Dressing Kill Moon

Photos above taken by Rosie Staff

I was honored when my friend, Izzy, asked me to make her a dress for her band's recent gig at The Haunt. She'd found a beautiful vintage bra and slip and wanted them tailored together. Having known Izzy for a while, her style, what she likes, I saw her vision straight away. I almost bit her hand off for the chance to make something that she would wear while performing!

I won't bore you too much with how I made the dress. I'm just so pleased with how it came out! Doesn't Izzy look gorgeous? The soft colours of the dress goes perfectly with her baby pink hair. Girly, but with a rock chick edge! It took me 3-4 hours to hand sew the sequins to the bra. But by gosh, it was worth it!

(C) NINI NOEL PHOTOGRAPHY http://nininoel.tumblr.com/

The photos above were taken by Nini Noel, a talented fashion photographer who is definitely one to watch! You can check out more of her work here. And if you haven't already, check out Kill Moon. They're a Brighton band on the up-and-up and most definitely one to keep an eye on. Izzy makes a great front lady and together as a band they're just AWESOME! You can catch them live at The Hope on the 28th Feb 2014.

See you in the mosh pit!

P.S  If you would like me to make you a dress, please email me at jennie@vintageowlboutique.com to arrange a consultation. I'm also available for styling work and you can view my portfolio here

Kill Moon

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WHAT I WORE: Finding the perfect dress

I had a bit of a shopping haul at Beyond Retro last month. I bought a green maxi dress (which needed some work to it) and a 70s brown velvet jacket. As you can see from my pictures, the length of the dress was quite long and unflattering but there were little design features I just fell in love with when I saw it hanging on the rail.  Especially the über cute velvet peter pan collar! I just knew if it was shorter it would be perfect. So, with a little bit of DIY know how, I set about customising the dress.

It didn't take long to-do once I'd decided how long I wanted it. I carefully removed the excess and then re-hemmed the skirt using a sewing machine. It was done in under an hour and, voila, I had a dress I loved and adored. Don't you think it looks SUPER cute shorter? Plus it now goes perfectly with my new 70s jacket! LOVE IT! 

So, the moral of this post is; don't be too hasty if you find a garment that isn't perfect when your thrifting. With a little thought and skill you can make changes and customisations that will turn it into something you'll love forever. It's certainly a cheap and easy option to keep your wardrobe up to-date. If your not particularly brilliant with a sewing machine, getting alterations done for you are not too expensive these days. I highly recommend Alma's Alterations in Brighton. Only costs from £12-£20 (depends if there is a lining) to shorten a dress and she also offers a dressmaking service if you want something made from scratch.

Do you like to customise garments you've thrifted?

Big love,

P.S I got a curling wand for Christmas (thank you Mr D!) so I've been having fun making my hair curly. You can see the results in my 'after' photos. Best pressie ever! Tutorial coming soon :)

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PART 3: Christmas DIY Nails with Kerri Lown

WE USED: Professional Nail Art Pen + Brush in black, white and gold, Nina Ultra Pro in Cobalt, Louise Gray by Topshop in Junkyard, Nails by Topshop in Panther and 17 Fast Finish in Knock Out Red

 

1. Paint 2 coats of a dark blue nail varnish on your little finger. We used.... Then paint 2 coats of red on the rest of your fingers.

 

 2. Once your base colours are dry, apply a glitter nail varnish to the tips of your index, middle and ring finger. We used

3. Next we will be adding details of Santa's coat to the thumb. Use your nail art pens to do this; gold for the buckle, black for the belt and white for the buttons and trim. 

 4. Fill in the belt with the black nail art pen.

 5. With the black nail art pen write 'Ho' on the index, middle and ring finger.

 6. Using the white nail art pen, fill in the trim of Santa's coat.

7. Add detail of snow to the little finger

8. Once everything is dry, apply a clear top coat.

 ✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

So that was the last design! Have fun with your nails this Christmas. Don't forget to take a snap of your Christmas nails and upload them to Instagram, along with the tag #HMOXmasNails. Also, thank you to Ella Turner for being my hand model, wasn't she fabulous? Will be doing more nail DIYs in the new year so watch this space :)

Merry Christmas everybody!

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