Vintage and Lace

Okay,so if you know me you'll know that I really love lace!

 I was so happy when it began to come back into shops last year and thankfully it looks like it is here to stay!!I also love anything vintage! (the two combined is sheer happiness!) I'm particularly fond of cream lace (not so much white).Cream just has something more classy about it.It's annoying because most shops only stock white lace,it's more popular I guess but I've found that if you pay a bit more you get the colour you want.I have a cream lace dress from River Island,bought it about a year ago and I love it! It was about 40euro but well worth it! I wear it all the time with a cardigan and tights or sometimes with a denim shirt.The only thing I don't like about it is that it kinda poofs out at the bottom and it's quite short.If it didn't poof it would be a bit longer.Saying that it's quite tailored around the waist so more flattering than others.

(The picture at the bottom is awful and that's lemonade...on a beach..I know,classy!But anyway,it's just to show you how it poofs out at the bottom.)

The next cream lace vintage(ish) dress is from H&M (No.2).I got this as a present for Christmas and it doesn't actually fit so it's looking for a good home.I love how it's really simple and could be teamed with a shirt or a cardigan or the detail on the top could just be left as it is.I don't think it really needs any Jewellery,it's nice and simple as it is but I guess it's up to whoever is wearing it!I'm not certain but I think it was about 20 Euro,not bad at all! They have it in black too if you prefer darker.It's not in the shops anymore but I would imagine it will be in the sales.

Finally,this lace dress (No.3),not quite cream I guess but it's off white is from Penneys (Primark).I got it on sale for 7 euro I think.There were hundreds of them there! I havent actually worn it but I do quite like it.It's got a nice shape to it,also available in black.One thing I would say about buying dresses from penneys that are structured like this one,get a size bigger.I don't know why but I think their clothes are small fitting or something.

Another thing I love to team up with lace are broches!(especially vintage ones!) I'll probably do a separate post on these but I found these amazing ones online,(my birthday is coming up! ;) )! I know they have lace on them already so it could be a bit overkill but I think the purple one would be lovely with the second cream lace dress to just liven it up a bit.

You can actually make your own brooches pretty easily too.You can pick up little things in that burnt gold colour (not sure if that's what you call it) in Penneys(Primark) or A-wear and just add a bit of glue and lace.That lace is so cheap too! I bought a metre of it the other day for 3euro,it's worth a go!

Another thing about brooches (then I'll get back to lace!) you can pick up vintage looking rings,preferably with a big design like the ones on the brooches to the left and use a pliers to bend the metal from the ring around a safety pin and then use it as a brooche.Saying that,it would need to be a cheap ring so that the metal isn't too strong and quite a strong safety pin,one of the ones from a sewing shop as oppossed to the ones you get in the dry cleaners with your reciept attached.I've used them loads of times and they can't hold anything heavy at all.

Okay,so the two dresses above are quite casual,for day to day wear (or that's how I wear them anyway) The next dress is more formal,I wore it to an old school glamour ball last week.I wanted to go all out with the theme so here you go!

That's me on the right!(I know,I'm no model) I rented the headpiece for the weekend (closer view below).It's from a vintage shop and they're normally used for weddings,I love them! Wish I could wear one every day.If you're going to an event where you need one I would recommend renting one,they're pretty expensive to buy (only 25 euro to rent!) You can make one easily enough but I thought I could use normal lace and it didn't really work.If you have enough time you can get the right net online so go for it!You can add whatever accessories you want!I wore red rose earrings to match.

Pearls are also so classy!! and so vintage!! Ah,I just love it! The ones I wore were my mums (I still have them,I've taken a liking to them!) they were bought in India so the real deal but you can pick them up cheap enough in Penneys or A-Wear.Only thing I've noticed about pearls,especially the cream ones is that the paint tends to come off pretty easily and you're left with this dusty pink chipped paint,it sounds nice but personally I'm not a fan.I would say,If you really want a good set invest! They're timeless really!

My dress was from River Island (I did this ball on such a tight budget!) It was 40 euro or thereabouts,they had a cream one too but unfortunately not in my size :( I think I'll wear it again and I don't think dresses like this really go out of date,they're timeless as they say!

I just wore plain old navy peep toes with it,I think when you have Jewellery and a headpiece like that you don't want your shoes to be too fussy,it kinda takes away from the rest.That's what I think anyway,I always get distracted by shoes

Oh,another thing,if you wanna go all vintage and 'embrace the lace' ditch the fake tan! I know,it's so hard but orange really takes away from the style.Any vintage books I've looked at or shows I've been to all of the women have been pale.Handy for me 'cos I'm white as a ghost!I like it! and much less hassle! Anyway,that's open to opinion.

As for my hair,I don't know,that was just last minute,didn't want to pay to get it done.Genreally speaking vintage hair is all big and curly but I think for an everyday style you may not want to go overboard.I'll stick some links up anyway! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWl1aZOiHCQ


Just to finish,here are a few more vintage things I've picked up along the way,none of which were too expensive! :)

Hope you enjoyed this or found it helpful! Interested to hear your thoughts and feedback!!


Much love, Nomi <3

Introduction (Sorry,that's the best I can think of!)

Hello and welcome to my new blog.I've said in the main introduction that I have finally decided to write this.I'm not sure how well I'll stick to it but I'm looking forward to getting started and giving it a try.

Lots of people have asked me to show them how I pick out clothes and how I match them with other things so here you go!Like I said,it's pretty much trial and error and I don't have a big budget so I always buy things on the cheap.I'm unemployed so I tend to save up for particular things or just buy everything in the sales.I've also been known to pick up men's cardigans and shirts in small sizes in shops like Topman and H&M which are almost identical to the women's version but cheaper!That's tip number 1!

Another motivation for me doing this is that I would love to see girls (and guys for that matter!) be more confident in themselves and what they wear.I think often our clothes say a lot about our personality and the way we are feeling and there's no better feeling that walking around wearing something you feel really confident in.I'm a size 14 myself(Sometimes 12 if I'm lucky!),that's slightly larger than average for anyone that doesn't know.Everyone has days when they're not happy with their figure but generally speaking I'm happy in my skin.I work out a couple of times a week and eat healthily and have gone through phases of losing lots of weight but if I'm honest I don't really look right any other way.I promise that's not a cop out,I really don't suit thin!

I think society is constantly telling us to look one way,you all know that!For me that has never been a huge problem,mainly because I'm too stubborn to conform but I have been subject to bullies and people taking me down because of my size.I don't want to use this as a way to express that,that's old news!I want to use this to help people in some way (not sure if it will or not but we'll see!)

I'll try do a couple of posts about guys clothes too (any volunteers?!) that'll be in a while though!

Hope you enjoy! Any comments very much welcome! :)