New Youtube Channel! Daily Vlogs and Behind the Scenes!

A day in the life of a fashion designer...

Hi Everybody! Just wanted to pop in to let you all know that Happy Yellow Dress has a Youtube Channel, where I will be trying out the Daily Vlogging format for about a week, (if I can survive heh heh). Here is the first installation.... Kiiiind of cringey, but once you get past that, there's some pretty valuable information in there:

I will also be taking your questions and making video responses! Got a question about fabric design? Wholesaling? How to start a business in general? Ask away, and I'll answer to the best of my ability.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and I hope you'll subscribe to the channel here

Deighton Cup 2017 What to Wear?

Deighton Cup 2017

is fast approaching in Vancouver, and we will be there! Not as vendors, but as attendees! Yay!! Always a good idea to mix business with pleasure ;) This event is technically a horse race, but c'maaaan... we all know it's more about the fashion! Here are some looks that we recommend:

Matched Sets

The "Cry to Me" skirt, and "Hula Love" crop top 

The "Cry to Me" skirt, and "Hula Love" crop top can be found here: http://www.happyyellowdress.com/shop-online/cry-to-me-t75tk They are inspired by vintage and retro styles of the 40's 5o's and 60's and named after the songs by Elvis Presley, and Solomon Burke. The Top buttons up the back, which adds an extra special bit of detail for an event very much focussed on fashion. Now all we need to finish the look is a hat! We like http://hivemindmillinery.com/

Classic Vintage 

The Lana Dress, named after the Roy Orbison song, is the perfect vintage inspired look for the deighton cup

The "Lana" dress is an updated version of classic vintage, and can be found here: http://www.happyyellowdress.com/shop-online/lana-yellow-floral This midi length dress is perfect if you're going for that classy look.

 Modern Vintage

The Viola M wrap dress. 

This wrap dress can be found here: http://www.happyyellowdress.com/shop-online/viola-m It is perfect for the hot summer weather we will (hopefully) be seeing for the Deighton Cup. It is a flowy light rayon, and wraps around the waist to fit almost any body shape! It's  fashion for all at happyyellowdress.com

Well that concludes our suggested looks for the Deighton Cup! Mark it on your calendars! July 22nd at the Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver. Tickets can be purchased at http://deightoncup.com/tickets/ and make sure to buy your pretty dress before it's too late!!!

Controversial Blog Post

Hello friends, I wanted to talk about something a wee bit controversial... I've seen a lot on social media and the blogosphere in general lately, about cultural appropriation. As some of you know, my brand is named after the happiest little yellow dress that I ever designed! You can see it down here: vvv

The Wanderer cheongsam style dress in yellow, by Happy yellow Dress

I designed this dress waaaaaayyyy back in 2004. It is inspired by what I consider to be the prettiest most feminine thing in fashion, the cheongsam. I had never seen one with a full skirt before, so I created my own version out of my faaaavourite yellow striped cotton.

My Love of the Cheongsam

Growing up in a tiny town, my only escape from the humdrum existence of small town living, was through books and classic movies, such as The South Pacific and Flower Drum Song. Although I was too young at the time to understand what these movies were all about, I was fascinated by the beauty of the fashions, which I had never been exposed to before.

The Wanderer  cheongsam style dress with full skirt, by Happy Yellow Dress

The Wanderer  cheongsam style dress with full skirt in teal stripe, by Happy Yellow Dress

I fully understand how wrong it is to mock an entire group of people by diminishing their culture to a costume, but fashion is not a costume. Fashion, (and I'm talking real fashion, not fast fashion), is something that hours of time, energy, money, sweat (and sometimes even blood and tears) are poured into the creation of, so the end product can be worn with great pride.

The Wanderer cheongsam style dress with full skirt in poppy, by Happy Yellow Dress

The Wanderer cheongsam style dress with full skirt in poppy, by Happy Yellow Dress

Of course I am always open to respectful discussion on these topics, but I have seen some very positive independent companies, as well as their customers being verbally attacked to the point of physical threats by people who disagree with their mixing of cultural elements into their collections.

Since those small town days of escapism, I have gotten the chance to travel the world, and have discovered first hand, that in reality, this is all fashion is and has ever been. A gigantic mix of cultural elements from here, and cultural elements from there. From the days of the silk road, to the present Rockabilly comeback in Japan. A collar is a collar, be it the cheongsam, Peter Pan, button down, edwardian high neck etc.  and fabric is fabric, be it tartan, batik, lace, silk, denim etc. Everything has come from one culture or another, and will be recycled, shared and re-used for centuries to come.

I have seen many of these companies who've been under attack, publicly respond with a canned apology, and promise to do better... but in the cases I have seen, there really is nothing to apologize for. To dictate who can wear what based on skin colour, is completely ridiculous and wrong.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. Any abusive comments will not be removed to prove a point ;)  Thanks for reading!

Espadrilles

We are obsessed with these vintage style shoes! The easiest way to make a modern summer outfit look vintage, is to throw on a pair of these babies! Shouldn't be too difficult to find a pair, because they are making a HUGE comeback right now. These were made popular in the 1940's by Lauren Bacall  in the film Key Largo.

Lauren Bacall looking all Lauren Bacall-y in her sweet espadrilles!

Espadrilles date  back to the 14th century in the Pyrenees mountain region between France and Spain, commonly known as the Basque region, (Which apparently boasts the most beautiful humans in the world). They were originally worn by both men, and women, which was also the case in the 40's/50's as you can see in the photo below. 

A shot of Grace Kelly with Carey Grant. Both wearing Espadrilles.

Although they are super popular for women right now, you mark my words: by summer 2017 the men will be wearing these things, like curly mustachios in the 2010's!!

Humphrey Bogart wearing espadrilles. I'm sure the dog would be too if it were up to him.

Grace Kelly

Today I will do something a little bit different. Rather than talking about the songs that inspire our dresses, I will talk about the people who inspire us. Grace Kelly is one of those people, cuz she's sooooooooo soooooo SOOOOOOO coooool!! (and pretty and talented and amazing).

Grace Kelly. SO pretty!!

When I was young, one of my favourite things to do, was watch old movies with my Dad. Alfred Hitchcock was our go to guy for a great scary movie! The first time I saw Grace Kelly was in the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window, which is still one of my all time faves.  I was around 7 years old at the time and instantly wanted to be her. Her character was so brave and adventurous, and totally capable of keeping up with the boys! (What were you thinking L.B. Jefferies!?!?) Here's a shot from the most suspenseful part of the movie... SPOILER ALERT!!!

Grace Kelly sneaking into Lars Thorwald's apartment. 

So not only was this an amazing movie, with an amazing cast, (James Stewart plays the main squeeze, L.B. Jefferies), but the fashion is incredible!!! 

Still shot from Rear Window

Here's an outfit from the movie I tried to re-create. Apologies for the poor picture quality. My internetting skills are limited :p Thoughts?? I love the halter top! Let us know if you think it's something we should produce!! Here's the link to the rest of our instagram photos: https://instagram.com/happyyellowdress/

From our instagram https://instagram.com/happyyellowdress/

Well! That's it for this week's, (I guess month's), post! Sorry I haven't been around much, We've been busy at Happy Yellow Dress HQ working on some new top secret projects ;)

As always feel free to let us know what you think, or if you have an old song, movie, or person, (old persons are the best!), that inspires you. Maybe we'll blog about it!

You can also check out some of the songs that inspire our dresses over at our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C2qfiM2vjQ Thanks for stopping by :):):) 

Oh Carolina

This Is the song our "Oh Carolina" dress is named after! Such a good song! It was written back in 1958  by John Folkes, and performed by his Trio, The Folkes Brothers. It's about his girlfriend who was actually named Noelena. Have a listen down here vvv

Oh Carolina, by The Folkes Brothers

Early reggae doesn't get the attention it deserves. We love early reggae because it's so rock and roll!!! That's why we named a dress after this classic!! Another great song you should check out is The Israelites, by Desmond Dekker. (The 1968 version is the best)

The "Oh Carolina" dress, by Happy Yellow Dress

That's this week's post! As always, Feel free to send us any old Rock and Roll songs that inspire you, or any old obscure rock and roll songs that you think we should know about! You can send us an email,  or leave us a comment in the comments section below.  We'd love to do a post on your fave old rock and roll artists!! 

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Rock a Hula Baby

If you're like us at Happy Yellow Dress, then you can't get enough of The King, Elvis Presley. Our high waisted circle skirt is named after a song performed by him, in "Blue Hawaii". That's the "Rock-a-Hula-Baby" skirt!  Have a listen below...

"Rock-a-Hula-Baby" by Elvis Presley

This movie came out in 1961, when Elvis was at his hottest! The movie co-stars Mrs. Potts herself, a young Angela Lansbury!! So much great fashion in this movie, but you'll have to check that out for yourself ;)

The "Rock-a-Hula-Baby" skirt

Here's a lovely photo of the amazing hunk a love that is Elvis Presley:

Poster from the movie "Blue Hawaii" Starring Elvis Presley

Well that's it for this week's post! As always, Feel free to send us any old Rock and Roll songs that inspire you, or any old obscure rock and roll songs that you think we should know about! You can send us an email,  or leave us a comment in the comments section below.  We'd love to do a post on your fave old rock and roll artists!! 

Buddy knox, "Party Doll"

This is a great song. So great that we just HAD to name the "Party Doll" dress after it!! Buddy Knox is the artist. We here in Happy Yellow Dress land are HUGE Buddy Knox fans, in fact, another one of our pieces is named after another Buddy Knox song, but we'll save that for another blog post ;) 

Party Doll, by Buddy Knox. Please have a listen!

Here is the original Party Doll dress. It's the one that put us on the map ;)

Well! That's it for this post. Do you have any old Rock and Roll songs that inspire you?? Or do you know any old obscure rock and roll songs that we should know about? Let us know!!! You can send us an email,  or leave us a comment in the comments section below.  We'd love to do a post on your fave old rock and roll artists!! 

Thanks for stopping by :)

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