Your daily dose of pretty: Cap Sleeve Dress from Get Cutie

I love Get Cutie. They make a range of vintage-style skirts, dresses and accessories which you can order in any of the fabrics they have in stock. And the range of fabrics is BIG (123 different fabrics big), so I'm a bundle of indecision right at the moment.

I want this dress:

In this fabric:

Or this fabric:

But, how cute is this:

And oh my goodness this!:

This (as pretty as it is) would probably be a bad idea - too much white for me to spill stuff on:

Or CATS! In kimonos!:

So, that's narrowed it down a bit. While my head explodes from the indecision you can go check out the Short Cap Sleeve Dress (£110.00) on Get Cutie. And you can check out all 123 fabric swatches here.

Your daily dose of pretty: Black Lace Print Pocket Dress from Dorothy Perkins

I have to say there's a bit of a "curtain fabric" feel to this dress. And y'know, I quite like it that way:

It's certainly far sexier than anything Julie Andrews ever whipped up from the curtains, isn't it?

The Black Lace Print Pocket Dress is £26.60 on sale from Dorothy Perkins.

Your daily dose of pretty: Orange Bodycon Dress by Dorothy Perkins

Tucked and pleated neckline and sleeve detailing is turning up a lot at the moment, and this dress is a beautiful example of how this detailing can lift an otherwise ordinary (but chic) dress to something special.

Gorgeous. I even love the colour. Despite the fact that it's orange. Don't ask me how that works, it just does. Does anybody else really hate the term "bodycon" though? To me it sounds like an aerobics class from the 80s. I did aerobics classes in the 80s - complete with high cut leotard, legwarmers, and permed hair. Not something I want to be reminded of.

The Orange Bodycon Dress is £28.00 from Dorothy Perkins.

Your daily dose of pretty: Betty Knit Dress from Fever London

One shop I didn't get to check out on our trip to England last year was Fever London. I did see a couple of their dresses in a boutique in Leamington Spa when I met up with the gorgeous Lauren of The Zombie Wears Vintage and they really are stunning.

Next year Eccentric English Boyfriend and I are planning another trip to England, so you can bet Fever will be on my Must See (and Buy All the Stuff) List. And this dress will be one of the ones to try on if it's still in stock:

Cute, huh? There are two other colourways in the Betty Dress (pink/blue and black/camel) but this red/white/blue colourway known as Bardot is my favourite. It's crying out for a beret and a baguette and a gorgeous frenchman. Or maybe just the gorgeous Frenchman. I don't want to be too demanding.

The Betty Dress in Bardot colourway is currently £49.99 on sale from Fever London.

Your daily dose of pretty: SunnyGirl at Freez Padlock Dress

Not only does this dress look like a lovely flirty style for hot summer days, what appeared at first sight to be a geometric pattern of some sort is actually padlocks:

Too cute.  I'm sure there's a joke about locks or keys in there somewhere. It's late at night and I can't think of one. If you come with one let me know in the comments!

The Padlock Dress by Sunnygirl at Freez is AU$39.00.

Your daily dose of pretty: Dorothy Perkins Blue Bird Ruched Waist Dress

Y'know, I never used to like bird prints on clothes. Or on anything for that matter. Birds belonged in they sky and neither they, nor their poop, should be on my clothes. Then along came those Miu Miu shoes with birds on them*, I fell head over heels in love and suddenly I find myself quite partial to a bird print. I still don't like bird poop though. Which is probably a good thing.

I love the colours in the print on this Dorothy Perkins dress; and the ruching and pleating at the waist. The Blue Bird Ruched Waist Dress is £30.00.

* "Which Miu Miu shoes?", I hear you say. Would you like to see a photo of them? Oh go on then:

Did you hear that? That was the sound of me swooning. These are my dream shoes. And one day they will be mine. Somehow. When I have a spare £368.49 which is what they currently cost on Net-A-Porter. Anybody in need of a kidney?

Your daily dose of pretty: Sterling Blue Vintage Reproduction Dress from Red Dress Shoppe

I kind of wish I had some swanky Christmas parties to go to just so I could justify ordering this gorgeous dress.

That colour! It's not a colour you see very often and it is gorgeous. Plus that beautiful fitted waist, gathered bust and full floaty skirt - this is like my dream dress. In fact if Eccentric English Boyfriend were ever to ask me to marry him I'd want this as my wedding dress. (I've done the white wedding once, this is perfect for a second marriage!) I'm pretty sure he won't see me wanting a dress as a good enough reason for marriage though.

The Sterling Blue Vintage Reproduction Dress is US$78.00 from Red Dress Shoppe.

Your daily dose of pretty: Wiggle Dress by Pixie Pocket

I spend a lot of time sighing over reproduction vintage dresses I see in online stores. Occasionally I cave in and buy them too, but not as often as I'd like because international postage to New Zealand makes them just that little bit more expensive.

But this dress. This dress is from a New Zealand store. I may have just died of happiness. And Eccentric English Boyfriend may have just made a frenzied dash to hide the credit card.

The Black and White Striped Wiggle Dress is a very reasonable NZ$95.00 from Pixie Pocket on Felt.co.nz, and it's not the only gorgeous dress in their store. Now where did EEB hide that credit card?

Your daily dose of pretty: Grace dress from Hubba Hubba Vintage

Sometimes I wish I'd lived in an era when a woman's wardrobe contained "occasion" dresses. House dresses and cocktail dresses and formal day dresses. Especially "formal day dresses" - there's something about that I really like the sound of.

Here's a lovely formal day dress from Hubba Hubba vintage - who do some gorgeous repro stuff.

What I love about this dress is that up close you can see the fabric has a tiny spot print.

So pretty. And that belted waist and full skirt is to die for.

The Grace dress is £150 from Hubba Hubba Vintage.

Your daily dose of pretty: Betty dress by Natasha Bailie

Winter has started here in New Zealand. After a warmer than normal May the start of June marked not only the official beginning of winter, but also the beginning of the cold, wet, windy weather. Oh and another head cold for me. So, ummm, yay?

Miserable weather and a miserable cold can mean only one thing - browsing the internet for pretty flowery spring dresses. Of course. And look at this one:

Look at that plunging vee back and that gorgeous oversized bow! The Betty vintage styled dress is £120 from Natasha Bailie, a Singapore-based stockist of vintage clothing who have recently started producing their own range of vintage-styled dresses, of which the Betty is one.

Your daily dose of pretty: ASOS PREMIUM Pleat Shoulder Dress With Full Skirt

I'm couch-bound and slowly disappearing behind a mountain of wadded up tissues today my pretties, because I have a cold. If I had the energy to do anything other than reach pitifully for another tissue I'd be roundly cursing the universe for giving me this cold so soon after the last one. Obviously someone somewhere thinks I enjoy sneezing and sniffing and coughing. Great. Thanks.

Anyway, luckily for you the pretties don't have to stop because the always gorgeous and delightful Amber over at Fashion Police has posted a dress which I am utterly in love with, and I'm sure she won't mind me sharing it with you. The link that is, not the actual dress because that would cost an awful lot in postage.

The colour above is called Deep Peacock, which is gorgeous. I am also in love with the version in black - so much so that I would dearly love to buy both:

I just love the slash neckline and fitted waist. I find myself wondering if I could get away with buying both and claiming some sort of fever-related amnesia.

The ASOS PREMIUM Pleat Shoulder Dress With Full Skirt is £50.00.

Your daily dose of pretty: Brighton Belle Polka Dot Swing Dress from Dollydagger

There is a particular sound I make whenever I see a new pretty, that sounds something like "heep", said in a squeaky voice. It is also the same sound I make when I see cute puppy pictures.

This is not a puppy:

Ok so it's not the first retro-style swing dress I've shown you. It won't be the last either. But it has a bow people, which increases its awesomeness by eleventy-twelve percent*.

The Brighton Belle Polka Dot Swing Dress is £79.00 from Dollydagger, and also comes in blue and black.

* I totally used my calculator to work that out.

Your daily dose of pretty: Connect the Dots dress from Bettie Page

Va-va-voom is a phrase I use a lot to describe the dresses I'm drawn to, and it's possibly never been more apt than with this dress:

Va.

Va.

VOOM!

What else can I say? Figure-hugging. Flattering. Want. With renovations on our house now in the Council-Approved-Waiting-For-Quotes stage I have been on a very serious no-buy (which I've by and large managed to stick to), but I've also just come into a wee bit of money and I'm very seriously tempted to treat myself to this baby. What say you, my pretties? Should I do it?

The Connect the Dots dress in grey is US$88.00 from Bettie Page Clothing, and is also available in green.

Your daily dose of pretty: Camel Cowl Neck Belted Dress by Miss Selfridge

I love the soft simplicity of this dress. Although I suspect it's not a colour every skin tone could wear. Certainly I couldn't, without looking like a well dressed sand monster.

The Camel Cowl Neck Belted Dress is £36.00 from Miss Selfridge, who ship internationally.

Your daily dose of pretty: Vintage Allure Wiggle Dress

The problem with having children is that certain word associations become irrevocably changed. For instance, I cannot hear the word 'wiggle' without thinking of, well, The Wiggles. Mention 'wiggle dress' and I'm immediately beset with visions of The Wiggles in dresses. It's all fun and games in my imagination, I tell ya.

Still, if The Wiggles were going to wear dresses they could do worse than this one:

I love the bow detailing at the waist, and that fire engine red. It also comes in black, but not yellow, blue or purple so the other the other three Wiggles are plumb out of luck.

The Wiggle Dress is £69.00 from Vintage Allure.

Your daily dose of pretty: Frida Dress by Hell Bunny

Well, the holiday season has been and gone and it was lovely. We spent Christmas with my family in Dunedin, where 15 Year Old Daughter and 11 Year Old Son ran across Tomahawk Beach:

Those dark clouds over the Pacific Ocean even produced a couple of lightning flashes, but I didn't capture them on film!

Santa* cemented his position as The Best Boyfriend Ever by bringing me these from a business trip to China:

Look at them, being all awesome and pink in their awesome pinkness. What makes them even more awesome is that in the embossed logo on the side "Wear" is spelt as "Weear". Awesome, pink and bad spelling! Do Christmas presents get any better?

Actually, yes they do. When they're this:

Image: Kate's Clothing

Although technically this isn't so much a Christmas present. It's more of a post-Christmas "look darling it's on sale and it's so pretty would you buy it for me pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease" present. Isn't it gorgeous? I love the print on the fabric. And did I mention it's on sale at Kate's Clothing at the moment for only £19.99? Although they only have sizes 8 and 10 left - obviously they have customers with excellent taste!


* By Santa I obviously mean Eccentric English Boyfriend. The real Santa isn't my boyfriend, that would just be weird. Because he doesn't exist.

Your daily dose of pretty: Soda Pop Dress from ModCloth

I love this pretty dress. The deeply pleated full skirt is so girly, and the boning in the bodice means that any wobbly bits would be nicely contained. I do suspect though that I'd have to wear a fairly heavy duty strapless bra to keep the girls in check. And possibly avoid raising my arms above shoulder height in case they decided to pop out!

Doesn't it just scream Spring? And the aqua and grey colour combination is a total winner.

The Soda Pop dress is US$74.99 from ModCloth.

Your daily dose of pretty: Rockabilly Western "Stompin" Dress from Babygirl Boutique

So, my pretties, we've been together for a while now and I feel that we're at the stage of our relationship where I can share a deep dark secret with you and you won't judge me for it. You won't judge me, will you?

Ok. You see, when it comes to music my taste tends towards the heavier stuff: some metal, some rock, a bit of goth. But I also love me a bit of country music. Not the jangling guitar "my dog done died, my girlfriend left me, my crops ain't growing and I can't get the ketchup stain out of my favourite jeans" type of country music. Think more along the lines of Sweet Home Alabama and Copperhead Road. That sort of country/rock music.

And Achey Breaky Heart.

Yep, when Billy Ray starts singing about that ole achey breaky heart of his I want to leap up, don some cowboy boots, hook my thumbs into my belt and linedance my wee socks off.

And this dress would be perfect:

So cute, my total ineptitude at anything requiring rhythm might not even be noticed!

The Rockabilly Western "Stompin" dress by Lucky 13 is US$68.00 from Babygirl Boutique.

Your daily dose of pretty: Closet pink cowl neck dress from Dorothy Perkins

I'm a bit wary of peplums on dresses. Partly because I wore them to death in the 80's and partly because putting a peplum on my figure is a bit like wearing a big sign saying "Check out my Child Bearing Hips, y'all".

The peplum on this dress, however, is nicely understated and possibly even curve friendly and I love the cowl neckline.

It's funny that I love this shade of pink in a dress, but would never wear it as a nail polish.

The Closet Pink Cowl Neck Dress is £30.00 from Dorothy Perkins.

Your daily dose of pretty: Dream dress in purple by Bettie Page Clothing

I may be carrying a few more kilos than I'm happy with, and parts of me may wobble more than I'd like, but one thing I do like about myself is that I have curves. Womanly, albeit wobbly, curves. And I'd quite like to squeeze my curves into this dress:

Such a gorgeous, classic shape, and the fan detail at the neckline and waist takes this into Killer Curves territory. Do want!

The Dream dress in Purple is US$114.00 from Bettie Page Clothing.