Poppy Love

If you, like me, frequently trawl Modcloth like other people trawl news sites, you may have encountered this brand before. Modcloth sold the most adorable Alice in wonderland-esque lollipop dress a while back but it was pricey and I was unsure about sizing so it slipped away. And somehow via a tangled internet road (IG, Pinterest etc) I (re)discovered Poppy England (they are also on Instagram).

Poppy is a sweet little girl adventuring with her dog Fred and her friend Mr. Giraffe. She meet Mr. Giraffe over a sandwich and I think we all can relate to that. All my best friends like sandwiches. Mr. Giraffe, Poppy and Fred are featured on this dress. How fun is that? A novelty print with a back story! And you can find Poppy and Fred (and even Mr. Giraffe) in many of the other prints. In my print Poppy and Fred are adventuring in the woods searching for a fabled creature but I'm not going to reveal if they find it (I cannot tell you my joy and excitement when I realized the dress comes with a storybook about the print!)

If you follow me on IG you will probably have noticed that I have a slight obsession with novelty prints and when Poppy was kind enough to offer me a dress to try and review, well you better believe I jumped at the opportunity (after a little happy dance). Poppys prints truly are works of art. The photos do not do the prints or the colours justice, they need to be experienced in person. I was surprised how vibrant the Forest dress was in person!

Now you might think: Well for these prices they better be pretty darn amazing. And I hear ya. I have a hard time myself paying that much for a single dress but on occassion I will do it simply because sometimes amazingness costs (like that one amazing vintage dress or Emmy Design, Bernie Dexter and you can probably name some dream brands of your own).

I am in a terrible habbit of never actually reading the practical information when I buy clothing so it was a nice surprise when I found out that not only is it very smooth cotton (more wearable than had it been a dressier material), it is machine washable (cold) and here's an unexpected bonus: Pockets! I squealed when I noticed that and I am not the least bit embarassed about that. Pockets are the cat's meow, the bee's knees and any other animal bodypart or sound you can think of. Where else do you keep your phone and lipstick? A purse? I think not! Feminism is dresses with pockets, ladies.

The only downside is the same as with most cotton lined dresses I have come across; it sorta sticks to your tights. I don't have a slip that fits this length but I do have a not-so-poofy petticoat that works. I don't think it necessarily needs the extra volume but I like it. And on the other hand I'm really happy that it's lined because I live in Scandinavia and I am always happy when I can wear dresses all year round without freezing to death.

As for sizing I was quite nervous about my arms. I have large upper arms compared to my frame (28 cm so yeah :( ) and I'm always a nervous wreck when I order dresses with sleeves (and I do that as often as possible to hide my arms) but every dress comes with a size chart and I was fairly sure it would fit. And praise the dress gods it does. Just. But the sleeves has buttons and I must admit I did unbutton them for comfort. And speaking of comfort we walked about 5K taking pictures and watching deer and the dress was incredibly comfortable.
The 6 runs true to size in my opinion. I am 32"-25"-36" and it fits me like a glove. I also had the opportunity to try the Beatrice dress in an 8 and sadly it was way too big for me. Sadly because most dresses are 8 and up. The Beatrice dress I tried on has long sleeves and there was plenty of room for my arms with room to spare, but the bust was also rather large. Very good news for well endowed ladies, sad news for us bosom challenged ;) I kinda expected that from the size chart but I was hoping it would fit me better as I really like the model.

Dress: c/o Poppy England

Tights: Old from H&H

Shoes: Modcloth

Deer: Lucky accident

The big question is: Would I come back and buy more dresses from Poppy? Yes. I really would if they had more in smaller sizes because I do believe they are too expensive for a less than a perfect fit. And obviously they are an investment more than an impulse buy (but I am actually trying to "Buy less and wear more". It a Gok Wan thing (I like Gok). And it's a good motto. I'm not very good at keeping it but I try).

Besides women's clothing (dresses, skirts, petticoats, cardigans etc) Poppy also carries children's wear in the same prints. If you have a girl (or a boy, I'm not here to judge ;) ) you can match! I'm sorry if you find that tacky; I have to admit I think it's completely adorable to wear matching dresses :)

If you have fallen as hard as I did for the lovely prints and vintage style dresses Poppy were so sweet to give me a discount code to share with you all that gives you 20% off until 27/10-14! Yay! It's CLOSET20 and can be entered at checkout.
I'm thinking I might use it myself. The Beatrice dress comes in a 6 in the Aunt print and I do love navy and the 6 might fit me.

And I so wish these dresses came in a 6. The prints are so cute and I love the pairing with striped and polkadotted tights on Poppys website! I asked about the sizing on the tights and unfortunately (for me) they are made for longer legs than mine (I'm 4'11") but I would have loved a pair in every colour (a lot them are on sale now) to pair with all my novelty prints.

Ava dress in brown Hardware Store print

Beatrice dress in Chocolate Store print

All photo taking magic is curtesy of Boyfriend, a camera and some very un-shy deer. I'd like to thank the deer - and Boyfriend. No editing has taken place in my photos and all opinions are mine and only mine. Spelling errors and such are also completely on me - although I wish I could blame the deer.