Last June, I visited a lovely pin-up pop-up shop at The Old Truman Brewery in east London in order to try on a few Love ur Look dresses that I had been ogling online. It was loads of fun and so, when I heard Ronke was running it again, I knew I had to make time to visit.
Sometimes it can be quite hard to work out the quality of clothing when you’re buying online, and it can often be tough to figure out which size to buy too. That’s one of the many reasons why I love pop-ups – you get a chance to find out whether an indie brand’s clothes really work for you, and you’ll probably get to meet some lovely people there too. I headed over at lunch time to have a quick look round this year’s shop and try on a few things, but once I got there I really wished I’d had the whole afternoon… and a lot more money to spend!
There are five brands at this year’s pin-up pop-up shop – gorgeous vintage style dresses from Love ur Look, Silly Old Sea Dog and Zoe Vine, glamorous retro swimwear from For Luna, and fun clothing and accessories from Geek la Chic – but I didn’t have much time for browsing, so I had to prioritise. Dresses or skirts that cover my knees were top of my list, so I started rummaging and ended up taking four frocks into the dressing room for trying on.
From Love ur Look, I tried on the lovely bright pink tropical dress (pictured above), sizing down to a large to get a perfect fit on the top, and the blue cloud 50s tea dress (see left) in an XL. Both dresses are made from a light floaty cotton that’s perfect for the warmer summer months, and they come with a long tie belt in the same fabric that’s long enough to wrap around your waist twice or tie in a large bow. They have wonderful design features – cut outs around the neck of the pink dress and button detailing on the pockets of the blue dress – and they’re both so comfortable to wear. I couldn’t resist buying the cloud dress as it’s perfect everyday wear.
From Silly Old Sea Dog, I tried the v-necked bicycle print dress (see below) and the tie shouldered red riding hood print dress (see right, and coming to the website soon!). I normally go for a size 14 in full-skirted dresses but the brains behind the brand, Alison, recommended that I size down as her clothing comes up a bit larger than the hight street. Unsurprisingly, she was right as both dresses were a lovely fit on me in a size 12, despite my short body. Cleverly, the tie shouldered dress doesn’t have bows that are stitched in place, so you can adjust it depending on the length of your body and/or the size of your boobs. Both dresses are made out of a nice heavy cotton that holds the shape really well and so the bodice always looks immaculate and you feel like a million dollars. Also… she has the same dedication to pockets as Ronke does!
Sadly, after all that I didn’t have time to try on anything from Zoe Vine, (the gorgeous shape and prints of the Gigi dress caught my eye!), For Luna (they have lovely clothing as well as swimwear), or Geek la Chic (I’m regretting not trying the shoes with the hearts!), but the shop is open until the end of the weekend so I may be able to pop back.
It was great to be able to try on so many of these lovely indie brands’ wares in the same place, and also to meet the owners – knowing a bit more about the woman behind the brand always makes shopping more fun for me. If Ronke runs the pop-up again next year. I think I’ll have to make sure I save up some money and set aside a whole afternoon of shopping time. I highly recommend that you pay these lovely ladies a visit this weekend!
The Pin-Up Pop-Up Shop, featuring Love ur Look, Silly Old Sea Dog, Zoe Vine, For Luna & Geek la Chic – runs until 11th June on Dray Walk, London E1 6QL (right by the Old Truman Brewery, off Brick Lane).
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