arches, and these shoes are made out of the softest smoothest leather I’ve ever experienced, I could probably run in these and not get a single blister. In fact these shoes are so perfect I’m a little angry, thank you Miz Mooz for ruining me for all other shoes haha 😉

So if you’re in the market for some great shoes I highly recommend you make the investment and get yourself a pair from Miz Mooz, you will not be sorry.

I hope you all enjoyed this post and that you have a great weekend. Happy Friday my loves.