Recently I've been enjoying 1970s fashion. I've dabbled a bit here and there in the past but generally prefer to admire it from afar. However, since I bought this lovely pinafore dress, I've been experiencing a bit of a resurgence in interest in actually wearing those styles. I've got my eye on a suede miniskirt but for now I'm enjoying wearing the heck out of this dress for both work and play. Here I styled it in a way that immediately sprung to mind when I first tried it on; with a blouse and long socks. I have another blouse that I am sure will look nice, so you won't have seen the last of this dress just yet.

The day I took these photos, I had received an email with some information which meant I had to change a lot of my plans. I was upset and quite worried, but I'd made plans to go out in the evening so I employed my favourite tactics for brightening up a bad day: I ate ice cream, made up my face, and put on some pretty clothes.

I always find when I'm feeling upset that making myself look nice really helps me to put on a brave face and maybe even cheer up a little. I like red lipstick for making me feel like "myself". This beautiful combination is Besamé Masterliner in the lighter colour followed by my favourite Besamé American Beauty lipstick and topped off with Besamé Lip Glaze in Cherry.

My boots are new (old) - the sharp eyed among you might notice that they have no zips up the insides which is something I've been looking for for a really long time, and which I've mentioned several times before on Lovebirds Vintage. This was the first time I'd worn them out of the house, and I'm happy to report that due to the lack of zips, I didn't trip over my own feet even once ;) I really like the slightly steampunk-y Southern Belle vibes (although I realise the beautiful shape of them isn't totally obvious from these photos) and I can't wait to start wearing them more often as the weather gets colder.

The only slight problem I have with the boots is how the tongue swivels - you can see it's sitting more to the side of my calf than in the centre - does anyone have any ideas how to prevent this? And yes, that is a huge ladder in my stocking. There are several areas hat I've patched up but I'm making them last as long as possible!

Anyway, the style of the boots coupled with the style of the dress almost makes me feel like I'm going square dancing. I woke up the next day and felt calmer if not happier, so it must all be down to the healing powers of red lipstick, right?

Back in July I was able to go and watch my very talented brother graduate. His graduation ceremony was in the afternoon but we had to be there before 1pm for him to get his gown and have his photo taken. I'm currently working as a research assistant at the university I studied at and as such I had to go into work before hand, but because we were very tight on time I actually had to go and work in the lab with my hair and makeup done and wearing my dress for the graduation! It's an extra thing for us to remember the day by: that time I wore a maxi dress to collect fly eggs off raw liver....

In any case, it was a lovely day and I was so proud of my brother for all he's achieved.



For the ceremony I wore this new-to-me 1970s maxi which I just love wearing. While the 1970s isn't my favourite decade for fashion, I really like a lot of 1970s maxis and I'd like to get myself one or two more in the future. This particular dress is a soft satiny material and has the most beautiful flattering cut. I think it was designed to be worn with platforms as it's actually been shortened by a previous owner but as you can see it's about the perfect length on me - if I'm wearing heels. I haven't measured how high the heels on these shoes are, but I guess they make me about 5'8". It makes me wonder how much material has been taken off the bottom of the dress and therefore how high my platforms would have to be in order for it not to be too long!

So aside from the beautiful cut and pretty pattern, there is one thing I really love about this dress:



It's the amazing cape on the back! It's the kind of wonderful detail you rarely get on modern dresses and makes the dress really special to wear.

Because the dress makes me feel like a character from American Hustle, I styled my hair after Jennifer Lawrence's character. I also went for 1970s-inspired makeup and accessories to complete the look.



My brother, of course, looked dapper as usual in his suit.



The lighting inside the venue was really poor for photos, which was a shame as it was a really interesting building. I did get a couple of photos although they're really yellow.

So we've reached the last set of photos from the shoot with Jac and Steve that we've been calling Through The Ages. For this section we did a really fun 1970s look with an original 1970s pair of flares and giant hair. This look is so completely different to how I normally look but it's refreshing to mix things up sometimes.

See the rest of the series: 1920s, 1930s/40s, 1960s