Review: Trashy Diva Wildflowers Streetcar

Trashy Diva has almost-singlehandedly turned me into a floral aficionado. Between their glorious tropical prints, their classic allover florals, and their big, bold flower prints, I've come to see the light at last! So when they released their Wildflowers collection, it was love at first sight! I had a little trouble deciding which style to order, but since I've been drooling over the Streetcar dress from afar for ages, the answer seemed pretty obvious.

Review: Lady V London Jasmine Dress

The British retro-reproduction clothing world is on fire lately. Between the Pretty Dress Company, the House of Foxy, and Collectif, I've given the Royal Mail and Fedex quite a workout in the past several months! I'm finally starting to get over my distaste for international shipping and its attendant cost, and after seeing some of my fave Insta pals looking amazing in their Lady V London dresses for ages, I decided to take the plunge. And if today's review of the Jasmine dress is a bit late, well: better late than never!

Review: Pretty Dress Company Priscilla

Like seemingly everyone who's put on a Pretty Dress Company frock, I'm a massive fan! Ever since I saw the yellow gingham Priscilla swing dress on the lovely Miss Amy May, I've been longing for one of my very own. So when the Pretty Dress Co. offered worldwide free shipping in May, I jumped at the chance to grab one for my own without paying close to $40 in shipping fees, and today I'm finally sharing a long-overdue review of this gorgeous sundress!

Berry Chantilly Hopscotch

Every time Trashy Diva releases a new collection, I drop everything, flail around in excitement for a little while, and order immediately. Every time, that is, except once. The Berry Chantilly release coincided with my unintentional hiatus from the internet, so I discovered that the new collection had dropped several days after the fact. The horror! Thankfully, my new favorite cut, the Hopscotch, was still in stock in my size, so this tale has a happy ending.

Review: Lola Von Rose

Ever since I picked up my first wicker bag last year, I've had a massive thing for more structured purses. Let me tell you, it took a truly impressive amount of self-control to keep myself from taking any cute lucite purses home at May's Vintage Garage, but happily, this lovely little Lola Von Rose number was dangling off my wrist, reminding me that my white-lucite-bag needs are totally fulfilled.

Review: Unique Vintage Watermelon Dress

Fact: there is no finer fruit on the planet than the reigning queen of the summer BBQ, more commonly known as the watermelon. Not only is watermelon my actual favorite food at the moment, it's been one of my very favorite choices for a novelty print. The only things I've bought for my baby so far are two watermelon dresses and a watermelon tutu. I'm that kind of obsessed.

Review: Collectif Delphine Swing Dress

With every collection Collectif releases, I fall a little more in love with them. As soon as I saw the Autumn/Winter lookbook last fall, I knew I had to have the Delphine swing dress in mulled floral. I debated ordering it during Collectif's free shipping a few months back, but balked at paying full retail. When Collectif's massive Boxing Day/New Year's/clearance sale hit and the dress was suddenly half off, though, I finally went for it.

Review: The Pretty Dress Company Hepburn

After I tried on my first Pretty Dress Company dress, I knew I'd be adding more to my wardrobe. Well, it didn't take long. I'd already been eyeing the Hepburn swing dress in forest green, especially since I'd heard it was a good style for shorter people, but the shipping is steep (we're talking over $30 to order directly from TPDC) and I wasn't sure exactly what shade of green it was. After Amelia Jetson of Junebugs and Georgia Peaches posted a closeup of the black floral version, though, I was obsessed. I honestly hadn't realized how pretty the colors in that print were until I saw that photo, and once I saw it, I couldn't stop thinking about that dress.

Well, we know how this kind of story ends for me.

A Swingin' Vixen

Recently, I've realized that I have this tendency to approach shopping as if it's a game of Pokemon. When I find something I like, I immediately go into "gotta catch 'em all" mode, and before I know it, I've added a zillion things to my already-overstuffed wardrobe. (In retrospect, this is less a Grand Realization and more of a 'geez, Emily, that's so obvious!' moment.)

In 2016, I might've gone a tiny bit overboard in the shopping department, but I've resolved to rein myself in for 2017. Fortunately, I snuck a few purchases in under the wire from my latest obsession, Vixen by Micheline Pitt.

Review: My First Pretty Dress Company Frock

For my first review of 2017, I've chosen one of my Black Friday faves: the Cara wiggle dress from the Pretty Dress Company. I saw this dress on my friend Ani and absolutely fell in love, but even with her encouragement, I just didn't feel ready to take the plunge on a wiggle from the Pretty Dress Company, rather than a swing. Their dresses are a bit of an investment, after all, and I'm usually more of a swing-dress gal. Happily, two things conspired to change my mind: a very nice sale at Unique Vintage, and a super-successful #WiggleWeek, which has forever converted me to a wiggle fan.

Review: Collectif Dolores Bloom Dress

In my continuing quest to embrace body positivity and love the wiggle silhouette, the Collectif Dolores dress has been a major asset. After seeing how amazing one of my Instagram friends always looks in her Doloreses, I picked one up on super-sale over the summer, and was shocked by how confident I felt in it. Thus, when Collectif recently had a free international shipping promotion, I took advantage of the opportunity to order the half-sleeve Bloom pencil dress that I'd been eyeing, rather than one of the Autumn/Winter swing dresses I've also had on my wishlist.

Review: Vixen Makeup Swing Skirt

Well, #WiggleWeek has come to a conclusion, and after a week of truly fabulous body positivity from lots of wonderful people, I'm feeling so much more comfortable in fitted dresses! There aren't enough words to express my gratitude to all of the amazing women who participated, but you can expect a wrap-up post where I use a lot of words trying ;). In the meantime, I've missed my petticoats and twirly skirts, and am so excited to debut my new Vixen makeup-print swing skirt today. I'd heard so many good things about the Vixen swings, and am happy to add another positive review to the chorus!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland (Nicole)

News flash: I'm slightly Bernie Dexter-obsessed. (Well, this isn't so much a news flash as it is a confirmation of something that's probably pretty obvious from my love affair with the Kelly dress, the Chelsea cut, and this red gingham number.) I've had my eye on the Winter Wonderland print for ages, and had already decided that this was the year I'd finally nab it when Bernie released the Winter Wonderland Nicole dress. The timing couldn't have been more perfect: here in Chicago, the cooler weather seems to have finally settled in for the long haul, and I've been thinking about beefing up my winter wardrobe. I think we all know where this is going…

Review: Leopard Vixen Wiggle Dress

Well, if you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen my election reaction. I don't really have all that much to add at the moment, so I'll register my feelings in a different way, with a body-positive dress review.

Slowly but surely, I'm getting over my fear of wiggle dresses, and it's all thanks to two things: Micheline Pitt and leopard print. (Well, one thing really: leopard-print wiggles designed by Micheline.) The dam began to crack when I got the leopard Vamp dress last spring, and discovered that it made me feel awesome! Still, when I saw sneak peeks of the stretchy leopard wiggle from Vixen by Micheline Pitt, I wasn't sure if I was ready. While I've made major progress in accepting my Kewpie-doll belly, stretchy spandex/ponte wiggles still felt like a bridge too far, as they're often particularly unforgiving.

Review: Trashy Diva Venice Nights Day Dress

I have a confession to make: before I started typing this sentence, I was poring over the other styles available in this print on Trashy Diva's website. This dress is that good. Trashy Diva has been releasing amazing new prints nearly every two weeks for a couple of months now, and while I'm loving all my recent acquisitions (and, in fact, wearing one of my newer dresses right now!), the Venice Nights collection might just be my favorite of 2016.

On the Road

At this point, I probably don't even need to tell you how much I love the Kelly dress from Bernie Dexter. It may or may not be impossible for me to blog about this style without waxing poetic, but I'll try to keep a lid on my fulsome praise today, and instead focus on the important business: food!

Review: Collectif Janie Dress

It's a little embarrassing to think about how long it took me to finally overcome my pathological objection to paying for shipping and order from Collectif. I follow a number of British gals on Instagram, and every time they post a lovely outfit from Collectif, I am overwhelmed by how perfect it is. When Collectif announced a massive end-of-summer sale, I knew that the time had finally come to take the plunge.

Tiki Tuesday #3: Orange Tiki Renee

The Renee dress from Pinup Girl Clothing is one of those garments that I never thought I'd have the confidence to wear. After being self-conscious about my midriff for what felt like forever, I couldn't quite wrap my mind around a dress with a cutout right over the belly.

One day, though, something happened to change my mind: a Renee in one of my all-time favorite  Pinup Girl prints appeared in the Coming Soon section of the website. Well, by now, you can probably guess how the story ends (spoiler alert: with me in a Renee), and I'm happy to report that things worked out perfectly!

Tiki Tuesday #2: PUG Alfreda Dress

I'm having a major tiki moment right now. Maybe it's the summer heat, which feels almost tropical with all the humidity we've been having, but more likely, it's because I've finally realized that tiki-themed prints have always been perfect. Big bold florals, kitchsy novelty prints, and wearable wooden jewelry? Yes, please! The original tiki-print Jenny skirt was my secondhand-PUG Holy Grail, and it's one of my most-loved articles of clothing.

Kellys for All!

It's only a slight exaggeration to say that the Kelly dress from Bernie Dexter broke the retro-style internet. (Ok, it's a large exaggeration. Bear with me!) When the Kelly in the Kitchen dress first popped up for preorder on Bernie's site, it inspired quite a lot of excitement, for several obvious reasons:

1) It's a shirtwaist dress with no buttons!
2) The print is absolute genius, and just look at the colors!
3) A culinary-themed dress with a full, gathered skirt and classic 1950s silhouette is almost too perfect.

When these dresses started to make their way to their new homes, the reaction on social media and blogs was instant, near-unanimous love. I've written before about what makes the Kelly my favorite Bernie Dexter cut of all time, and if you look in my closet, you'll see four of them. For now.

It seems that Bernie knows how perfect her creation is, since she's released the Kelly in numerous other colors and patterns. And after seeing so many people rocking the living daylights out of their Kellys, I've come to a surprising conclusion: this dress looks good on everyone! To prove this point, I asked Sara Lily, the epic mind behind In a Nutshell…, to help me put together a post showcasing the OG Kelly In the Kitchen dress on ladies of all heights and sizes. Without further ado, here are just a few lovely ladies (and me!) totally slaying in their Kellys!