The corporate pinup!So I’m a corporate pinup. I’ve found a way to take my style and make it work in a corporate environment and thought I’d share a few tips and tricks I’ve personally found to make my style work appropriate. This is what works for me and the company I work for, you may have to tweak it slightly to work for your own.
Clothes & Accessories
Top styles!
The biggest tips I can say here are to keep the cleavage for at home and stay away from halter straps! I don’t wear any of my halter dresses or tops at work because they just aren't work appropriate. Any tops I have that are good work wear but might be a bit on the ‘busty’ side I wear a singlet top underneath so my chest is covered. I aim to wear tops that have at a minimum capped sleeves but if they don’t (some of my dresses have straps) I just make sure I wear a little bolero or cardigan so I’m covered! As the office is air con'd and quite cool, I tend to wear long sleeve tops primarily to work except on Fridays when I wear t-shirts. For some examples of my tops, see below!
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| Kmart top, Erstwilder Brooch, Hellbunny Skirt, Pinup Couture Heels |
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| Pin Up Girl Clothing Doris Top and Skirt (in atomic print), Daisy Jean Flowers, Erstwilder Brooch, Pinup Couture shoes |
Skirts and Trousers!!
I wear a lot of my swing skirts to work. Their length is work appropriate and I have SO many of them! When I wear a swing skirt to work, I wear it with a crinoline instead of a petticoat. This still gives me the 50’s shape without being too ‘fun & flirty’ for work. I bought my crinolines years ago on ebay (you can get them in a range of colours) and for moving back into a more corporate role they have been a lifesaver. Wiggle skirts keep to the high waisted designs with lengths to around the knees with skirt splits not too high up! Here I'm wearing a Pin Up Girl clothing skirt to give you an idea of what I mean. I am also loving my PUG pants for work as well for days I don't feel like wearing a dress. Teaming these with classic pinup style tops is still a great work option! See below for some of my outfits!
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| Dangerfield top, Hellbunny Belt, PUG Venice Jenny Skirt, Kmart Pumps |
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| Collectif Alice Top, PUG black cigarette pants, Erstwilder Brooch, Pinup Couture Cutie Heels |
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| Repro nylon scarf, Dangerfield top, Hell bunny belt, PUG harlequin jenny skirt, Pinup Couture pink cutie heels |
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| Lady Rowe Hair flowers, Erstwilder Brooch, Target top, PUG black Cigarette Pants, Kmart pumps |
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| PUG Doris Top and PUG red wiggle skirt, Erstwilder Brooch and Pinup Couture red cutie heels |
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| Red Doris Top, Creep Heart Brooch, PUG Black Cigarette Pants, Pinup Couture Red Cutie Heels |
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| PUG white top, Erstwilder Brooch, PUG high waisted trousers and Rubi Shoes sandals. |
Also, a note to mention on both: be mindful of the patterns you wear! Make sure your patterns aren’t inappropriate for work. Cherries for example might be fine while cartoon pinups in bikinis or zombies, not so much!
Dresses!
While I do budget shop a lot of my tops, shoes and cardigans, my dresses are all brand dresses! I wear a mix of my swing dresses that are sleeved and my wiggle dresses to work. Pin Up Girl Clothing, Tatyana Boutique and Stop Staring are my current workwear favorites. Again, keep bust to a minimum and patterns classy. And have fun! One of my favorite things atm is to match tops under my Havana nights dress for example to give it a different look! If you have a dress with thinner straps, wear a bolero or cardigan with it to make it more work appropriate.
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| PUG Havana nights dress, collectif Western top, Erstwilder brooch, hellbunny belt, Pinup Couture Heels |
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| Erstwilder Brooch, Stop Staring Dress, Pinup Couture Pink Cutie Heels |
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| PUG jenny dress in lavender, Cardigan by Dangerfield, Creep Heart Brooch, Rubi Shoes Flats. |
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| Tatyana Boutique Dress, Pinup Couture Red Cutie Heels |
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| Lady Rowe Flower, Hell Bunny Constance Dress & belt, Pinup Couture pink cutie heels |
Special mention to suits!
Some pinup brands (Tatyana boutique and Pinup Couture) now sell Vintage inspired suits as well as you can actually find and buy real vintage suits! These suits are always amazing to work in (really! They are built for office wear!) and I am fortunate enough to have found one suit for less than the cost of one part on ebay! Seriously pinups in offices, get on this!
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| Tatyana Boutique Checkered Swing Suit & Pinup Couture pink cutie heels! |
Shoes!
I wear both flats and heels to work. Try and stay away from super high platform pumps: keep those for shoots and going out. Sensible heels and nice flats are the go here!
Stockings/shapewear!
Don’t be afraid to wear your vintage undergarments to work! I do! No one is going to know and there’s nothing wrong with wearing your suspenders, back seamed stockings (though if your workplace is a bit stricter maybe go for a plain nude stocking or a nude back seam?) and what not as long as it suits the clothes you are wearing!! I cannot stress this enough! The number of spanx I see that are so far under skirts in the city is a bit mind blowing.
Hair and pieces!
Keep them modest and more on the smaller side. Keep the BIG statement pieces for at home. I often wear my scarves on casual Friday. It really depends on your workplace to how vintage you can style it. While I wear a wetset or pony and bangs most days, I wouldn’t wear my MASSIVE bumper bangs to work as they just aren’t work appropriate. A wet set is a safe bet for most corporate places, most women wear their hair out now days anyway from what I’ve seen in my local city!
Accessories!
Most accessories are pretty ok, as long as they don’t feature language or elements that one would consider offensive. For example, I comfortably wear all my brooches to work except the one I have which is oddly enough, a pinup in a bikini. Just be mindful of language and content.
Make up
I’m pretty free to do my make up as I like as long as its ‘tasteful’. Most classic pinup makeup is. If your work is a bit stricter maybe only line half your lid with a flick or a brown eyeliner and go for softer or nude lipsticks as oppose to the usual punchy red!
My aim every morning is to look presentable, tasteful but also true to myself. I’m very proud of my pinup self and I hope this helps!
I'll be posting an updated pinup shopping guide in the next few days!
Another post coming soon!
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