Hey everyone! It's me Tahitia again and I wanted to pop in and say hello and tell you about what's been going on in my corner of the universe.

Now originally I'd planned for my next post have a review for a few things that I've picked up this month, namely the Grace Dress in flocked red, the Perfect Pinup Shrug in white and the Scoop Neck Tee with Haunted Mansion Girl Art. Sadly work has been just non-stop for the last few weeks (curse the need for food, shelter and transportation :) ) and I just haven't had the time to take any pictures.

Since I succumbed to temptation AND PUG's 25% off Black Friday sale earlier and bought a few more things as well, I think that I'll wait until they arrive and I'll just review the whole lot then.

In the mean time, I do have one clothing picture and review that I can share. Which is....

The Vivien Dress in Navy Blue Review

The instant I saw the Vivien dress in Navy I shouted "THAT'S MY NEW YEARS DRESS" to myself, it really was love at first sight. This was the first time I ever wore a single strap dress and I completely felt like a deadly dame from an old film noire. The poly/nylon/spandex blend fabric was very comfortable to wear and really did hug my figure just the right amount, tight enough to show that you're a woman but loose enough to show that you're a lady :)

My measurements at the time were 37-29-41, so because of the 41" in the hips I ordered the large and I can honestly say that it was the right size for me. I've since gone down to a 40" in the hips but I'm not sure if that's enough to be safe with the medium. The only surprise I had was the dresses shade of blue when I took it out of the box. The shade of blue was a lot darker than the shade in the picture on PUG's site, which I can't link to now since PUG isn't selling the dress anymore. That is too bad because aside from the darker colour this dress is just beautiful and I'd recomend it in a second to any PUG fan.

The picture here is from my recent photoshoot with Melanie Gillis, and as you can see the vivien was just MADE for a film noire setting :)

Pinup Hair 911 - PUG To the Rescue! 

Now pinup hair as been the biggest problem for me with the whole pinup lifestyle. I've tried tutorials that I've found online and in forums but sadly nothing has really worked for me. My thick and slightly wavy hair just seemed impervious to do-it-yourself home styling techniques.

So I took a chance and pleaded for help on the forums earlier this week with my thread Pinup Hair 911 - A Girl Needs Some Beginners Help :). As the name implied I was looking for help and WOW did you guys come through!

Vickie Draper suggested that I give kitten ears a try, which I think that I definitely will. Amber gave me some advice on using a hair straightener to curl your hair and then pin it with a pin curl. That's another good tip that I'll be trying out. Angela Serino gave me some good hair dressers advice for how to best deliver a pinup look, thanks Angela! Nanette Knecht gave me a really good piece of advice that I've heard before but for some reason keep forgetting to do, and Shay D offered some good advice on shampoos that could help. Ginge O'Lolly offered her multi-step method too which I think I'll have to look into.

Harlow Napalm and Viola Von Kitten both suggested that I give pin curling a shot, and since it sounds like their hair and their respective experiences with hair styling are similar to mine I think I'm going to try this one out first when time finally lets me. I've already found a YouTube tutorial by Pinup Doll Ashley Marie here that I'll be using as a step by step guide.

So hopefully by the next time I have a blog for you guys I'll have some real pinup curls to show off! Wish me luck :)

Breast Augmentation, the Pro's and Con's  

This post was a long time coming. As I mentioned in the forum thread of the same name here this was something that I`ve been considering ever since I was able to loose a significant amount of weight recently, that although was incredibly beneficial for my health and lifestyle overall, left my bust noticeably smaller than it used to be.

Now even though the community here at Pinup Girl Style has been nothing but supportive and helpful to people asking for advice, as you can expect I was more than a little hesitant to talk about this publically. It is such an intimate and private topic afterall and it can be controversial depending on who you're talking about it with. Luckily Harlow Napalm coincidentally started her own thread on cosmetic surgery and her outlook on it, and after seeing the response she received I realized there was no reason to be worried about discussing breast augmentation with you guys.

I posted my questions and concerns, and I really have to say guys that you game through 1000% on this one! Every single topic that I brought up was answered respectfully and knowledgeably, from what causes loss of nipple sensation/function, to how weight gain/pregnancy effects the implants, to how long and difficult recoveries can be and how they feel on a day to day basis.

Even better still was the wealth of information that was shared by women who've gone through the procedure that I hadn't even thought of, especially red flags to be on the watch for with prospective surgeons. A few other users chimed in that they were glad to see this thread started as it's a decision that they've been contemplating as well, so I think it's safe to say that because of the women who shared their own experiences a lot of us are all the more informed now.

Leia Mehlman, Shay D, and everyone else who offered advice, thank you so much!

Why Pinup Girl Clothing Matters as Much as it Does  

I really do think that I said everything that I could say on this topic in my last blog post, but what I have to say now is thank you so much to everyone who had the most beautiful things to say in the comment section. An especially big thank you has to go out to the powers at be here at Pinup Girl Style for sharing the post on their Facebook page, that really did mean a lot to me you guys :)

This really is a special community here, and I am so honored to be a part of it!

My Original Pinup Influence... Ms. Betty Boop

Now without a doubt, one of my favourite blog posts here on Pinup Girl Style so far has to be Doris Mayday's blog on Her Original Pinup Influence. It was a beautiful piece on the Walt Disney animator Fred Moore, and how his classic and unique illustrations of women really had a strong influence on her. She also shared a picture of an AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS figurine of one of Mr. Moore's ladies. How can anyone not want one of those ;)

Doris concluded her post by asking what our first pinup influences were, and I have to admit that until I read that question I never really thought about it. It didn't take long though once I started thinking about it to realize who it was that really got me first interested in the pinup lifestyle, even before I knew there was such a thing. So if you don't mind I'd like to take a paragraph or two to talk about my original pinup influence... Ms. Betty Boop :)

If you've ever seen her wiggle or heard her giggle, you'll remember the carefree flapper that was Betty Boop. I would have been just a little girl when I first saw her old cartoons, and like everyone else on the planet I just loved her. She was a girly girl and enjoyed every minute of being a girl. Not to mention she was always oh so popular. Now of course as a child I didn't understand at the time the source of her popularity... particularly with men, the bottom line is that she was a nice girl who was always positive and was always having fun. More than anything that's what made her appealing to me at the time.

Of course as a grown woman now I can appreciate her character even more, especially how advanced her sex appeal was for the time she was drawn in. I mean heck, here's a video on YouTube of Betty doing a Tahitian dance bare chested... from 1932!

Now granted, the dreaded Hayes Code did force her creators to tone down the sexuality of Betty considerably, but she was still always the same giggling and wiggling fun loving girl deep down. I read a few months ago that a studio had bought the rights to a lot of Betty's old short cartoons with plans to restore them and release them on blu-ray. I really do hope so because it's really hard to find legitimate copies of her old cartoons.

In any event, now that I've seen Doris's figurine of Mr. Moore's I've been inspired to get a Betty figuring this Christmas... hint hint hubby :)

Another Pinup Influence... Mr. Gil Elvgren

How can anyone have a talk about pinup influences and NOT talk about the master of cheesecake illustrations Gil Elvgren himself? The women he drew were always so animated, bright, lively and adorable. The moments he captured them in were always priceless too, the man thought more ways for a woman to snag her skirt or dress than you'd think was possible (elevator doors, crane hooks, fences, car doors, oven doors etc).

It was all about the wardrobe malfunctions though (granted there were plenty of those), he drew women shaking wrapped presents under a tree, stealing a dip in a lake next to a No Swimming sign, having fun bowling at a bowling alley, climbing the masts of a sail boat, showing a daring bit of leg while hitchhiking and picking apples from an apple tree. He loved the beauty of women just going about being women, and I really don't think that there's ever been an artist that portrayed women in such a beautifully whimsical way before.

My now husband, then fiance first showed me Mr. Elvgren's work when I was in college, and I really fell in love with his style and his work. Before that I really didn't consider myself a fan or enthusiast of anything related to pinup, so really Gil's work was the first pinup related artform that I really took a liking to in my adult life. 

What's best is that after I learned to really be happy in my own skin I actually recreated a few of my favourite of Gil's illustrations with the help of my photographer friend Melanie. Here are two shots that we recreated as a tribute to Mr. Elvgren mashed up with the original illustrations. The first two below are Wishing You Were Near from 1969.

The last two are Surprising Catch from 1952.

By the way there is no shortage of calendars featuring Mr. Elvgren's work that you can buy, especially this time of year, and amazon and your local book stores should have at least one or two books about him and his compiled work. I definitely recommend anyone who's thinking about getting into the pinup lifestyle picking up any of those.

Lastly there are just plenty of other recreations and tribute pictures based on Gil Elvgren's work lying around the web, there are even a few studios around the world that specialize in recreating pictures of his, I mentioned a few of them in my blog post on cheesecake pinup photography :)

One last little note, I have a couple of other Elvgren tribute shots here on my deviantART page. You'll also find the "uncropped" version of Surprising Catch there as well ;)

Pinup Girls Ontario... One Pinup's Grand Plan :)

This plan has been a VERY long time coming, and I think that I'm finally going to give it a shot. I'm planning on starting up a new group here on Pinup Girl Style called Pinup Girls Ontario, though of course it won't be just for pinup girls in my home province but ladies from all around the world.

What I hope to do with this group is create an active and involved community of pinup loving ladies who'll get together from time to time.

You see I'm a member of a steampunk (Victorian science-fiction and fantasy) cosplay group called the Toronto Steampunk Society. What we do as a group, other than promote Steampunk and cosplay is get together for walks and photoshoots all over Toronto and the surrounding area. We'll come in full costume, take eachother's pictures, walk around and often go out for dinner afterwards.

These walks and photoshoots have happened at public gardens, restored distillery districts, museums, movie openings, we've even gone Christmas caroling together.

So what I'm going to try to do is encourage get togethers like those. They could be nights out at movies, concerts, gallery openings, ice skating trips, going to comic book conventions in pinup clothing, and in the summer time trips to the beach.

Now of course this all hinges on finding women who a) have an interest in the pinup style, b) can make the time for these get togethers and lastly c) can arrange transpiration to these get togethers, This is all just a plan right now, I haven't even started the group here, but I've seen so much enthusiasm for the style I have a feeling that this could work.  So hopefully I'll get to meet some local PUG fans in the New Year. Speaking of which, one of my grand plans is to get a bunch of pinup girls to take the polar bear plunge with me on New Years day, that would be SO awesome, but we can talk about that another time :)

Around the PUG Style Blogosphere

Alright girls! Let's take another trip around the big old blogosphere here on Pinup Girl Style! Like I said earlier in the post Doris Mayday's blog on her original pinup influence really was a must read, so PLEASE go read it and feel free to chime in on what your original influence for getting into this world was :)

Ann Downs has a great blog review of her PUG haul from last month in her post This small chested girl finally has cleavage! Thanks PUG! I especially love her review of the Kristina Dress in Pink Velveteen by Laura Byrnes Black Label, I've been thinking about getting it in blue for a while now and I think this review might have put me in the YES BUY column.

Next up Erica Monique Bass shares her story about how she came to be a pinup style girl in her blog The Adventure of Erica into Pugland. It definitely wasn't an easy road for Erica, but she really does open up about some personal and beautiful details, and it really was a great story to read. She also shared a couple of pictures of pinup outfits that she just absolutely rocks! Thank you so much Erica for sharing this and sharing what PUG means to you.

Amber shared a really great story of her trip to a hospital gala where she was quite sensation in her Ava Dress in Plum in her post Ava Goes to a Gala. Caleesi Smith shared her incredible review and absolutely breathtaking film noire themed photographs in PUG's Deadly Dames Film Noir Dress in Emerald Green Velvet in her must read blog Unleashing Your Inner Silver Screen Siren.

Chanel Chakko wowed in her review of the The Vamp Dress in Zebra Print by Deadly Dames in her Super Vamp post.
Brandi Shuey asked the age old question How Many Vamp Tops Could A Pin Up Need?? in her review of the Vamp Top in Leopard Print. Quick answer... you can NEVER have too many in my opinion ;)

Aoife told us all about what she loves most about the discussions, the community and the support here at Pinup Style, as well as what we can find in her wardrobe and what her plans are this holiday season in her post Aoife starts to ramble. Last but not least Margarita Rodriguez along with the help of fellow Pugster Georgina Horne shared how the correct undergarments and shapewear really can make the difference between a dress just not looking right and looking like it was made for you in Margarita Rodriguez's blog post Shapewear! :)

Thank you ladies for sharing your adventures, insight and stories with us all :)

Forum Time :)

Now it's time to go to the forums for the best bits of advice seeking and shared wisdom here on PUG style :)

Madeleine had a great forum post Measurements where users shared two facts and two facts alone, their measurements, and their favourite PUG dress. What am I and what is mine you ask? Why the Netti Dress in blue and white polka dots and 37-29-40, but only because you asked so cutely :)

Lastly Bonnie Lynn hit a topic that I've had some trouble with before in her post Blouses that ride up underneath pencil skirts? The consensus is as it turns out nothing more than old fashioned high waisted "nanna undies" and shapers.

So there you have it, though the world may laugh at the name, once in a while granny panties are still the answer. Every girl has them because every girl needs them ;)

In Conclusion...

So... that's it again for now. Hopefully the next time you see me I'll have those dress and seperate pictures for you, along with a shot of my first attempt at pin curls.

After work tonight I'm going to be meeting the friend of mine who made my Playboy Bunny costume and Captain America Dancer costume and who's now going to be making a vintage swimsuit high waisted short to match my Fables Sohpie Top for my annual Polar Bear swim/plunge on New Years Day (I REALLY have to tell you guys all about that next time too), so hopefully I'll have some pictures of the complete swimsuit the share next time as well.

So thank you for reading again you guys, I've really loved the feedback you've all given me and it's really made me feel even more at home here at Pinup Girl Style.

Thanks again and take care!

Tahitia :)