Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day lovelies! We're doing it (poochy) style today in our fabulous new red dog print dress. Another amazing find from Millie Moons incredible fabric selection and this heart stopping bright red. This is a Michael Miller Tribute to Tammis Keefe print, she was (in my opinion) one of the best graphic print designers of the mid century creating iconic American, kitsch textile prints in the 40's and 50's. Read More here.

The dress will be available in the shop soon with the long awaited return of the pink elephant dress!Also available at the Millie Moon shop ion Frome, Somerset.

New Customer Photo!

I love, love, love receiving customer photos in the post and seeing how gorgeous they look in our dresses!
This is the stunning Toni in her little black silk cocktail dress, the original Betty.
Obviously the bride looks wonderful but I am blown away by how chic and elegant Toni looks in the dress I made. The cut away shoulders look great, the nipped in waist and the casual (yes I'm cool and pretty) pockets balance it perfectly. Love this so much I need to make one for myself! Sorry, I'm quite excited as this is just how I like my dresses to look!
Huge thank you to Toni xxx

Tartans

 After visiting the costume museum and viewing Princess Alexandra's Victorian era tartan party dress, using plaids for the Winter collection was a must.
The silks are so highly saturated in colour and gorgeously festive rustling as you walk. It's Victorian, Royal and traditional on one hand but tartan also is about rebellion, punk and  identity too. It's certainly not just reserved for Princesses.
I wanted to use a real Scottish wool tartan for the skirt, the weight is wonderful and heavy like a kilt in the form of a Fifties swing skirt. The added blush nets underneath for structure give a really cool colour contrast which makes the red pop even more.
I imagine this skirt with a white sweetheart bodice too which would make awesome festive party attire!

Our homage to Norman Rockwell which inspired this skirt too.

So here's our tartan offerings for the Winter. Warming, nostalgic and fabulously Victorian. There are so many versions and ways to wear this pattern, I wish we had our own in my family. How amazing would that be to make a collection from? Who else has their own tartan and how do you style yours?

The Illusionist and the Blue Dress

We took a trip to the watershed last night to watch the Illusionist by Sylvain Chomet. I give it complete 10 out of 10, it really was as near to perfect as you would want a film to be and was spine tingling charming the whole way through.

There is a gorgeous scene in the film where the girl stops to admire a dress in the window display at Jenner's department store. The dress is blue and it sparked up memories of the classic Disney films featuring the female characters in blue dresses, maybe this is a nod to the old masters of hand drawn animation?

I can't remember the last time I stopped in front of a shop window and really longed for a dress (unless it was  vintage or I was in New York in the perfect setting outside Bergdorf Goodman's). Some dresses seem to be able to hold that aspirational feature, a shape, style and presence that you don't usually get with many dresses today. Certainly not on the high street.
We are now such heavy consumers that if we like a dress, we buy it, it gets bundled into the carrier bag and off we go without too much care. The dress will then be worn, spilled on, end up on the bedroom floor, in the washing machine, hang around and then off to the rag man or land fill.

I want to make the dress in the shop window, the one you stop and long for, the one that makes you feel wonderful, that's beautiful to touch, the one that will still be with you in twenty years time, that a girl finds in your wardrobe and then makes her feel special. It may be asking for a lot but I can at least try!

I love the way that the Illusionist perfectly demonstrates how old fashioned skills should be treasured. The film is about the end of an era, the way the magician no longer amazes his audience over modern amusements is heartbreaking. In ending with 'Magicians don't exist' sent me into a blubbering mess.

The one noticable part of cgi whirling round Edinburgh for two seconds, looked cheap and I hope this was there to make a point. It hit home in a big way and knocked most cgi animations to the ugly pavement next to Tesco's.  

Old skills rule! xxx