A New Look

When you don't do something for ages, it takes a special motivation to get you back in the saddle, and what better motivation than a request from the lovely @EatOrBeEaten, our motorbiking, New Zealand-dwelling, science-teaching, and now Roller Derby-skating regular reader?

I have a question! (and it's not about when the blog will be updated :P )

So, I cut all my hair off and now have a bitchin' pixie cut. I love it but I'm having a hard time dressing for my new look. Some of my more '50's style clothes (hello, stella doll dresses!) look a bit odd. I intend on keeping my hair this short for the foreseeable (I have no patience for long hair it'd seem) so I need to start thinking what clothes will go well with this look. Any ideas or suggestions? Body type is pretty curvy, so the full androgyne look isn't going to work... 

A sexy, cropped pixie cut does quite often go hand-in-hand with a gamine, boyish look. Think Jean Seburg in A Bout de Souffle (above). But it's not an exclusive relationship, and slim-but-curvy girls can really rock a crop with some stylish garments. I have three looks for our girl to pick and choose from.

If you're all about the action, jeans and a shirt can be more practical  than a dressy look. This still from the film We Are The Mods shows a shirt which would work for bigger boobs. The key thing is to look for a longer placket (the bit where the buttons and buttonholes are), one that comes down lower than the fullest part of the bust, and then wear it undone to create a deep V.  The body of the shirt should fit, but not be skintight. Team with black drainpipe jeans and a chunky belt.

My next look revolves around this shape of tailored jacket. Velvet for winter, and perhaps something lighter for summer - the shape is key. Single breasted, and one button or clip, fastening at the waist (perhaps even lower than the one here). Cut for a girl, the jacket should be nipped-in at the waist, otherwise with big boobs it will just make you look chunky. You can wear any neckline underneath, so long as it's a contrasting colour. Wear it with wide-leg trousers for work, and any kind of jeans, even really knackered ones, for a more casual look.

 For my last look, think Valley of the Dolls, Barbarella... that whole sixties, A-line minidress look, but worn with like a tunic.  The dress above is by Boden  (£71.10, sizes 6-22) - and it's a little on the long side - for this body shape and look, I'd take it up to a more retro, mod-ish, upper thigh level. Then we want some slim-fitting, cropped cigarette pants, like the ones Seburg is wearing in the picture at the top of this post. The shape of this dress is what makes it work with bigger boobs.  The notch-neck is more sympathetic to the sixties styling than a V neck would be, but there is a V shape, and the wide trim on this particular frock gives an important vertical line for the eyes to follow.  The empire line, meanwhile, flatters the hourglass waist, and the A-line flare, with a shorter length, accentuates fuller sexy hips and bum.