Scents Of Adventure - Christmas Ideas with Aqua Manda

*Items featured in this blog post have been gifted, but all words and opinions are my own.

You all know that I love a good vintage handbag or hairstyle, and have amassed something of a collection of original vintage compact cases and repro lipsticks. So when I was approached about trying out the range of perfumes from the legendary Aqua Manda, my heart was giddy with excitement.

Summertime Blues.

Recently I visited East End Vintage Clothing with a few friends to rummage through the rails of their £1 vintage sale. With it being a wet and grey Winter morning, we were viewing it more as an exercise in finding somewhere for good coffee and a catch-up, but the chance of a purse friendly vintage bargain was too much of a good offer to pass by.

I've been to what feels like a million of these sort of things, and usually see nothing but rails of denim shorts and leather jackets - neither one being something I'm inclined to wear. However I had gone along with the hope of picking up some oversized lumberjack shirts and knitwear for keeping warm in the studio, but was thrilled to come away with a few cute dresses too!

These three dresses cost me the grand total of £3. I also brought a vintage cardigan with a brown and cream print and a green lumberjack shirt which goes perfectly with my high-waisted skinny jeans when shooting in the cold. I gave the light blue dress to a print loving friend as it wasn't quite right on me, but fell utterly in love with the other two. The red dress in particular I had brought almost as a "costume piece", but upon trying it on, I was really shocked to see how much nicer it was when not just on the hanger. (There will be a blog post coming up on Friday with the red dress!)

The blue dress with it's frill-bib front and white lace collar captures the transition from 50s to 60s style perfectly. It's a little clingy at the moment,but nothing which some magical undergarments can't smooth out! I'm looking forward to Spring arriving so I can team it with a cute cardigan and some footless tights and ballet flats for a look which is both fun yet smart and still nods to my vintage sensibilities.

Dress: Vintage.

Red Roses in hair: Pearls & Swine.

Red Necklace: Thrifted.

Tortoise Ring: Tatty Devine.

Tights: Simply Be.

Boots: Primark.

I wore it last night to see Wicked with my sort-of-sister-in-law, and teamed with it with a simple grey cardigan from H&M and a vintage dark navy headscarf with white polka dots as it was pouring with rain.

I can't wait until they have their next £1 sale, as it was definitely worth getting up early for to make the pilgrimage to East London. I also can't wait to show you the red dress in my next post - it makes me feel like I should be an extra from the 80s TV show, Dallas!

Until next time,

Diana xx

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(All photos (c) Diana Thompson / Fashion Loves Photos. Please do not reproduce without written permission.)

Modern Love: Modern Vintage, a guest blog for Simply Be.

Towards the end of last year, the lovely people at Simply Be saved my sartorial skin when I was on the hunt for a flapper style dress to suit my non-flapper shape. Hips and breasts are not a friend of the usual 1920s styles, so it was with great relief that I unpacked the above stunning dress for an art-deco event I was DJing at.

One of the things which came out of the swap was an article wrote about modern day vintage styles. I absolutely love shopping for vintage clothing, but the reality is large breasts often make for slim pickings, and it can be frustrating rummaging through rails to come away with nothing but disappointment. Although you'd have to drag me kicking and screaming for my favourite vintage haunts, I do love that there is has been a turn towards "heritage chic" on the catwalks, with a range of vintage inspired styles sailing down the catwalks and into shops. It was really encouraging to see that I could find a dress from every decade from the 20s to the 70s when pulling the article together, and you can read the whole story here on the Simply Be Blog.

It was really nice to be writing about fashion again, especially about vintage influences which is something very close to my heart.

Until next time,

Diana xx

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

www.fashionlovesphotos.com

(All photos (c) Diana Thompson / Fashion Loves Photos (unless stated otherwise). Please do not reproduce without written permission.)