Okay, so I realize it might be weird to say that I am pining for Pin Up Girl Clothing when here I am, wearing one of their dresses. But they have so many! And I want them all! But I digress; let’s move on to the topic at hand.
PUG Clothing is my favorite U.S. clothing company. I love retro apparel, and, more importantly, I love clothing that handles my proportions well without needing to be altered. Everything I’ve ever tried from PUG has been well-made and gorgeous, and the Anna dress is no exception.
While a properly fitted dress can be a dream come true, most of the time I find stretchy clothing to be the easiest option for the curvy set. With my high waist and bust and freakishly small ribcage and shoulders, finding a dress that fits off the rack with an underbust seam in the right place (and that nips in enough to show my actual size), a short enough distance from bust to top of shoulders to prevent Extreme Cleavage Situations (ECS from here on out), and enough room for the boobily joobilies can be quite the challenge. Enter… Spandex. My hero. Along with fabrics like stretch bengaline, spandex does the work for me so I don’t have to hire a tailor. The Anna dress is 82% nylon and 18% spandex which gives it quite a bit of stretchy goodness that suits my shape well. Another plus is the level of coverage the arm and shoulder areas offer. The shoulders are wide enough to cover any bra straps (and even the little silicone pads you might have slipped under them), and the armholes come up and around far enough to avoid showing bra or, heaven forbid, the dreaded sideboob. The cheery print and little details, such as the ties that hang down at the arms, wrap it up into a delightful choice for an evening out on the town, a casual cocktail party… Or perhaps just a nice evening in with someone special?
“I’ll just make myself a little drink…”
“Why, who could that be at the door?”
Forgive the silliness there, but I do love a bit of a story in any photo set. Imagine what you will there. The milkman, perhaps?
As you can see, I am wearing a belt in these pictures. The belt doesn’t come with the dress, but I felt I needed to add it because unfortunately, even in stretchy dresses, bustier ladies sometimes need to size up to get a comfortable fit. In this case, I am wearing a size medium, which accommodates my top half (or third, really) quite nicely but is looser than I would like at the waist. I already had this belt, so it was an easy fix. I would recommend that anyone wearing a J-cup or higher (whatever the band size; we’re looking at relative proportions for this) consider erring on the higher side for sizing, as the size that fits in the waist may pull in the bust and create an ECS or have issues with where the underbust seam hits. See below, in which I am wearing a small:
“Wow! This pulls in so nicely against my waist!”
“But seams…
Why would you want to sit on my boobies like that?”
*Not shown (sorry – I forgot to take pictures of this): ECS when a belt was added and the dress was pulled down to the point where the seams hit in the right place. The lack of fabric in the bust area and lowered neckline caused the fabric in the bust area to pull to the sides, creating a very revealing and somewhat awkward looking warped V shape.
While you will need a plunge bra to pull off the neckline in whatever size you choose, if your proportions are like mine then in the smaller size your gore will actually need scuba gear.
Also, some of my fabulous ladyfriends have mentioned to me that in smaller sizes, the fabric can cling in unflattering ways to tummies and other bits. As the fabric is a bit thinner than might be desired, I can see how this might be an issue.
So there you have it. The Anna is a versatile and comfortable dress that is highly recommended for having of all manner of fun times in the upcoming warm weather months. And now, if you’ll indulge me, I’ll include just one more photo to close this post, as the setting – the home of the fantastic photographer responsible for these images, Geoff Carter – was completely perfect and I want to show it off a bit more.
“Ah, a bit of light reading.”
Company:
Pin Up Girl Clothing Item:
Anna Dress in Red Polka Dots Size: Medium
Price: $72.00
Style: Dress it up or down.
Ratings:
Fit: 7/10, 9/10 with belt added.
Quality: 8/10
Comfort: 10/10
Value: 6/10
Style: 9/10
My measurements at the time of the photoshoot: 39/28/39
Last resort bra ridiculousness: a 36GG Freya Deco with the band literally safety pinned in to make it as close to a 28 as possible, straps shortened, boobs manually adjusted approximately every thirty seconds.
The bra situation is pretty dire these days, and I didn’t have a suitable plunge. I repeat: LAST RESORT.
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Hair and makeup done by my dear friend and colleague, the multi-talented and distinctly fabulous Elaine Thomas.
Photography by Geoff Carter. I was supposed to pick my favorites and let him work his photography magic on them, but I was a jerk and put off deciding, and then it had been a week since I posted something substantial so I just used them. I think it is a distinct testament to his work that they look this good without even a smidge of retouching. But yeah. Sorry, Geoff. My bad. Heh, that is probably the first time I’ve said “my bad” in ten years. Oooh yeah. Bringin’ back that mid-90’s slang.
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An extra note:
Thanks, readers. You’ve already visited my blog so many times in this first week of its existence, and I can’t tell you how lovely it is to have received such a warm welcome to the blogosphere. I’ve looked at the results from the polls I posted, and I’m planning on doing my best to please everyone by updating The Brog twice a week. Starting this weekend, I will post a complete review with pictures on Sunday evening/Monday morning (I tend to be up late, so my Sunday evening may very well be what you would consider to be the start of the work week), and then another, less involved post on Thursdays. The Thursday post will be a resource list, link roundup, short review of something small that doesn’t work well, or possibly just an opinion piece on a (hopefully) relevant topic. I’ll post more if I can, but you should be able to expect that much weekly. For extra pictures, short thoughts, links to excellent posts by other busty bloggers, and other such things in between the main blog posts, please also check out:
My Facebook Page
– and –
My Tumblr
I will try to update them daily so we can keep in touch and so I can get as much helpful and/or entertaining content to you as possible. There’s a lot of great stuff out there that is more than worth mentioning but won’t end up getting posted here, as I will be trying to stick to longform entries.
Till next time, then, gentle readers.
Oh, what the heck, one more thing, just for funsies…
