Those who know me well, especially family and friends, can attest to the vast collection of dresses that I currently own.

If I had to guesstimate how many dresses I have, I would say possibly in the 300 – 400 hundred range.

Ridiculous, right?

Erm…. Only A Few Dresses…

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t start out with the intention to amass such a collection, it has just ballooned out of control!

Of course, to go with those dresses, I have many hats, hair flowers, bags, shoes and even gloves to mix and match things up. All in all, quite a big collection indeed.

Getting A Bit Organised

This all started about ten years ago, when I got to the age of 40 and decided I didn’t want to live in big, baggy clothing anymore. For my 40th birthday my brother in law, Paul sent me the most amazing dress from “Pin Up Girl Clothing” and the obsession started.

My First Vintage Style Dress

Once I had seen how beautiful the fabric and design was, and how it made me feel when I put it on, I just wanted more of the same and I started purchasing more Pin Up Girl Clothing (PUG for short)

Amongst my friends in the plus size community, I was known as the PUG queen.

Pin Up Girl Pretty

Over the next couple of years I found other companies, such as Unique Vintage, Lady V London, Lindybop and eventually when “Vixen by Micheline Pitt” formed, I was entranced by their offerings.

This continued for many years and the collection grew and grew.

Tiki Times (I own this in 4 colours)

My friendship with the amazing Boo of “Does my blog make me look fat” blossomed and we certainly bonded over clothing; PUG and Vixen especially.

We would wait for July 4th, Black Friday, Memorial Day and other special holidays in the USA as there was always a good discount to be had which helped with the fact that there would be duties due.

Cheery Cherry

In time to come, Boo earned the crown as the PUG Queen and her wardrobe swelled with beautiful garments, as did mine, just not as quickly!

Over the years we have traded, borrowed and sold dresses to each other. We have taken part in photoshoots where we have swapped garments around to achieve different looks, to much success.

Le Keux Photoshoot

Of course, being the same dress size, albeit it slightly different measurements, helped the situation greatly although Boo has always been a little smaller than me.

Recently Boo was having a massive clear out of her wardrobe and of course, she thought of me when it came to seeing if I was interested in any of the dresses she was going to sell.

Hawaiian Honey

Was I interested?

Duh, Of course I was.

The Stunning Xhora

Boo sent pictures of all the dresses that she was going to sell and there was quite a lot to choose from.

I immediately chose the ones that I absolutely loved, and then had a look over the others to see what I could eliminate and what I wanted to put into the ‘possible’ pile.

My Favourite EVER dress

All told, I chose 11 dresses, mostly Vixen and PUG.

I mean, obviously I needed another 11 dresses, didn’t I?

Pretty In Pink

Boo packaged up the dresses and a few days later a huge cardboard box arrived. It was about five days before Christmas and I just didn’t really have the time to open it up and start dealing with what was inside.

Instead, I waited until the beginning of the New Year when all the festivities were over and everything was a bit grey and gloomy, and went and fetched the sealed box.

One of My First Photoshoots

The smile on my face when I cute through the packing tape, was huge.

Bright colours, stripes, spots and more spilled out from the box. Matching belts were at the bottom and I was eager to try them all out.

Lady V London

Of course, with the knee replacement in November, it wasn’t so easy to just do a fashion parade, so instead, I loving hung the dresses on a rail where I could admire all the pretty designs and colours.

Slowly over the course of a few weeks, I chose a pretty dress to wear out, pairing it with shoes, jewellery and more.

Dress/Jumpsuit Combo

First of all was the burgundy Vixen Man-eater dress, which I wore to the theatre in the middle of January.  As this was simple dress, by which I mean without pattern or fanciness, I added a few lovely accessories.

A gorgeous burgundy hair flower and corsage by Aunt Alice’s Cupboard, and some gorgeous black and burgundy heels by Ruby Shoo’s set the outfit off right and made me feel like a million dollars.

Unique Vintage Vixen

The second dress I wore was to a much more sombre an occasion; the funeral of a beloved Uncle.

As with a lot of funerals nowadays, the dress requirements were bright and colourful, just like Uncle Ian himself.

Thirties Gal

I chose to wear a beautiful Man-eater dress in a base colour of Cyan, with white polka dots.

In order to honour my Uncle, I added a little white cardigan, cyan earrings, and a small white hair flower. Sadly as there would be a fair amount of walking and standing, I had to wear a sensible pair of flat shoes, which didn’t match at all.

Rosy Red

Needs must though!

Of Course, I didn’t take any photographs of this outfit or occasion.

Twinwood Times 2025

The third of the outfits was a stunning orangey/red tiki style dress with a separate little bolero.

I actually have the same style of dress in a black and pink floral style, which is virtually identical  except that the straps cross-over at the back.

My black version was bought around 12 years ago and is a perennial favourite. I even wore it to a friends wedding back in 2015.

The Black and Pink Version

The red version was accentuated with some original vintage sandals in a pearlescent white, some red and yellow hair flowers and a beautiful vintage parasol.

I wore the tiki version at a recent vintage event that I go to every year. This was my third year of attending and was an absolute blast.

The Earl 2025

The dress and bolero was perfect for the afternoon event and got a fair few comments about it.

I wish this combination came in other prints, but it is a style that the company rarely made, so I will have to stick to my two versions for now.

Jessakae Does it in Style

There are a few other dresses I still need to try on, however a couple that I have tried, sadly are a bit too snug on my boobs.

Although Boo and I used to wear the same size, I was sadly a bit bigger in the chest department and whilst I assumed everything would fit, they didn’t.

Oh What A Dress!

I am looking at possibly getting some alterations done by Dora, my amazing seamstress, so you never know…

There might still be an option open to me!

Bali Babe

All I can say is, watch this space.

Until next time,

SPSG xxx