New Year, Vintage Laura Ashley |Outfit Post|

Hello lovely people! Or potentially just my Mum and Godmother! Thank you for the photos Rose!! It's a whole New Year again, it's a cliché but I have no idea where 2015 wooshed off to. I think I packed a fair bit in last year, and I hope this year will be even busier.

I seem to have started a couple of new traditions last year that I'd like to keep going in the future.

1) A New Years Day run is important. Start as you mean to go on.

2) I cook a spread out three course meal on New Years Eve.

3) I want to see the New Year in wearing a fabulous dress.

I found THE dress a couple of weeks before Christmas when I shouldn't really have been spending any money on anything other than presents, but it had to come home with me.

 

Lurking in the party dress range of a local charity shop (PDSA in Diss if you're nosy) was this stunning vintage Laura Ashley gown. I'm wearing my Vivien of Holloway petticoat underneath, but it's not really long enough!

 

The fabric is heavy and the print is gorgeous. It has glitter in the fabric somehow as it shimmers. A lovely sweetheart, strapless bodice and ballerina length skirt reminiscent of the 50s, even though this is definitely an 80s number.

 

 

I wore it with a yard of hand knotted ring pearls and matching bracelet from Roxana Jems (who'll be opening their doors at some point in2016), vintage lace gloves and my wonderful patent Pleaser stilettos. Although I succumbed to boots and a cardi (and other layers!!) to troop down to the Kelpies at midnight!!

 

 

These photos were taken earlier in the day as I needed a good photo record of just how gorgeous this dress is! It was a fun way to start the New Year!!

 

How was your New Year? Do you dress up or slob out? Both have equal appeal!!

Jo :)

Am I....? |Feminism|

There's an explanation for these photos at the end….

Am I a secretary?

Am I a rebel?

Am I innocent?

Am I a pin-up?

Am I a slob?

Am I an engineer?

Am I a slut?

Am I weak?

Am I strong?

I am me. A human. A person. My sex does not define me. My clothes do not define me.

All of these photos are gathered from my Instagram and are things I wear on a fairly regular basis. They are not posed specifically for the post. They are chosen as nods towards the stereotype of each description chosen.

The other week someone said something in an off-hand manner that left me fuming for the rest of the day. Many a rant has been had and many a discussion started with people close to me.

I find when talking about feminism it's very easy to come across as someone who is incredibly uptight and can't laugh at themselves or just plain old perceived “man hating”. So I don't tend to discuss it too often in a more public forum. However this incident won't let me let it go.

I maintain and repair gliders and motor gliders, as well as the odd bit of light aircraft work. It is predominantly thought of as a man's job, one which I am more than capable of doing and have done so for eight years now.

Whilst standing on the edge of a casual discussion at work, which turned to some paperwork that had a small mistake on that had been rectified, the gentleman speaking turned away from the man I work with (doing exactly the same job, exactly the same engineering role, and the majority of the same qualifications), laughed and looked away from him and directly at me and said:

“Well we'll have to blame the secretarial staff won't we?!”

He was swiftly and politely corrected. What's made me stew is that I have spent hours now thinking about it. Okay, it's an outdated view point from an older generation of which this gentleman is part, but that doesn't excuse it.

It was hopefully mostly meant as a joke, but does accepting sexist jokes like this and letting them slip past without repercussion mean we are accepting casual sexism as part of society? Does it make me an arse to confront people who truly meant no harm but just haven't thought?

I spent quite a while at work thinking about how I dress and how I present myself. I used to do work in old jeans and vests and far too many jumpers once it got colder. I felt rubbish about myself, I didn't enjoy what I wore and quite often I was colder than I get now. Now I wear leggings and skirts and vests to work. Mostly pencil skirts. Along with scruffy plimsolls and on this occasion quite a lot of silver paint and yellow etch prime!!! …..maybe I should wear overalls again!! There was still the odd bit of sexism when I dressed to blend in with the men and there still is now I'm obviously dressed “like a girl”. Which is another phrase I don't feel I should be using here as I am as girly as usual if I'm wearing a pink dress or overalls!!

I'm as guilty of the casual sexist thoughts as the rest of us. If I see another woman in the clubhouse at the gliding site who I don't know, my head assumes she's either a trial lesson or someone's wife. I have to consciously remind myself that she could be a pilot or an engineer too, and I'm always happy if they are!

I read somewhere once that your first thought in a situation is social conditioning, and the thoughts you have after are the real you. I don't want the real me to be sexist, or perpetuating sexism through in-action. I try to be conscious of what I'm thinking and why my head has wandered off in that direction. It just takes a bit of stepping back and assessing that isn't always easy to accomplish in the heat of the moment.

Basically I'm here to have another little rant. To remind myself and anyone else who's listening to not judge a book by it's cover; or a person by their clothes. To try and continue being mindful of my thoughts and actions. To try and make a teeny tiny bit of a difference to a world that is still fighting for equality, because for some reason, we've not got the hang of it yet!!

Anyone got any tips for how to respond to people like this in the most non-confrontational way possible? I'd like to spend a little less time stressing about it next time it happens!!

Jo :)

Bargain Retro Bikini |Review - eBay|

Well here's something I never thought I'd willingly allow to be posted online, let alone take the photos myself!

Bikinis. Swimwear. A minefield for a lot of us no matter what shape or size. I stopped wearing them a long time ago. When I was lucky enough to be taken on two trips to India in the January's of 2013 and 2014 I thought I'd better get some new things. I was very happy on holiday in 2013 and wore my bikini a lot, roll on 2014 and what with one thing and another, despite being slimmer than in 2013, I was rather unhappy. Cue the ruched black full swimsuit, which I still wasn't comfortable in. My rather round about point is that I think it's happiness and confidence that lets you rock your clothes, be they outfits or swimwear or lingerie.

Being a lot, lot happier this year, I thought I'd buy one of those high waisted, gorgeous retro style suits. Being the cheapskate I am and also not knowing how flattering it would be on me I opted for eBay for £7.29 and a long wait as it travelled from China. Jut search "Retro 50s Bikini" and a whole plethora of options will appear to you!

 

 

I like wearing the top on hot days like today and have worn it for an entire afternoon of mucking about the airfield under a t shirt and been perfectly comfortable.

 

I ordered the XXL which fits my measurements on the bottom half but was a little large on the top. It does have a tendency to gape a little (not revealing the nipple god forbid!! Check out #freethenipple it's hilarious and informative) and I've had to stitch it together a little more in the middle to make it a little more fitted on my chest!

 

 

The cups are sturdily padded but I personally wouldn't say very supportive, although this could change if your measurements matched up a bit better! The straps tie so you can make them as secure as you like, although again I found that they had to be quite tight to get a good fit on me which means they are skinnier looking than seen in the advert photos.

The bottoms fit great around my waist and hip, I've got quite large thighs and find the leg holes a little tight when I first put them on but they've relaxed a bit and stretched out a tad now!

 

The colour is great, the fabric feels sturdy, the ruched detail flattering and I have much more confidence in myself on the beach with my stomach covered! Although I did wimp out of posing in the garden fully bikini'd up and retreated inside for those!!

I would definitely buy more of the patterns if I'm in need of a bikini again.

I have not had the opportunity to swim in it yet though…. I suspect racing lengths will not be it's thing. Casual dip in the pool. Probably fine!!

How's your summer been?

Jo :)

|Practical Pinup|

The majority of my outfits need to either be sensible (sort of!) enough for work. Leggings for the win. Or able to withstand a two year old and all of her whims. My goddaughter loves paint, messy play and today we made mud pies. So I need things in my wardrobe where I don't care if it gets messy, or pulled, or I have to crawl through the grass etc.

Enter the high street...and Primark in particular. My photos are a little different from my norm today, so be gentle with me!!

Pinup?

I picked up this stretchy pencil skirt in Primark ages ago for a couple of pounds, it's perfectly practical. Not blown about by the wind, doesn't really restrict my movement and still looks pretty sassy!

Good prop that table!

I have a few different colours and I know they defintely still had a beautiful forest green in my local store that I've had my eye on!

The little cropped, shirred peasant tops are a steal too.

 

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I got one in red, black and white as they were £2 each in the sale, such a bargain! Pretty enough that I wore one to a dance last night, and cheap enough that it doesn't matter a huge amount if they have to work a bit harder than my dressy clothes! They're a great length too. Don't ride up too much even with your arms raised.

I had my hair in rollers ready for the evening's 40s dance, and the belt came from a charity shop at some point in my shopping history. I love picking up little accessories and bits from charity shops as you normally get good value for money, and you don't need to worry too much about damaging them!

I definitely don't advocate the disposable culture we seem to have with clothes, I just altered two Primark skirts to fit me again! Plus I'm always sewing up holes in leggings! I just feel that for those of us on a limited budget and with a bit of mess in our lives (who hasn't!?), it can be a good place to look for clothes. Charity shops are still a winner for me though.

Where do you get your practical clothes?

Jo :)

Style Evolution

Welcome to my new blog!

I decided it was time for a bit of a change, I'm feeling a lot happier and more confident in myself this year than I think I've ever felt in my life before and it's making a big difference to me in many ways.

I went vegan in January of this year, and aside from a few slip ups (and only one intentional!!) I've stuck to it. I'm slowly finding my feet with the cosmetics and toiletries, and my recipe repertoire is still growing nicely. Yes I found more chocolate cakes to make...

My style has changed a lot too. This is me pre-vintage way back in 2009. Shield your eyes, don't look directly a it!!

At Work. Randomly carrying a fin...

I was most definitely a jeans and a T-Shirt girl, but I still loved dressing up when I went out.
As I discovered vintage and retro dressing folk online, I thought I'd like to give it a go. A few obnoxious comments from strangers, and some not very encouraging remarks from a few friends left me feeling a little silly and I stayed on the tamer side of vintage. Or the 'costume' side so I had an excuse for my clothing.


on WW1 Centenary Day at Stow Maries Aerodrome



At a Fly-In at Stow Maries Aerodrome

Both the previous photos are from early 2014. I don't have many full length shots of me in the intervening years as I wasn't terribly happy with how I looked to be quite frank! I started running in 2014 and the dancing stepped up a notch. As did my confidence.



Going flying at Tibenham

 

Working at Wattishm

I started wearing what I wanted almost regardless of the activity I was doing. 1940s styles became practical with the help of leggings! The photo with the red pencil skirt (Primark, Bargain!) was November 2014 and it was the first photo of me in a long time where I really, really liked it. It made me laugh, and I thought, maybe, just maybe, I could do some of this pinup malarkey and not feel like a complete idiot!

New Year 2014

We rolled in the New Year with a bang at The Kelpies in Scotland. I was over dressed as was becoming the norm, and absolutely grinning with it! I was wearing what I wanted, doing what made us happy and all my New Years resolutions and aims were about improving my happiness, health and skills. Which for someone who always had 'lose weight' on her list is quite an achievement.

Overdressed for the RAF Museum?

A bit of an edge and a pink wig!

I began introducing more fun things into my wardrobe this year. I missed my pink hair so I was kindly gifted two wigs for Christmas. Leopard print is now a neutral in my wardrobe and hanging my multi-coloured washing on the line makes me grin.

Fifties Swing

I still obviously adore the vintage look, but I'm more relaxed in my whole outlook an it's definitely affected my style choices. My clothes make me smile and that's all I can ask for really! A lot of my going out clothes are reigned by the need to dance in them, big skirts rule! So my love of pencil skirts has found it's way into the workshop.
They're more practical, honest! They don't get caught on things!

Happy at Hardwick Warbirds earlier this month.

I suppose my dressed up look hasn't changed that much really, I still love the classic fifties swing skirts, but my casual look has changed entirely.

After flying the Skybolt at Stow Maries

In May I bought my first ever crop top! I've not looked back since. I never thought I'd have the courage to wear one. Losing weight has definitely helped, but I'm proud of what my body can do now.
I can run 5k.
I can dance all night.

Being healthy physically and mentally has made such a big change to my style a that has made me even happier. I'm very grateful to the online community, pinup, vintage, fitness and vegan who all seem to be incredibly supportive, gorgeous, wonderful people. Your support and the support of a few people close to me in the last year has made me so much happier and be comfortable in my own skin.

So thank-you!

There should be more positive, happy, pinup-y and vegan goodness winging it's way to you soon!

Jo :)