My Ingredients for Retro Pin Up

Yesterday I attended a White Gloves Brunch with my two BFF's Ann and Rachel at the Rotunda at Neiman Marcus.

Now I know the theme was "Ladies who lunch," but I ended up looking more like Traci Lords from Crybaby rather than a proper Southern Belle.

I learned how to do this look when I was a huge Masuimi Max fan girl. I had never seen an Asian American pinup model before, and because of her I began to experiment with Bettie Page bangs and 40's up dos.

The retro 40's/Rockabilly look is a little over saturated in Los Angeles, so I've been a little hesitant to bring it back.

In order to do this hair style you have to set you whole in huge curlers, spray a shit ton of hairspray, tease furiously from the root, and start rolling your hair from front to back. Then you pin. I would recommend large bobby pins. I didn't have them this time around, so my hair was sort of falling by the end of the day. Once I set the rolls, I just curled the bottom with a large barrel curling iron. However, I'm going to invest in some hot rollers, because that what they used to use in the back the day, and it will hold the curls better.

There are a ton of how-to videos, and I wish I had one to recommend, but on the real, I just stalked some rockabilly girls on Myspace back in the day, and I just copied as best as I could.

As far as makeup is concerned, I contoured, used minimal eyeshadow, but had a wicked cat eye with MAC boot black liquid liner. Donned some fake eyelashes and red lipstick and I was hitching for a ride like Miss Traci Lords below.

Here's my Inspiration and also product list of what I used to get this look:

Okay back to our hot brunch. When we booked this brunch I immediately knew which dress I wanted to wear. I finally got to sport my gray business dress from the Banana Republic Mad Men Collection. I didn't know how committed to character we were going to be, so I didn't get a fancy hat that a nice Southern lady would wear. I instead opted for curling and rolling my hair, which went with the outfit just fine.

However, when I arrived I was pleasantly surprised on how each of us interpreted the theme of the day. Of course my girls looked at beautiful as always.  Ann's look was more Mary Tyler Moore and Rachel was  dressed as a hot society wife in NYC in a cute strapless dress.  I seriously have to be friends with these two forever, because they know too much about me and it would be a security risk if we were to part :)

We had a great time gossiping, ordering fancy food, and just being girls. I've been grateful to have these two as my girls for almost ten years now. The three of us are so different in aspirations, style, and personality, but when we are together all we do is laugh.

Thanks for the blessings and the giggles ladies... till we meet again.