You all know by now that I’m a total sucker for a good print. Whether that be a classic pattern like stripes or florals or something more out there, I’m always more likely to opt for a print than something plain. Enter this incredible 70s teddy bear print dress, which is new in my wardrobe and is now one of my favourite pieces I own, for many reasons.
Firstly, let’s talk about the print, which is the main thing that instantly drew me to this piece. Rows upon rows of multicoloured teddy bears with stretched out arms, almost holding hands, this teddy bear print is just so adorable, fun and unique all at the same time. Being always drawn to the vintage pieces with weird and wonderful prints, this is not actually the first piece that I own with a teddy bear print – shocker! A few months back I published a blog post entitled Some Things I Love Right Now, based around a 70s blouse with an unusual print of a teddy bear holding a flower. So, if you are looking for a new print to get on board with, I’m telling you, teddy bear print is going to happen!
Secondly, I absolutely love the shape of this dress. Being a wrap-style mini dress, it accentuates my waist and floats out over my hips, fitting me perfectly and flattering every single curve. Having seen the wrap dress trend explode last summer, I now totally get it and will definitely be looking into picking up some variants with shorts sleeves. I’m also obsessed with its collar, being an exaggerated pointed collar as seen on many shirts from the seventies era, yet with rounded tips, which adds a softer touch to this floaty piece.
Now for the colours and I am so obsessed with the colour palette of this dress. With forest green as the background, neutral and traditional coloured teddy bears stand by red teddy bears with burgundy or beige tummies and paws and purple teddy bears with lilac tummies and vice versa. Wow, that was complicated to work out! Anyway, you get the gist – it’s a feast of colours and having loved the colour combination of red and dark green for ages, I’m also loving the introduction of purple into my print collection.
Alright, alright, I’ll stop overanalysing this awesome piece now and chat about how I’ve styled it shall I?! In true retro fashion, I decided to pair the teddy bear print dress with some burgundy red tights as black tights just would not have worked as well. I do think some forest green tights or even some purple ones could have worked equally well – I just only currently have red and orange tights in my colourful tights drawer so maybe I need to rectify that, stat!
I finished off the look with my favourite black boots from Zara and if I had had it with me, my burgundy Coach saddle bag would’ve gone perfectly with these hues. Alas, these photos were taken in Bristol over the Easter weekend and I actually don’t mind going sans sac for this outfit as it just allows the dress to do the talking even more. These are some of my favourite photos in a while – the morning light is perfect and I love the location with the bright red door helping the colour pop in the dress.
If you could create a new print, what would you design? X
