Hello, and welcome to another vintage / retro brand review.
If you haven't seen the ones I've done already, or you would like to watch them again
- because why not? -
you can find them all up there in a little card.
There's a playlist and everything. I will also put it down in the description.
Yay!
Now, today's brand probably isn't one of the - what you might consider - the "bigger" brands
- the more well-known brands -
but you probably have seen their stuff quite a lot if, like me, you love your vintage and retro life
and also go on Facebook
because now, this brand is all of my Facebook adverts.
The brand that we are reviewing today is called Grace Karin. They also trade under Belle Poque.
I did actually look at one of their dresses all the way back last year
in an un-boxing video, which again you can see here.
I have really good hair in that video
so you should watch it just for my hair.
I'm going to be looking at five things today from the Grace Karin brand
including the dress that I got last year
because...comparison
is good.
I'll be telling you a little bit about whether they're good, bad,
high points, low points, whether I would advise you to get them
and then at the end I'm going to take you through my four points.
You can also find the short links down in the description below, and those are:
I think the first thing we should begin with is this dress
that I am currently wearing.
This dress is kind of your classic 1950s halter neck rockabilly swing-type dress.
It is a particularly gorgeous front. I really, really like this front.
There are some cheaper dresses that you can get that do not have the beautiful little stitches at the front
that here create
Hi, Tills.
Hey, Tilly.
Oh, she's just going to sit on everything that I'm going to show you in a minute.
Anyway!
Beautiful sweetheart neckline. Do not buy a dress that is just a cut-out sweetheart neckline, I'm gonna say.
No, some of those cheap dresses will try and rip you off with that.
This one has beautiful stitching. It's gorgeous.
Other points to notice:
the elastic in the back.
I know--I'm a bit iffy about elastic in the back of a dress, because it makes me feel like I might be five.
Also, it does slip down slightly on my bra, I found
and that's never a good look.
However, it does mean it fits rather well
and for someone with scoliosis, I guess I kind of have to give into the elastic thing.
It has a beautiful full skirt, which is lovely, with or without a petticoat.
Oo, I will show it to you both ways
because not everyone loves a petticoat
and I understand that.
I really love the pattern here; I think that's absolutely gorgeous.
I would say the dress is pretty much as it looked on the picture.
This dress, in particular, ranges in price from
and you may be thinking, "Mm, is that a size thing?"
As in, does it cost more to get a larger size?
I am extra small, and it costs 20.99
for the extra small size
and it costs exactly the same for the extra, extra, extra large, so
ladies, my God
if you are a bigger girl, jump on it
because I have to say, I kind of--
It bothers me when they make clothes and then it costs so much more if you buy them in large, because
...not everyone's the same size.
The next dress I ordered is this Hepburn-style.
Here we go.
Delightful.
It also has lemons.
It's a pretty fun, summery dress, I think you'll agree.
A few things of note, however.
It's--it is short.
Now, I know, I'm 5'9"
so...many things count as being on the short side for me
but this really--I found was just a little too much.
I don't really like...
I don't think it's beautifully retro if you can see your knees.
The material's really good; really...quite a heavy duty cotton, actually.
Very nice.
I was impressed with the quality of it
and also the quality of the stitching
although, obviously the pattern doesn't line up along the middle
but...what are you expecting?
Dear Lord.
This dress retails -
I sound fancy when I say that
"This dress retails..."
- from between
depending, I believe, on the style of fabric
and here you can see I'm styling it with a petticoat from Grace Karin
which I'm just about to show you
and then here it is without a petticoat.
I think it's actually a really lovely look, especially if you're not a general petticoat wearer, if that is not your thing.
So, this is my dress from the unboxing last year
which, again, you can--card
or description
either / or, whichever works for you.
(After you've seen this video, of course.)
This is the Belle Poque label
which they--under the same brand, I'm going to say.
Under the same...I want to say the word "master."
Sorry, I've been thinking too much about Doctor Who, because there's going to be a female Doctor Who,
and that makes me really excited, and then I think about the Doctor, and the Master,
and the lesbian implications here as well.
[Crowd cheering]
Oh, it's so exciting.
So, this dress, if you remember rightly, I did have a few sizing issues with.
I've had nips and tucks of it since then.
It's still probably a little big, but
it's all right; working on it.
Didn't want to take too much off.
It's a size small.
This dress has--you know, the colour's faded a lot during the last year.
It ran when I washed it the very first time
so it used to be quite a bright white, but is no longer
and I actually really prefer it!
I really do.
I think it looks a lot more vintage-y
because...bright white.
How did that happen in the days before Vanish?
I do like this dress; I think it's very pretty.
I very much like this neckline, although, my God, does it give everything away.
All right, now, this little beauty -
That's not even in any way correct.
"Little" is not the word for this -
is more of a tutu look.
We know this because it comes straight from the waistband here.
Da, da, da, daa
Also, it puffs out.
Boy, does it puff out.
Now, wearing this underneath the lemon dress, it looked absolutely fabulous.
It's short and it's great for that, but the...
oh, the itch, the itch, the itch.
The waistband, as you can see
it's straight--it's straight onto your flesh, and that is harsh if you are not wearing full vintage undergarments.
However, it gave a really amazing, full look that I absolutely loved.
I actually tried it on under another dress, from a different company.
Here is the dress from British Retro right here
which...is beautiful.
Clearly will be in my favourites this month because...
You know, it's pretty darn cheap, and depending on the size you get, it is under ten pounds.
Yay.
It is so full; I absolutely love it.
It's a look that normally I get by piling on three petticoats--yes, I wear three petticoats in one go.
Mm, I'm thinking I'm actually going to make a video about petticoats and where you can get petticoats from
and the kind of looks that you can get, and expensive and not expensive.
So do let me know in the comments as well anything that you want to know about petticoats.
But this petticoat, I would highly recommend.
But! But. Now we move on to the final, final piece of the Grace Karin [?]
So, occasionally I go slightly crazy [?] - well, not crazy, but you know - I get a little funny
and I decide I want to try a coloured petticoat.
So, this one is navy.
I did originally want the buttermilk one, but sadly they were out.
So this I have purchased in the small.
This, er...it grips your hips!
I'll give you that.
Where the upper lining connects with the [?]
(the [?] )
(I like that word)
( [?] )
it is just...itchy as hell.
Itchy as hell.
I could not wait to get that thing off.
It has an inner lining, which is great
but that doesn't save it from the actual seam itself, which is incredibly painful
and you don't really want that on your arse.
Of all the places on your body.
OK, moving on to our four points
of our brand review.
The most important things.
How did the clothes look?
I would say they look rather nice.
They do, they look very good.
There are a range of fabrics. They're not...
they're not necessarily the most authentic-looking if you're going for a very vintage look.
If you are going to a summer garden party-type thing
- 'cause that's a thing I do -
you're going to - and you want a really cheap dress - then these are the dresses for you.
They're lovely.
The cotton's very nice; they're very breathable.
Good summer dresses to generally have.
I would wear them as just general day time dresses
but, according to Clara, they are for fancy occasions.
Maybe I just have a different level of formal to everyone else.
Not every fabric they have is a winner.
The Audrey dresses can - as with all of those kind of
("Audrey dresses" - Hepburn dresses, sorry)
- as with all of those style of dress, they can be a little tight under here, especially if, like me,
you are a large-boobed lady.
I would say - obviously, I've not yet washed the two new dresses, but I have washed the old dress from last year -
I would say that the crisp look doesn't necessarily hold up
but that's quite nice; they become quite soft and
I prefer a bit of a softer colour.
Not all of their dresses run through the large range of sizes that some of them do.
I've seen ones that are a extra small to an XXX Large
which is a really good range, I think.
Really good range.
And some it's more the kind of, "small, medium, large, extra large."
Wearability - I would say I'm...having a very nice time in this dress.
It's not itchy at all.
The lemon dress I found a little constricting again
up here.
The petticoats.
Noo.
In terms of wearability, however, the other petticoat is...semi-delightful.
Semi-delightful.
As long as the waistband itself is not touching your bare flesh, you're good to go.
As I have discussed throughout this review, and as you obviously know,
because they're available on Amazon,
these aren't the world's most expensive dresses.
Oh, no. They are not.
They're all pretty much under twenty-five pounds.
Everything is under twenty-five pounds.
The petticoats are incredibly cheap, so really I don't know whether I should be allowed to complain.
Yes, if they scratch your bum this much. Yes.
But the dresses themselves - for the quality, the cut,
I am hugely impressed.
Go for it.
And especially if you're just building your vintage wardrobe
you do not really want to be starting at the top end.
Start down here, OK? Buy some things from Amazon; try some different styles; some different cuts.
See what works for you and what doesn't.
Even, like, play around with colour.
You know, go crazy.
Buy a petticoat in a colour you wouldn't normally...then get it...then slightly regret it.
Boom!
It's from Amazon, guys! Amazon.
Come on. Probably in six month's time, it'll be delivered by a little drone
called Kevin
and it will be with you within an hour of ordering, or something stupid.
I'm pretty sure I got these, if not the next day, then two days.
Oh, yeah, 'cause after...
Obviously, it depends on whether you order after working hours or not.
Yes, so my point is that, you know, sometimes a really cheap thing can actually be quite good.
Shockingly
and if you're the type of person who just wants to wear a petticoat once, for one event,
yeah, go ahead, buy these - they are cheap; they do work.
Wear big knickers; you'll be OK.
And there we go. Ending the video with some knickers.
Until next time!
Mwah!