AWKWARD FACE
Mr Stables takes these photos for me and always tells me to smile, unfortunately all I can manage is an awkward smirk. (Ah well!)
What i’m wearing:
Cardigan: Henry Holland (check out the coloured trims)
Top: Charity shop find no label
Skirt: Primark
Accessories: My beloved waistbelt and vintage wooden beads
I love this outfit, mainly because its so comfortable and I can do anything in it! I hate wearing clothes that make me feel restricted or paranoid that I’m going to flash my bum. Being a plus size girl I like outfits that make the most of my curves and hide my bumpy bits so this ticks all the boxes -even if I do feel a little like a milk maid!
I hate to brag, but I had a fabulous weekend.
I spent the saturday daytime scavenging through the local charity shops with my mum. We were on a serious buying spree and I ended up spending £50.00 on 8 second hand dresses, three of them vintage and the others fab makes.
I love Sundays, I especially love Sundays when my Scott is off work and we get to go on mini adventures. Last weekend we decided to go to the beach with Scott’s parents, his lovely sister and her fiance. Scott’s parents took us all to West Wittering, I have never been there before so it was quite a Sunday outing for me. The weather looked dodgy in the morning so I decided to wear jeans and a gypsy blouse – I very rarely wear jeans and trust me to choose them on the day that the weather turns out to be superb. I wear my dresses in the rain and snow, but the day we actually have warm sunshine I wear jeans…irritating and typical!
We had an early start so I couldn’t really be bothered to style my hair properly, I thought a quick quiff and large flower would rockabilly my outfit enough for me. I love the gingham blouse I wore, I brought it from a jumble sale last summer, it has no label and is a little tatty around the hems so I am guessing it is homemade – which makes me love it more! My little black cardigan was a find at the bootsale last Sunday, it is cashmere with different coloured small roses dotted all over it, it is stunning and only cost me £1.50 – I was chuffed when i found it, I have only worn it three times and I have had compliments on it each time.
Wittering is a fabulous little place. At first I was horrified by the £7.50 per car entrance fee but the toilets are nice and clean – for that, I would be £15.00 per car! When you go on an outing with the Stables clan, you do it properly, and I was delighted when Scott’s dad started pulling out gazebos, deck chairs, blankets, barbeques, gas stoves, kettles, a china tea set and every type of meat and salad you could think of. I sat on the beach in the sun, drinking beer and eating too much food – my ideal day!
THERE ARE ALSO COWS THERE…!!!!!
I felt very chilled out, just what I needed after a hectic week at work, and it was made all the more marvellous by my OH. He wore a vintage coffee coloured Fred Perry with his 1970’s aviators and dark jeans – he looked like a retro seventies detective! He is so handsome, I am a very lucky girl and love him very much.
I love my second family, and I cannot wait to be Mrs Stables. I hope you all had fabulous weekends, and its Thursday now, so we all have the bank holiday very close (wahoo)!!
Psssst. Me and Scott got the gorgeous flat that I spoke about in my last post! I will write and put up pictures when we move in!
Let me tell you a little about my tattoos…
(I apologise for the quality of the photos in advance)
I am the biggest wimp you will -ever- meet, I hate pain and have no tolerance even for the smallest scratch so how I manage to get inked is beyond me. From what my fiance and friends tell me I am not a lady sat in that dreaded chair, apparently I swear like a sailor and hate the tattooist – I don’t remember any of this, because when I look at my stunning new piece of art all the soreness disappears.
I only have four tattoo’s so far, I will get more, I have plans for 4 more already and when I have the money I will get them.
I got my first tattoo when I was 17, I was underage and went alone to the tattooist. I was tattooed by a lovely female artist who was really nice to me but the silly cow didn’t ID me. I now feel irresponsible getting something permanent on my body at such a young age with no real consideration for what I was doing to myself. Luckily I chose my swallow, I still love this tattoo and it will always be my favourite. I am getting bored with people asking if it is the Jack Sparrow tattoo – it’s not! I would love to tell you a long elaborate tale of how I got a swallow because it meant something important to me and has some great hidden meaning but it doesn’t – I love swallow tattoo’s and I love linear ink.
I got my second tattoo when I was 18 and off-age. It is a swallow on my right wrist, it’s a bright blue butterfly positioned so it appears to fly away from me. I love butterfly’s – to me they suggest freedom and beauty. I didn’t over plan this tattoo, I decided I wanted a butterfly on my wrist, found a photograph of a beautiful insect, and then got an incredibly talented tattooist to put it on me. Phil from Second Skin in Aldershot got a right ear full from me when he told me that I would have to go bigger with the butterfly unless I wanted him to do it with a single needle – I decided that I wanted it small so had it done with the single needle. Even though it is only 1″ x 1″ the tattoo took 2 hours and was agony!
My third tattoo was a mistake, and I recently had it covered up. My fourth tattoo is a large rose on my left shoulder. I had this tattoo whilst I was at University in Scarborough by a wicked guy at Kind Arthur’s Tattoo studio. Id seen a guy around campus with a beautiful rose tattooed on his arm, and stopped him one day to find out when he’d had it done – that is how I came across Stu. I had to wait weeks before I could get my appointment. When I turned up at the studio I was shown no drawing to pre-approve and was slightly horrified when I sat down and just had circles drawn on my shoulder with a few sketchy petals, but I had seen Stu’s previous tattoos and fully trusted him. My rose is for my Grandmother, she loved roses and I am sure she would hate my tattoo’s but I like having a symbol of her looking out for my back.
I got my last tattoo last month and it is still healing. It is a leopard print tattoo on my left wrist and it was a cover up to a small anchor I had done in a moment of madness once. Where the tattoo was over already scarred skin I developed slight scar tissue, but this has started to heal and I am chuffed. I wanted leopard print on my body, everyone who knows me will say that I love leopard print, six out of seven days I am wearing something animal printed and it felt right to have it on my body. I wanted an anchor because my dad is a fisherman and I wanted something to make me think of him on me. The japanese waves are simply there because I think they are pretty.
My arm is looking rather unbalanced so I am planning to have other nautical themed ink to make a half sleeve on my lower arm. I am thinking of involving some more waves, maybe a sailor lady sat on a compass (Sam suggested that one), and some nautical stars would be cool. I am not very artistic though so I will present the idea to my current tattooist and see what he thinks would sit nicely with the rest of my work.
I might wait until after my wedding though, although I love being an illustrated lady I need to be saving my money for that big day. If only tattoo’s were free, I would be one happy girlie.
Well what a rocking weekend I have had! My fiance and have been looking forward to seeing Rudy la Crouix for months, they are our friend Rowdy’s band and we having them play at wedding next year so we were very excited for the night out.
As usual, I did not have a clue what I was going to wear! I haven’t been to the Westie rock and roll night before so I didn’t know whether it was a swing dress and petticoat night or jeans and a gingham shirt – so I decided I would go for something in-between. Thank God for my loyal flatmate Sam, she sat in my room with me for over an hour going through all my dresses, changing my underwear, shoes, jewellery – I think I changed at least 12 times! I was very nearly at the point of tears when Sam ventured into the part of my wardrobe reserved for dresses that don’t fit me at the moment, she took out my silk pokadot halterneck £95.00 dress from Monsoon. It has never fitted me, even when I brought it it was a slimming into number, so when she made me try it on and the zip eased up, I felt smug! I am on a wedding diet at the moment and over the last 6 weeks have lost 16Ibs, I currently have a 35″ waist and I am determined to have a 28″ waist for my wedding dress.
,The gig was hosted by the ‘Memphis Belles’ a bloody brilliant local rock and roll club. The members are a real assortment of people, but you will never meet a more accommodating and welcoming bunch. Scott and I have been going out on the Rock and Roll circuit for just over a year now but because of our business we are normally selling our clothing so don’t always get the chance to dance so our jiving is still not the standard we want it, and I am still learning the basic moves for the ladies only dancing but they take you under their wings and teach you all their moves – Rockers never judge!
Rudy la Crouix play lots of boppin songs and we want them for the wedding because their “Folsom Prison Bop” is one of mine and Scott’s songs so of course I had a wiggle on the dance floor to that. They also have a country influence adding their own rock and roll twist to classics like ‘House of the Rising Sun’. The band really do know how to entertain and I hope that when we have them at the wedding our friends and family will love the foot tapping beats and music that can’t help but put a smile on your face!
Please check out the band and if they are playing any gigs near to you – try to see them – they are true gentleman and a band that you don’t want to miss out on!
What a lucky lucky girl I am. I discovered and brought the most beautiful nautical dress and I want to share it with the world. I started browsing chic star a few months ago, and have wanted to order something from them in ages but decided that their prices were too cheap (what was I thinking!) and that the dresses might be bad materials…well hands up ladies, because I was horribly wrong! I decided to buy myself the navy blue sailor dress. Payment was easy and I received the dress within 5 days, amazing considering it flew over from the USA. I decided to play safe and brought the dress in a size 20 (I wear anything between a 16-20) and im glad I went for my larger size as the dress is made in that extra clingy material which is fabulous for showing off my pin-up curves.
I love the dress and would recommend it to anyone who wants the Vintage Sailor look. However, I was a bit miffed with the belt – it is too big! I havent actually worn the belt that comes with the dress yet as I am waiting to add some extra belt holes to it so it does the job! I love that they make plus size girls, but with real curves we can have little waists! (I have a 34″ waist and 52″ hips!) So have been experimenting with other belts I have in my wardrobe.
I plan on wearing this as a daytime dress to a Rock’n’roller I am going to on Saturday, I haven’t decided what I am going to wear in the evening yet – that will probably be tomorrows blog!
(I seem to pull very uncomfortable faces in my blog pictures, and please my “just got in from work” hair, there’s no excuse for it really!!)
Anyways, just wanted to show off my new dress!
I think every plus size pin-up should have one ❤
Brought to you with love,
Frankii Silver
Bonjour my fellow bloggers and welcome to “Frankii loves Vintage” my personal vintage inspired blog. I am a rock and roll girl at heart and am fortunate to live my life surrounded by fabulous vintage clothes, handbags and homeware – my lovely flatmate Sam has inspired me to write a blog of my own sharing my goodies with the world.
Today I am going to simply tell you a bit about me. I am a plus-size girl and have found 1950’s dresses lend themselves to ladies with curves! Personally I love the rockabilly fashion and try to mould myself to look every inch the rock and roll queen. Inspired by the timeless pin-ups such as Betty Page and Marilyn Monroe I paint my nails red, make my hair red and flick my eyeliner like a lady. Unlike Marilyn, I have rockabilly inspired tattoos including a swallow, rose and most recently a leopard print anchor on my wrist. I love having my own unique style and dressing to flatter my figure is an added plus.
Yesterday I wore a white linen 1950’s inspired dress from Marks and Spencer. I got several compliments on my dress and everyone thought it was authentic! I have collected vintage clothing for around five years now and it is difficult to get the genuine articles in larger sizes (I wear a UK16-20) so it is brilliant to be able to buy good ‘copies’ on the highstreet. I got my Marks and Sparks dress in the Per Una sale for £29.00 ( it doesn’t really get more of a bargain than that! In normal circumstances I would have worn the dress with wedge heels to lengthen my legs and hide my chubby ankles (I am a tall girl but have chunky legs!) but Hastings is full of hills so I wore it with my moccasin pumps.
My trip to Hastings was to rummage through the dozens of retro shops that are based in the Old Town. I love shopping in Hastings because you never know what treat you are going to find. I went with my fiance, Scott, and my mum. Scott loves everything 1950’s from the clothing to the music, and secretly wishes he was Johnny Cash. From wearing the bowling shirts to Brylcreem-ing his hair, my man is head to toe stuck in a 50’s time warp and I wouldn’t have him any other way! He has been after some more jeans in a while, he’s been oo-and-arring over some Freddie’s jeans for a while, but only knows online stockists and did not want to risk them being the wrong size with the hassle of having to send them back, so he was chuffed when he discovered a shop that sold Prison Blue jeans. Shipped over from the USA, direct from Oregan Prison where inmates make them, it is their own choice to make the clothing and there is a three-year waiting list for those wanting to join the production line, these jeans are made from heavy durable material and are cut in the classic americana fifties design, Scott brought the classic shape in the dark blue colour – he considered the black pair, but to be honest they look the same as Levi 501’s and aren’t as “rock and roll”.
Buy your man a pair from the High Street Retro Centre, Hastings or online from http://www.rockersengland.co.uk
Everyday I will share another plus-size vintage dress I have found, or a unique accessory or piece of homeware that I think is amazing. I might simple post a classic song that I’ve got in my head that day, I will try to post something new everyday.
This is a simple welcome post and tomorrow I will have something more exciting to say. For the meanwhile check out the M&S website, it’s an unusual place to look for retro fashions but I found my glorious goodie there this week so you might just find one too.
Made for you with love,
Frankii Silver
xxx
Frankii Loves Vintage 
