Miss Elliette

So this is the outfit I wore to a wedding reception a few days before Christmas... an early 1960s Miss Elliette dress.  A search of this brand on Etsy brings up mostly late 1960s-1970s party dresses which aren't my style but I have seen a few 1950s-early 1960s dresses of the brand which are lovely.

I bought this dress about 4 years ago from the Beyond Retro in Brighton and it was very well priced for an evening dress.  When I've been to that shop in the past year, they haven't had much of a mid-century selection which was a bit disappointing. 

 

I used to have quite a collection of early 1960s party dresses and although I still love that style, I have sold most of them because I rarely got the chance to wear them.  I couldn't part with this dress (or a few others that I have kept) as it is such a great LBD.

 

Dress: Vintage from Beyond Retro, Brighton

Bag: Vintage from an Antiques Fair

Shoes: Dune

Earrings: Vintage from a trader at The Vintage Parade, Winchester

My new pencil skirt...

OK, so as boring as this post title might seem, I was quite excited to purchase my first vintage style pencil skirt!  Pencil skirts are one area of mid-century fashion that I had never really conquered (along with trousers, but we'll get to that in another post.)  This is mainly because I never felt comfortable with something so figure hugging.  The only time you have seen me wear a wiggle dress on this blog is in this post and as I discussed there, I never buy wiggle dresses or pencil skirts online because you have to get the fit around the hips just perfect, something which I don't need to necessarily worry about when buying full/ circle dresses/ skirts.  

 

I had always wanted to buy a reproduction pencil skirt but as I had never tried any of them on, I assumed that they would be too snug around my hips (and I really don't like it when you are wearing a pencil skirt that is so tight, that it pulls around the hips!)  I was so impressed when I found this Vivien of Holloway pencil skirt at This is Vintage that I just had to buy it.  And I like it so much that I am even considering buying a black one to wear to work!

 

 

This is also the first thing that I have bought from VOH and I am looking forward to trying on some of their other items when I am next in London.  I would love to know what VOH items you have bought and what you think of them?


Sweater: Vintage from Rhythm Riot
Skirt: Vivien of Holloway via This is Vintage, Boscombe
Shoes: Marks and Spencer
Coat: Vintage from Clobber Vintage, Boscombe
Earrings: Vintage from Rhythm Riot
Celluloid brooch: Vintage from Lou Lou's Vintage Fair
Bracelet: Vintage from Rhythm Riot
Bag: Vintage from Vintage to Vogue, Bath

Rain, rain go away!

Gosh the weather has been terrible!  I really feel sad for those families that had their Christmases ruined due to flooding/ lack of power.  I really hope this rainy weather ceases soon (though no doubt it will be replaced by the super cold spell that seems to hit  the UK every January and February.)

These outfit photos were taken a few weeks ago, before the bad weather started. 

 

 

I bought this dress on Etsy at the end of the summer.  It is a nice medium-weight cotton making it ideal to pair with a cardigan and coat when the weather turns cold.  The funny thing is, I tried on this same dress in a vintage shop in Bath over a year ago but did not buy it then because I couldn't justify spending £95 on a day dress.  Then I see it on Etsy a year later for £35 and as it was my measurements, I could not pass it up!  It is by Blanes and fits so nicely.  It always makes me laugh when I see vintage garments described as "one of a kind" or "you won't find another one like it" when the garment has been produced by a designer and clearly more than one was made at the time! 

 

 

 

And my lovely 1950s winter coat!  I love this coat, it was such a good purchase at a fair in 2012 because most of these coats are not in my size!  You'll most likely see it a few times before winter is up.

 

 

Dress: Vintage Blanes from Etsy

Coat: Vintage from a trader at Lou Lou's Vintage Fair

Bag: Vintage from eBay

Shoes: Vintage from Tamara Watts at the Clerkenwell Fair

Cardigan: Zara

Gloves: Vintage from some fair

Brooch: Gift from This is Vintage, Bournemouth

Necklace: Vintage from Etsy