Two Vintage Dresses I Wore on Holiday

It's become a tradition each year to have a late summer holiday in Spain for my husband and I, and this year was no exception.  A whole week of sunshine, tapas and rather good wine in the lovely town of Nerja.  This isn't my usual 'what I wore on holiday' post.  Full-on relaxation mode was much needed this year (PhD writeup is hard!), and this meant that I didn't do a single outfit 'shoot'.  I was having too much of a good time, sorry!  Instead I'm sharing a few sparse images of two special vintage dresses that I wore for the first time whilst away.

Vintage dress #1 -  a Marion Donaldson floral cotton maxi dress, from the late '80s/early '90s.  
I wore this dress for an evening of bar-hopping, tapas and wine.  Our favourite place to drink wine and eat tapas is the amazing Pata Negra 57 restaurant.  Marion Donaldson was a Scottish designer, credited with bringing London's swinging style to Glasgow in the 1960s.  The brand helpfully changed the colour of the name label each decade: purple in the '60s, brown in the '70s, then gold on purple (late '70s?), and finally silver on black in the '80s until it ceased trading in 1999.  It was a £9.99 bargain from a charity shop in Andover.

This dress was pretty tight around the top of the ribcage for me, so I had to do some unpicking and restitching to get a bit more room in there.  Someone had also turned the hem up so I let it down again.  It took ages, but I'm so glad that I did it and the dress now fits so I can wear it with reasonable comfort.  I wore it with some brown wedges from M&S, a red headscarf, red lips and a charity-shopped bag.







Vintage dress #2 - a Carnegie of London neon beaded maxi dress, from the late '60s/ early '70s.
While we were away, my husband and I celebrated 10 years together, and our 2nd wedding anniversary.  We celebrated at a favourite posh restaurant, Restaurant 34, and such an occasion demanded a unique frock!  This Carnegie of London dress was £10 from a market stall in Cardiff.  It's a bit big on me, especially in the bust without a padded bra (which I didn't take on hols with me), but it does make it great for a sit-down dinner.  I don't know anything about the brand, all it says on the Vintage Fashion Guild website is that it's not to be confused with the Hattie Carnegie brand.  Someone is selling a navy version of this dress in a larger size on Etsy if you're interested.

The rest of my outfits
Much of my holiday wardrobe remains the same as previous years, with favourite pieces worn over and over.  That probably doesn't make it as interesting for you.  My other *new* outfit of the holiday was a new Biba at House of Fraser cobalt blue bikini, bought in the sale.  I felt AMAZING, I was on the roof terrace of our boutique hotel one night relaxing on a Balinese bed, popping in and out of the plunge pools, drinking cava and feeling like a goddess.  There is no photographic evidence of this - let me warn you all that blue light does NOT work for photos!  Nor should you attempt a photoshoot after drinking cava...  Ah well.  I felt fabulous, that's the main thing isn't it?  My husband was quite the dapper chap while we were away too, he loves his Christys' vintage panama hat and wore it day and night.


Clockwise from top left: casual shorts outfit, my husband dressed for a night on the town, dawn photo-taking in a Peacock's dress, and my faithful Jaeger tunic (at an amazing museum in Malaga - separate post on that to come!)


Clockwise from top left: beautiful flowers, the main square of Nerja, winding streets of the old town, and dawn at the beach.

Do you take original vintage pieces on holiday?  I admit I was a bit scared about our luggage getting lost, so I packed the vintage ones in carry-on luggage instead!  Next on my wish list is a short 1960's little sparkly evening dress, I have a whole year to find one...

2017 packing list: (mainly for my own future reference)

Day Wear
Navy shorts
Pink shorts (not worn)
Red skirt
Tie stripe blouse
Broderie blouse
Soulcal pink blouse
White long-sleeve shirt
Monsoon silk blouse
Jaeger silk tunic dress
Purple '60s print beach cover up
White and blue beach cover up (not worn)
Primark tropical print trousers (seen here) (for travelling in)
Vintage Murospun cardigan (seen here) (for travelling in)
Biba bikini
New Look bikini

Evening Wear
Yellow Peacock's dress (also worn once in daytime)
Pretty Retro tea dress (seen here)
Collectif Michelle maxi dress (seen here) (not worn)
Wallis fruit print dress
Carnegie of London neon maxi
Marion Donaldson flower maxi
Blue full skirted dress (seen here)

Shoes and acessories
Brown wedges
Gold and pink flower flat sandals
Coral low sandals
Bronze heeled sandals
Sun hat
Faux Chanel white handbag
Coral leather Joules handbag
2 pairs sunglasses

Previous years' holiday outfits available to view: 2016 evening wear, 2016 day wear, 2015 honeymoon wardrobe, 2014 holiday wardrobe.