Saturday 23 February 2013

Magpie Must Haves

NEW REGULAR FEAUTURE!


As part of my Happiness Project, I have given a lot of thought to ways in which I can develop my blog, and one thing that occurred to me was that regular features are a good way to maintain momentum and provide the impetus for regular posts. I cannot tell you how terrible I feel whenever Sunday comes and goes and I haven't posted a Smörgåsbord! I have had so many ideas for regular feautres, some dating back as far as last summer, which I've yet to implement, but here is the first of them...

MagpieMustHaves will be a fortnightly feature sharing my personal recommendations on a particular theme. This may just be simply in the form of current loves, i.e. recent purchases/experiences, or it may be, for example, MagpieMustHaves for a beach holiday, or MagpieMustHaves for the perfect afternoon tea. I really hope these posts will prove to be as popular as the Smörgåsbords have been. This first installment of MMH is based on my love of vintage fashion...

Magpie Must Haves ~ Ten of the best vintage-inspired frocks


It is the prerogative of every little girl to play dress-up. From the musty and slightly sour smelling depths of the white-washed dressing-up box at nursery school, to the plush, tactile interior of some fabulous Parisian boutique, the exhilaration of donning a fabulous frock and admiring oneself twirling about in the looking glass remains the same, whether the little girl in question is eight, or eight-and-twenty.

Having spent several ugly caterpillar teenage years in little besides jeans and trainers, I'd like to believe that I have since emerged from the chrysalis of sartorially dubious university years, having become something that more closely resembles a butterfly. Some sort of moth, perhaps.

I do not pretend to be a trend-setting fashionista ~ you won't, sadly, find me in the front row at LFW, much as I'd love that ~ but I have at least the confidence to experiment with colour, texture and style, safe in the knowledge that whatever I put together will look better than Helena Bonham Carter on a bag lady day.

When dressing up, which I love to do, my choice of outfit will often allude to a bygone era in some way. That's not to say that you will find me down the local on a Friday night in full 1920s flapper attire, rather I may have tried to incorporate in my ensemble the materials, prints or silhouettes of vintage fashion in some way.

The following selection features ten of my favourite dresses currently available to purchase. They are beautiful and feminine and each harks back to a particular decade from the last century. Enjoy!

1920s
YUMI ~ UTTAM BOUTIQUE DROP WAIST TIERED PLEAT DRESS

COS ~ PLEATED VELVET DRESS

1930s

TED BAKER ~ ALIANA LACE DETAIL BUTTON BACK DRESS

1940s

BIBA ~ V-NECK GODET TEA DRESS

REISS ~ BRIDGE DRESS IN CREAM

1950s

ANTHROPOLOGIE ~ JARDIM LACE DRESS

1960s

YUMI ~ BROCADE BOW DRESS

1970s

REISS ~ 1971 MAISIE

WAREHOUSE ~ SATIN POCKET MAXI DRESS

1980s

TOPSHOP ~ PLAIN SHORT BODYCON DRESS IN CORAL

Love! I'm more of a 20s through to 50s girl myself. Which era/s best suit/s your sense of style?

pp x

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