Dress Review: Black Friday Haul!

I wasn't kidding when I said I have quite a backlog of blog posts to catch up on! 

This was from way back in early December, when Christmas decorations were still up and my hair was still long, but I definitely wanted to be sure to get this post out eventually.

I love Black Friday! As with most of us shopaholic vintage repro lovers, it is my favorite shopping day of the year! I look forward to it every year, planning and plotting what I will be going after during this (usually) biggest sale of the year. And so here is my haul. I'm actually surprised I stayed as good as I did this year and went after just a few things I've really been after! (and one impulse-ish buy) :)


Trashy Diva 1940's dress Psychedelic Ferns 

Trashy Diva's Psychedelic Ferns collection came out back in August of 2016 and was one I had decided on right away to skip. I was weary of the "psychedelic" component of this dress. Just how bright/neon was this green? Also, by all accounts on Trashy Diva's website, this print was also described as being a 70's inspiration print. Now, I love 70's geek and swoon over some of the looks in Mad Men's later season as well as swooned over a lot of the 70's looks Modcloth was putting together for Fall 2016, but 70's psychedelic wasn't really my cup of tea. It wasn't until Halloween started to approach that I started to see this print in a whole new light... a la Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas. All of a sudden, this dress was starting to look like a perfect October or darker mood year round dress. And so, that is all it took for me to really want to have it! However, I still had my (slight) reservations, and bid my time until Black Friday hit in hopes of scoring this dress on sale.

When I got this dress in the mail I was happy to see that while the green ferns were bright, they weren't too insanely neon or anything. That in combination with the black background and the classic 1940's cut, and all my fears and weariness of a serious psychedelic 70's look were banished from my thoughts.

This dress is made with a thicker and sturdier feeling stretch rayon that Trashy Diva's been liking to use on their dresses this year (if you are familiar with their other collections, think Ruffled Feathers, Venice Nights, Wine Dots, and Love Birds). Honestly, it's not my favorite fabric Trashy Diva's been using (I find it just a little too comfortable perhaps which oddly makes me feel a little frumpy) but in the 1940's cut it actually works so well! Because of the stretch I feel like the structure of the dress is really staying on and fits everywhere it's supposed to. No shoulders sliding down, not too much billowiness at the bust and sides that you can often get with the regular rayon or Crepe de Chine that past 1940's have usually come out in. Taking my usual size for Trashy Diva dresses, I found this dress to fit very comfortably, fitting snug without being too tight. Oddly, I got the same exact size in the same cut in the Ruffled Feathers print (another stretch rayon) and found this one to fit slightly looser which is what I prefer.

A bit about the cut... the 1940's dress is one of my favorite cuts by Trashy Diva. I love the classic look of it. I find it's one of the easiest to wear, throw-on-and-go-and-look-fabulous dresses that Trashy Diva makes. Sure you might need to pin the cleavage closed a bit sometime or wear a cami underneath for modestly but other than that, once it's on it's a pretty non fussy dress. It has a back zip and plenty of cute tiny pleating to keep it visually interesting on top. However, no pockets on this beauty.

Overall, I'm super happy with this dress and all the more happy that I was able to bid my time and get it on a sale especially considering my reservations about it initially.

Trashy Diva 1940's dress in Psychedelic Ferns- Front View

Trashy Diva 1940's dress in Psychedelic Ferns- Front View

Trashy Diva 1940's dress in Psychedelic Ferns- Side View

Trashy Diva 1940's dress in Psychedelic Ferns- Back View

Trashy Diva 1940's dress in Psychedelic Ferns- Close Up

Candice Gwinn Fontaine Coat Dress in Dark Blue Ribbed Rayon

The Trashy Diva coat has been on my wishlist since it first hit Trashy Diva's website back in the winter of 2016. While I have a million coats already and while I know I don't usually rotate my coats too often, I still really wanted this coat. It's so great to have a dress length coat to wear with retro style dresses. All the better that this is a distinctively 1940's style coat to wear with 1940's style dresses! And so I bid my time on this one and decided to buy if I could during the sale, since I didn't really need it. I have to say though, that this coat exceeded all my expectations! And that's coming from someone who knows just how detail oriented and stunning Trashy Diva coats tend to be.

This dress is made from a heavier weight ribbed rayon fabric with lots of black velvet detail at the collar, cuffs, folded over pockets, buttons and belt. The top portion and arms of the coat are lined in a thick weight rayon/acetate material so it's not going to keep you super warm in you're in an area that snows but for most of our winters here in Northern California where the temperature doesn't get too much lower than 50-55 degrees F generally during the day and about 40 degrees F at night, this coat will keep you warm enough. As is usual with Trashy Diva's coats, there is a snap button and a hook and eye at the waist to keep everything looking polished without any button gaping. I sized up one from my usual size in this and found there was plenty of room to wear layered with my dresses.

Trashy Diva Fontaine Coat Dress in Dark Blue Ribbed Rayon- Front View

Trashy Diva Fontaine Coat Dress in Dark Blue Ribbed Rayon- Front View

Trashy Diva Fontaine Coat Dress in Dark Blue Ribbed Rayon- Side View

Trashy Diva Fontaine Coat Dress in Dark Blue Ribbed Rayon, snap button and hoop and eye detail- Close Up

Trashy Diva Fontaine Coat Dress in Dark Blue Ribbed Rayon, snap button and hoop and eye detail- Close Up

Trashy Diva Fontaine Coat Dress in Dark Blue Ribbed Rayon, Velvet detail- Close Up

Lindy Bop Gilda Swing dress in San Francisco Print

This Lindy Bop dress was a last minute spur of the moment purchase around Black Friday. I'm including it here with my Black Friday purchases even though sadly there wasn't much going on for sales at Lindy Bop at the time and I ended up paying full price for this. (Perhaps it's because they are a UK based company that they didn't participate too much in Black Friday?) Anyhow, for the price I did pay for this dress, I was extremely happy with what I ended up getting.

From my past experiences with Lindy Bop, I have found that while they have great prices on dresses, you never know what you will end up getting in terms of quality both in manufacturing and in fabric. This dress ended up being a resounding success though! The fabric on this dress is the softest cotton I've ever felt on a dress (actually 97% 3% elastane). It also has a great sturdy feel to it. The dress is fully lined, even at the skirt, which is one of my favorite things on dresses! It features front functioning buttons, cute cap sleeves, a side zip, and pockets. The skirt displays a mid century style border print of San Francisco which was the real selling point to me! I can't wait to wear this dress out to the city on the next warmish day I'm out there! I love that the skirt on this dress is pleated at the waist as well which helps showcase the print better rather than a gathered styled skirt.

I wasn't sure what size to order in this dress because I've heard that Lindy Bop's sizing can be all over the place. To add confusion of their sizing system, while all their dresses come in UK sizing and are labeled as such on their UK website, their US website labels their sizing as S, M, L, XL etc. for which the sizing doesn't completely translate... Is L a UK size 12, 14 or 16? Because I was so unsure about the sizing and because this dress has front buttons (and potential gaping problems) I opted to go with a size up from what I usually would buy from other companies. It did end up being a bit large on me. Thankfully though, it does seem a belt helps. If you are looking to get this dress I'd recommend ordering your usual size. Overall though, I am highly impressed with this dress and will definitely try Lindy Bop again if they keep impressing me with cute prints and cuts like this one!

Lindy Bop Gilda swing dress in San Francisco print- Front View

Lindy Bop Gilda swing dress in San Francisco print- Front View

Lindy Bop Gilda swing dress in San Francisco print- Side View

Lindy Bop Gilda swing dress in San Francisco print- Back View

Lindy Bop Gilda swing dress in San Francisco print with added belt- Front View

Lindy Bop Gilda swing dress in San Francisco print with added belt- Side View

Lindy Bop Gilda swing dress in San Francisco print with added belt- Back View

Lindy Bop Gilda swing dress in San Francisco print- Close Up

Lindy Bop Gilda swing dress in San Francisco print- Close Up

Lindy Bop Gilda swing dress in San Francisco print- Close Up