transretrogurl

My, hasn’t time flown by? According to my dashboard at WordPress this blog is two years old (slightly more, meant to write this last week but real-drab-life got in the way). One of my careers is as a professional author and I’ve officially passed the word count of my four published novels *easily* with this little corner of the pink-web. Also, I haven’t published a novel in over a year and, err, I’ve spent a lot of that time writing these blog posts…..

But hey, a birthday is a birthday, so I thought I’d do something fun (for a change). I started this blog after reading a GG’s blog page where she reviewed my favourite frock of the time, a HellBunny Francine. This blog poster gushed over how the frock felt, how it clung to her in all the right places, how it was a joy to wear during the day, and I felt, going to be honest, really jealous that someone could have so much fun as part of their normal day.

So I thought, hell, I’d write a blog. And it would be all gushing over frocks and blouses, really femm-y, somewhere I could share my love of the retro dress with other like-minded girls.

Well, it didn’t quite go to plan – once I started writing the blog all my devils (and angels) leaked out, and here we are – this blog has been my own private multiple-personality shrink/vent/place-of-erotica. And I’m happy it turned out that way.

But, as a little birthday present, this blog post is going to be *exactly* what I set out to do originally. We’re going to gush over Hell Bunny for a bit…..

Going back over the last three years of session photos it becomes surprising just how many Bunny frocks and blouses I have worn. And, without fail, all of them have been wonderful – Hell Bunny do something special with their choice of styles. The frocks are always gorgeous to wear, lovely fabrics. Not quite as divine as Vivien of Holloway, but they seem to almost have been made just for me (yeah, Sarah, well *I*, can be narcissistic at the best of times). And they are varied – I have worn 50s flowing frocks, velvet kinky dresses, see-through blouses, even a very warm and comfy coat, all Hell Bunny.

So, let’s have a little look at what I’ve worn from the couture of the evil rabbit….

Francine

Pictured – trying for a Ginger Spice look…. 

I still love this frock with a passion. I actually bought and wore one back when I did session with the great Alison Dale, but the Francine has been a sneaky favourite (I call it doing a ‘revisit’ when I’m at Cindy’s, and Francine gets worn a lot).

It’s a lovely fabric, very smooth and sheeny, and it flows deliciously around your legs as you swish and sway on heels. I’ve worn it with and without petticoats – without makes it a pseudo-modern post-ironic day dress, with makes it wonderfully retro and 1950s. The collar and buttons are for show but add a lot to the look, and the pattern, flowers and apples, is again post-modern cute. It’s the kind of frock a seriously tattooed woman could get away with wearing, highlighting both the ultra-femininity but also modern enough to be a statement.

Pictured – add a petticoat/apron and suddenly it’s very housewife-y

I love it. There’s just something about this dress that I can’t put my finger on – when it’s on it just triggers a softer Sarah. When I started dressing again this was the dress I dreamt about wearing all the time.

Pictured – my very first Cindy session….

It’s kind of hard to get hold of now, Hell Bunny have decommissioned it which is a huge shame, but there are lots of retro dealers on eBay and you can pick it up occasionally on Amazon when someone finds a pack of them that didn’t sell. Highly worth keeping an eye out for them…

The 1940s Land Girl dress – ‘Birdy’

Again, one of the first frocks I bought after Sarah re-emerged, I *loved* this style. So much I bought it a couple of times in different colours. It’s a lot different to the Francine, different material, tighter fit (especially when I had more weight 😉 ), and a joy to wear. It hugs the hips a lot, flares out but isn’t a full skirted dress like the Francine or some of the others they do.

Pictured – first ever session at Alison Dale. I loved this look.

First one I had was a beautiful red number with black polkadots and a lovely stylised collar. I then got it again in dark red and a really nice green with a bird emblem – in fact, I haven’t got around to wearing the green one yet, been keeping it for a special occasion (it’s a going-out frock if you know what I mean. If I ever find somewhere safe and 1940s to go to it will be my dress of choice).

Pictured – natural light! Hiss, hiss, insert vampire-reference-here, hiss….

We had a funny moment when modelling this frock at the last session I did with Cindy – it was still a little cold (April) and Cindy has a little floor heater she uses to warm up the cabin where she does her photo-shoots. She’d positioned it on the floor pointing to where I was standing, and the hot gases from the heater went right up my skirt and inflating the dress out like some kind of odd air-balloon. It made for some fantastic shots, but after a while it started to cook my nether regions and the stockings started to feel a little crispy. Good effect though – I highly recommend having someone blow hot air up your dress when it’s a cold day. Hmm, did that come out wrong?

Pictured – tucked and cooked, a good way to never have children….

Slight aside at this point – we did the 1940s land girl dress at the last session with the blonde look (above) but also tried a more 1940s hairstyle. I *loved* it – I’m tempted to try and find some way to get Cindy to do Victory Rolls, I think they’d look divine with this frock.

The bird motif ones are still on sale directly from the Hell Bunny site – again, I’d highly recommend them. They feel so *right*  when you wear them, the shoulders, across the breasts, hips are all nicely done and accentuate the figure in a delightful way.

Pictured – rocking the 1940s look, all I need now is a hubby overseas and a ration card…

The Marilyn Look

I think it was the second time I’d ever been to Cindy’s – I wanted to try something a lot more 1950s/Marilyn so we tried this gorgeous wig (which I still use today – it’s the one in the featured image at the top of this article) and a complete retro make-up look. Luckily I’d got my hands on another of the old Hell Bunny range – this was another 1940s style but not quite as on-the-mark as the Birdy one. I only wore this dress once in a session but it was cute – again, lovely fabric, not quite as good a fit but you can’t go wrong with pink.

Pictured – ultra-retro look

This look sums up the old school Hell Bunny – they did a lot of ranges like this in lots of colour. However, in the last couple of years they’ve changed the style a little, and some of the new stuff I absolutely *love*, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Pictured – yup, I think my need for retro made itself clear in this session.

A little touch of Gothic Naughtiness

About two years ago Hell Bunny changed their range and some of their styling. They started doing more overtly gothic looks, and rockabilly. Now I may have said it a couple of times but I had a thing for goth girls when I was growing up. I didn’t want to be one, but I so wanted to be friends with one. Thing is, Goths, as they were back then, were a pretty insular bunch, and I was strictly labelled a ‘metaller’, so there was very little chance to get to know them.

Fast forward twenty odd years and when Hell Bunny released a kinky little gothic number for Halloween I *had* to get myself one. And wow, it was gorgeous.

Pictured – couldn’t you just eat her up? Don’t answer that….

Black velvet, very short, ‘Wednesday’ Addams styling with a seriously cute collar (with little bats on it!) and such a lovely figure fit.

Course, I could never go out dressed in it. Way too kinky, but you’ve got to love that styling. Plus I’d never worn a velvet dress – there’s a fabric I could get used to.

Pictured – going to be honest, I need to stop putting these up. I have such a crush on her and that is probably not healthy for sooooo many reasons.

The Coat

You never see Sarah in a coat. For a start, I’m always indoors. Which helps. But also I’ve never really found a coat I like in a woman’s style. They all seem to hide the stuff underneath which, of course, is what they are meant to do. But I did buy and try a HellBunny one – it was a 1960s styled pink affair and it was very nice. Bit warm (again, indoors), but I liked the cut and the fabric – satin inside, wool outside.

Pictured – not going outside….

Here’s an odd aside – for some reason I felt very vulnerable when I was wearing the coat. It was a feeling I’d not had before, even when I was tarted up like a night-club goer, stood in the Wayout club clutching my purse and my tenth glass of wine while unknown men fondled my heavily padded bottom. There was something about wearing a coat that seem to invite the feeling of going outside and that gave me an odd thrill that was both exciting and uncomfortable.  Ah well, I’m guessing this blog and that previous sentence will fund some psychotherapist’s holiday sometime soon.

The Cherie Blouse

Oh my goodness. I fell in love with this blouse so hard it hurt. You might have noticed that I’m rarely a separate’s girl – I love dresses because they are quintessentially feminine, and for some reason the idea of a skirt and a blouse doesn’t hold as much appeal to me as buttoning up a flaring 1950s day-dress, but this was different.

Pictured – ah dammit, I have a crush on her as well.

For a start it had the perfect Peter-Pan collar and buttons. And a gorgeous pattern. And, err, was a little transparent.

OK, I didn’t know it was so transparent when I bought it, but wow, it was sheer. We did two looks with it – a modern look with a tight skirt, and a retro look with a lovely Vivien of Holloway circle skirt, and both worked a treat. I normally leave all the clothes I buy at Cindy’s for others to enjoy, but selfishly, and very much like a woman, I kept this blouse and brought it back. Because I wanted it all to myself. Bad girl.

Anyway, I’d highly recommend getting one of these, and they have literally just released another similar one that has a beautiful pattern of cherries on it, and black buttons. Oooo, I think I may have to treat myself….

Pictured – change the hair to blonde, give her a circle skirt, petticoat and a handbag and et voila, 1950s housewife off to do the shopping.

The best to last….. the ultimate 1950s Housewife

I actually bought three of these – the first one is the gorgeous blue floral one, then I bought the black one which, again, is divine, and I also bought a cream one which I haven’t worn yet.

Pictured – all of my 1950s housewife fantasies at once.

And these are the ultimate frock as far as I am concerned. They have an inner-dress, satin, and an outer dress that just ticks all the 1950s boxes. And interestingly this is a new range from Hell Bunny. It is as if they looked at their range of gothic and rockabilly and went ‘hmm, remember we used to do the most sublime retro frocks? Let’s do it again’.

Pictured – gorgeous print, gorgeous feel, just gorgeous all over

I wear these with petticoats *always*. The dresses demand that, the shape on them is just perfect and the way it flows when you walk literally made me giggle like a schoolgirl. So yeah. this dress is pretty much all of my retro fetishes rolled up into one delightful package.

What’s lovely about this frock is that it is more than a frock to me. It symbolises a way of life that has gone, a more beautiful time when women were venerated and adored. Yeah, rose-tinted glasses and all, but in my defence I can only go with what my mind tells me, and my mind loves this dress. It pretty much sums up Sarah and everything that this blog is about, so it’s a good way to finish the two-year anniversary post with.

Pictured – my title for this one was ‘shush, don’t tell my hubby I’m off down town with the girls for a drink and a gossip’. Which pretty much sums up my retro fetishes nicely

So, happy birthday to Sarah (the blog). Thanks for sticking with me for these two years of fun, stay beautiful and, if you are of a similar persuasion as I am, pop to the HellBunny site and treat your inner woman. She’ll love you for it….