I got this dress from Dolly and Dotty back in October, and instantly loved it. The last time I featured it in a blog post I wore it with a burgundy polo neck underneath to bring out the corresponding colour in the dress, but I had also considered a navy blue polo neck as an alternative. I really like both variations as I feel like it gives the dress quite a different look and I do like having that kind of versatility in my wardrobe. I didn't wear it with a petticoat last time as I keep my petticoats stored at my parents house (they are too bulky and I don't wear them often enough to justify trying to store them in my little flat) but I was pleased to find that my red petticoat looks as good as I hoped it would.

Happy Christmas everyone! I hope you have had/are having a wonderful day. I've been spending my day at home with family and it's been lovely and peaceful. I didn't get my camera out as I've been busy with other things, but here are a few phone camera snaps of my outfit.

The dress is a late 50s number (I think, although I've seen similar ones online dated earlier). The ruffles on the skirt are actually a lovely copper colour although it doesn't show very well on the photo here. I chose it to match my necklace which was a Christmas present from my parents. I also tried to match up my eyeshadow. The necklace was really hard to photograph due to the way the light bounces off it, but it's a beautiful iridescent beetle (Rutelinae sp.) encased in acrylic.

My outfit and makeup today are designed to match this beautiful beetle necklace that was a Christmas present from my mum and dad ❤

A photo posted by @helenmaegreen on Dec 25, 2016 at 4:10am PST

I don't know what my plans are for the next few days but I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas period so far. Not long now until the big day...

I've been having a great time with friends and family in various places and saw Rogue One on Sunday which was absolutely fantastic and I'd highly recommend seeing it if you haven't done so already. Today I'm wearing this outfit for a trip into town for lunch with my family, some shopping and a nail appointment. I also have to get some more work done for uni which is a lot less fun, but hopefully I'll be finished soon and not have to do much else for the rest of the holiday.



Unfortunately although I'd planned on getting as many blog posts as possible done while I'm back at my parents' house for Christmas, I am pretty sure that I have left my camera charger back at my flat, and my camera battery is almost dead! I'll try to go ahead with writing my blog posts anyway, as I'll be disappointed if I can't, but it will probably mean taking my pictures either on my phone or on my old point and shoot camera so I'll have to see how it goes. I normally remember to pick the charger up but that's life I suppose!



I've thought about putting together a beatnik inspired outfit a few times and for some reason never really gone ahead with the idea. I've worn these trousers a lot since I bought them but it wasn't until I saw them paired with a black turtle neck that I saw the potential for them to be styled in a beatnik fashion. Since vintage style is a little alternative anyway I may as well go ahead and embrace 1950s counterculture. Actually I think the style now seems very classic and stylish and works well in modern and vintage wardrobes alike.

So this is the first of my blog posts for this year featuring a moderately Christmassy outfit and our Christmas tree! Although my cardigan isn't specifically a Christmas one, fairisle patterns always seem a little bit festive to me, especially when combined with tartan in seasonal colours. I also curled my hair for the first time in a while, which feels really nice. I've been really busy recently and curling my hair is always one of the first things to get moved to the bottom of my priorities list when I am. Thankfully I get a decent break for Christmas and although I still have to do a few things for uni, it should be much more relaxed for me until I start back again in January.

Here I'm wearing my Evelyn dress from Dolly and Dotty, which I've owned for a little over a year now and which has become one of my most worn items. I really love the fit and shape of it; I think it really flatters my figure and hangs well on the body. I normally wear the dress with the matching belt, but I can't find where I've put it at the moment so I improvised with another belt that I happened to have around and actually I don't completely dislike it - although I'd rather continue to wear it with the matching belt if possible.

Well if it wasn't Christmas before, it definitely is now right?! I got to stroke a reindeer!

I know I've mentioned before how much I love this kind of event near Christmas time. I couldn't find all of the blog posts I thought I'd made, but here are a few from previous years:

Melton Mobray 2012 | 2013
Portsmouth 2015

A photo posted by @helenmaegreen on Dec 1, 2016 at 10:30am PST

Disclaimer: This ring was provided free of charge by BregjesDesign in exchange for a blog post. All opinions are my own, and you can read my full disclosure policy here.



It's starting to feel like Christmas which is a bit crazy but also quite exciting. I don't feel entirely prepared for Christmas but I do have most present shopping finished, thanks mostly to my very organised brother who helped sort some things out for my parents. These photos are from the last weekend that I spent with my boyfriend and his family, which was completely lovely both because we did a few nice festive things (and I managed to get almost completely caught up on Planet Earth 2!) and because we're still doing long distance so any time spent with him is extra special.

I took advantage of the Christmas tree to take some photos of my new ring from BregjesDesign, which is made of a shard of vintage china. I think it makes the perfect background to show off the design. BregjesDesign has a great variety of jewellery made from vintage china in many different patterns, but I chose this beautiful dark green and gold design because I thought it would be perfect for the Christmas season.  









The ring features a sterling silver band which is not adjustable. While I appreciate this from a quality standpoint, I did find it a little difficult to figure out what size I needed as buying online is obviously a bit different to being able to try something on in a shop. To get around this, I simply measured a ring which I already own that I wear on the same finger which I was intending to wear this one on.

The gold reminded me of something I'd heard a long time ago about the practice of repairing porcelain items using a gold adhesive. I did a little bit of Googling to find out more, and discovered that the Japanese have a tradition of repairing broken pottery using a lacquer mixed with powdered gold or other precious metals. This is called Kintsugi, and treats the breakage of the item as part of the object's history. Other countries have also used similar techniques, resulting in very beautiful and unique objects.  





Of course I'm really enjoying my Christmas coffees at the moment, and absolutely did not insist on going to a coffee shop where they have Christmas cups just so I could show off my ring... ;)

A photo posted by @helenmaegreen on Dec 4, 2016 at 4:58am PST

Hi! Today I am sharing just a very few snaps from my holiday over the summer. I didn't take many photos while I was away with my family for the week, but I wanted to just put a handful into a blog post to remember the beautiful scenery and to take my mind off how cold I've been feeling recently! I'd love a summer holiday right about now...

Hi everyone! Today's blog post is inspired by a tag I have seen on Youtube on some of the goth channels I watch called "My 10 Un-goth Confessions". In the spirit of that, I thought I'd do my own 10 un-vintage confessions and if you'd like to join in and do your own, I'd love you to do so and link me to your post so I can see! Here goes...

1. I don't really have any real-life vintage friends.

I have a few friends who occasionally dabble in a slightly vintage-inspired look and I know a few people who dress in 1940s clothing for re-enactment, but none of the people I normally hang out with (including my boyfriend) dress in a vintage style.

2. I can't swing dance...

In fact I'm a terrible dancer. But I'd really love to learn, and I'm endlessly jealous of people who can swing dance.

3. I'm currently don't wear vintage full time.

I spend a lot of time working on my field work at the moment, which isn't something that lends itself well to vintage fashion. Genuine vintage clothing is too precious for me to want to risk damaging it, and even most repro is impractical for tramping round a muddy field, which I do on a regular basis. In my free time, I'm finding that I'm gravitating towards jeans or leggings for ease and comfort - although I still try to wear my vintage things when I get the opportunity. When I finish my current round of field work, I'll be back to wearing vintage style clothing for the majority of the time - although I still like my leggings for the occasional lazy day!


4. I'm really bad at vintage hairstyles.

This is absolutely no secret - I am honestly terrible at doing my own hair. I have a few hairstyles that I can manage with fairly well but I don't tend to often stray outside of my comfort zone. Any time my hair looks really good, it's probably been done by my hairdresser.

5. I don't really like much vintage decor.

I know that a lot of people on the vintage scene like to do out their houses in a vintage style, but I find my own tastes in decor either tend towards an antique style or is much more modern.

6. I don't watch a lot of old movies.

In fact, my knowledge of classic cinema is woeful. I'm actually not much of a cinema buff at all though, so my knowledge of modern cinema pretty much sucks as well.


7. I can barely sew.

I can sew on a button, I can mend a hem, and I can darn a hole. I've been slowly trying to learn how to sew my own clothes, but as I'm mostly self-taught (with a little help from Youtube), progress is pretty slow.

8. I wasn't "born in the wrong decade".

I loathe that phrase. I am 100% a 21st century girl, and you can pry my smartphone from my cold dead hands. I won't go into a discussion of sexism or rights, but suffice to say I enjoy having a job in a STEM subject where I get to do more than make tea for men. That being said, plenty of people have used this phrase in good faith to describe me, and I can absolutely understand why when you look at my wardrobe and taste in music. I just accept it as the compliment it's intended as and move on.

9. I'm not brilliant at dating vintage clothing.

Sure, I can absolutely date items much better than I used to be able to and I'm learning all the time. But I know a lot of people can date things with much more precision than I am able to. I'm able to date things with enough accuracy to feel comfortable with it most of the time.

10. I usually wear modern makeup.

When I started wearing vintage clothing I did switch to wearing somewhat more neutral colours (most of the time at least) than I had done previously, but overally my makeup has remained largely the same as ever unless I'm specifically trying to create a period-accurate look for some reason. I even still like to wear lip gloss, even though I know it sometimes gets a bad rap from vintage girls.

Disclaimer: Some of these items were purchased using a gift voucher given to me by Rex London, or were given to me by Rex London free of charge. All opinions are my own.
Last year I posted about some vintage style gifts that I got from Rex London. I had a really positive experience shopping with them last year, and have been back to their website several times throughout the year to look for presents for friends and family. This year I was contacted by Rex London again to see if I'd like to try a few other things from their website, and so I was able to investigate some more of their stock. This time I didn't find anything that I wanted as a gift for someone else, so I mainly stuck to treating myself to a few things that I either have been needing for a while (such as a new umbrella) or which were too pretty to resist.



Above is an overview of all the things I chose from the website. I really love the different vintagey patterns that are offered; in this case I seem to have been mostly drawn to different florals!


In the background of my photo is the pantry design cotton apron, which is the one thing that I did get for someone else - in this case my mum. I was really struggling to get a good photo of the apron by itself, so instead here is the photo from the website so you can see how nice the apron actually looks. Mum says she has been really enjoying using the apron, and she is a big fan of the song bird pattern. In fact, she says this is the nicest apron she has ever owned, so that's a great endorsement!



The next thing I chose was this lovely tea cosy in a paisley floral print. I don't currently use a tea pot (although that is my own tea pot which you can see just poking out the bottom, which I'm saving for when I have a proper place of my own), but I am really enjoying collecting a few kitchen and homeware bits and pieces for use in the future.



I also found a lovely new umbrella for myself, as I have been needing a new one since my old one broke. This is a nice long one, which I really like as they seem more vintage style than the compact ones.



Above is a glass frame which hinged at the top, and hung with a velvet ribbon. At some stage I intend to put pressed flowers in this, as I think that would really suit the antique or shabby chic look of the frame.



I have seen these stunning stork embroidery scissors being shown off on sewing and planner blogs before, so when I found they were available from dotcomgiftshop I absolutely had to get myself a pair. I don't have a specific use in mind yet for these, as I don't often do embroidery and I'm not sure if I want to use them for paper (e.g. for cutting the stickers for my own planner) in case I blunt them. Nevertheless, they're a really special item to have.



Lastly I got this flask in the Rambling Rose pattern. I use a flask often for taking drinks to uni or when I go home to my parents' house. My old flask had got a bit worn out so I decided it was about time to replace it, so I decided on having one of the pretty ones available from dotcomgiftshop instead of buying another plain one.

If you still haven't checked out the things on offer from Rex London, I really recommend that you take a peek (especially in the sale section as they often have things at fantastic discounts). See you all again soon!

Disclaimer: This dress was provided free of charge by Dolly and Dotty in exchange for a blog post. All opinions are my own, and you can read my full disclosure policy here.



Hi everyone! Today I have another beautiful dress to show you from Dolly and Dotty. This is the Hazel dress in black and red floral. Despite what I said in my last post about opting for a size 8 in Dolly and Dotty styles where I won't be wearing a blouse or jumper underneath, I actually ended up going for a size 10 in this style as well, but as the dress has a side zip I am pleased I did as it makes it much easier to get the dress on. With the belt in place, the dress fits nicely and feels comfortable to wear all day.    

Here I'm wearing the dress without a petticoat, as I think the skirt holds a nice shape by itself, however I am looking forward to wearing it with my red petticoat when the opportunity arises.

I've also been wearing my hair in this style of bun a lot recently, as I'm finding it a fantastic low maintenance but still appropriately retro style. It's great for keeping my hair under control in the windy and wet weather we've been having, which ruins my curls in no time at all.







Although I'm wearing the dress in quite a casual way here, I actually think it would make a lovely outfit for something like a wedding with the right hair style and accessories. I really love the detail of the little pleated collar, which is quite unique and very pretty.

One thing I'd say about this dress if you buy one for yourself is to make sure you iron it inside out or with a towel over the top, as I do think when I ironed mine that the flowers somehow got darker in colour. It's a shame to spoil the pattern as it's so pretty, so don't make my mistake!