There are a few things that are vital to any vintage girl’s wardrobe. I think we might all argue over the finer details – whether the black eyeliner that gives you the perfect cat eye or those 1940’s inspired heels are more important. But there is one thing that we can all agree upon: no self-respecting vintage-loving gal can get very far without her arsenal of petticoats.
I‘ll be the first to admit I have quite the collection – varying in length, fullness, color, and shape. One of my go-to brands has always been Malco Modes – I’ve found they’re the perfect mix of quality and affordability, with an amazing range of styles to give you moderate poof all the way up to Kara-level-poof. My Zooey, Meghan, and Melonie are in constant rotation in my wardrobe (and featured prominently in my Crinoline Review Post awhile back), and definitely add a bit of spring in my step and sass to my underpinnings on the regular.
Needless to say, I was super excited when Malco Modes contacted me and asked if I wanted to give a few of their petticoats a whirl. I had no idea they launched the BellaSous range, which is a great go-to option for vintage-inspired costume ideas. With Halloween fast approaching, I thought it was the perfect time to pair up with Malco Modes and BellaSous to give you a bit of insight into their range and help you find some clever Halloween costume ideas right out of items in your own closet. And to offer two lucky readers the chance to win their very own BellaSous petticoat…
Malco Modes: #582 Jennifer
Although I’ve been a fan of Malco Modes for years, I’ve never given the Jennifer (style 582) a whirl. This beauty is made of 40 yards of double-skirted chiffon, with a row of ruffles along the bottom to give you that extra bit of oomph. The waistband is also adjustable – At a 27-28″ waist, I went with a size medium, which can stretch from 25″ to 46″ and was the perfect fit, not too tight and not too loose. As I like to wear my petticoats at my natural waist, this one fell ~22 inches waist to hem and hit me above my knees.
The Jennifer retails for $74.99, but is currently on sale for $59.99 (!) and is of excellent quality (and I’m a gal who has tested many a petticoat in my day). I have to say, I adore the softness of this petticoat – I far prefer chiffon or nylon petticoats for daily wear. There was no itching or scratching as it sat against my skin, and definitely gave me the full skirt I seem to just wake up craving. I love the fall range of colors for the Jennifer (and the range of color options offered by Malco Modes in general), and opted to go with the deep wine color. It was just as luxurious as it looks, like a perfect glass of Bordeaux…
This rich colored petti was just asking for a Snow White-inspired Halloween costume. Now, if you’re a naturally pale girl with dark hair, you’re most of the way there to conjuring up the perfect Ms. Snow. The key with this easy costume is to stick with primary colors – yellow, red, and blue. Snow White generally has a yellow skirt and blue puff sleeved top with hints of red. So, I followed the theme and easily started pulling items in these colors from my closet. Then, I got a bit cheeky with my very favorite apple purse and topped it off with the Jennifer petticoat for the perfect pop of underskirts…
Snow White Costume Details:
Petticoat: Jennifer 582 in wine c/o Malco Modes
Dress: Dress: Pinup Girl Clothing, sold out (similar here)
Headband: Alannah Hill (similar)
Cardigan: Mak via Unique Vintage
Capelet: Vintage (similar)
Handbag: Ollie & Nic (similar)
Shoes: B.A.I.T.
Lip Color: Ruby Woo
BellaSous: 416 & 417
Being fully new to the BellaSous range, I had to put my research skills to work. BellaSous is the costume line for Malco Modes, which are priced more affordably (about half the cost of Malco Modes petticoats). I found them to be a good alternative if you’re just dipping your toes into vintage fashion and don’t want to make a huge investment in your petticoat, or if you’re just looking for the perfect petticoat to finish off your Halloween costume.
I tried both the 416 & 417 BellaSous petticoats in a rainbow of colors. Firstly, the 416 is a short, flouncy petticoat with an impressive amount of fullness. I went for the royal blue and apple green options, and they were incredibly bright and vivid. There is no hiding the color of these petticoats, which is exactly what you want when you opt for a fun, bright color. It also had a nice ribbon trim around the bottom hem, which gave it a clean, finished touch.
The 416 was on the shorter side for me, running 22″ waist to hem (and felt shorter than the Jennifer somehow – perhaps due to the lack of ruched hem?). Despite the shorter length, I loved the shape – it had a beautiful fullness and the tulle held its shape beautifully. Although it hit above the knee on my 5’9 frame, this might be ideal for all of the petite vintage loving ladies out there who feel drowned in most tea length petticoats. On the negative, the waistband of the 416 was definitely on the scratchy side – I found that I needed to wear a slip or cami underneath so that the waistband wasn’t in direct contact with my skin. But, at $22.99, this is an amazing option if you want to give a full skirt a try or have a Halloween costume that needs some extra oomph.
The 417 was a longer petticoat option at 25″, which I tried in the a red and purple colors. In terms of sizing, I went for a small/medium here, and it was the perfect size. This petticoat was definitely the one I favored between the two, as it has a softer nylon yoke from waist to about hip level, making it less scratchy than the 416. I still got an incredible amount of fullness from the 417, which ended up being perfect for my knee-length dresses. This option retails for $29.99 (currently on sale for $22.35!) and comes in sizes small/medium or large/x-large.
With the BellaSous, I decided to have a little bit of fun in terms of costume styling. I’m usually a two crinoline minimum gal, and with all of the amazing colors offered in the 416 and 417, I knew it was time to layer those bad boys up. Since I am no stranger to color, I could think of no better costume than to go full tilt and become a box of Crayola crayons!
Finding a rainbow dress in my closet was easy (the hard part was deciding which one). I had scored these amazing shoes (complete with Crayola crayon heel) at Katy Perry, and paired it with my old standby yellow box bag, so reminiscent of the Crayola box of my childhood. I only thought of it after this photoshoot, but I should have printed the Crayola logo and taped into onto my bag to hit the point home (but you can get the idea from my snazzy Photoshopping). Last but certainly not least, two colorful petticoats – the apple green 416 and purple 417 – completed the look.
Box of Crayons Costume Details:
Petticoat: BellaSous 416 in green and 417 in purple c/o BellaSous
Dress: Tuesday Rose Vintage (similar modern or vintage here, here & here)
Handbag: Rina Rich (similar)
Shoes: Katy Perry
Lip Color: Ruby Woo
Probably one of the easiest costumes to put together for me is Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. What gal doesn’t have a red sparkly shoe (or three) in her wardrobe? All you need for this costume is a blue gingham dress, some white ankle socks, and those red sparkly shoes. I happened to have an amazing vintage barn purse for Dorothy to tornado-twirl over, and the BellaSous red 417 and blue 416 added the perfect amount of poof. There’s no place like home….
Dorothy Costume Details:
Petticoat: BellaSous 417 in red and 416 in blue c/o Bellasous
Dress + jacket: Rococo Vintage (similar modern or vintage here, here & here)
Socks: Amazon (similar)
Belt: Altar’d State
Handbag: Vintage (similar)
Shoes: Shoes of Prey (similar)
Lip Color: Ruby Woo
In addition to the great quality (I’ve had my Zooey for at least 10 years and it’s still going strong with near daily wear), one thing I love about Malco Modes and BellaSous is that they are manufactured in the USA with USA sourced materials. Although there are a lot of petticoat options out there, often for cheaper prices, know that a well-made, high quality petticoat will be so much more valuable in the long run in terms of high quality materials that afford you the perfect shape and level of fullness you want.
To help you bring some pouf into your own wardrobes, Malco Modes is offering two lucky readers the chance to win a BellaSous 416 or 417 petticoat!
RULES: To enter, use the Rafflecopter widgets below – you must be following BellaSous (@bellasous) and The Dressed Aesthetic (@dressedapp) on Instagram to be eligible to win. You get one free entry per day for each of the two giveaways and can also have additional entries by subscribing to my newsletter and following each of us on our additional social media pages. The contest will run for 4 days and will end this Friday, 26th October 2018 at midnight EST – winners will be announced here on the blog. You’re more than welcome to enter both giveaways.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck to everyone in the giveaway. I also hope this gives you a bit of inspiration for the amazing costumes that might already be hiding in your wardrobe!
xoxo
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