rockewell's revival II (pin-up contest at autorama)

After doing the pin-up contest last year at Autorama, Tracy & I were hooked. It's so fun to get all dressed up and be girlie for a little while.

Pin-Up Contest 2011

This year, they decided to do two categories: amateur and professional. I decided I am definitely an amateur. The gals in the professional category competed for money; us amateurs competed for a trophy (better than a kick in the pants, anyhow!)

Tracy & I met up after work Friday to get our hair and make-up done. Technically, we could probably manage this ourselves, but it is so worth paying someone to do it for you (plus, I don't know about Tracy, but I received tons of compliments about my hair!)

The fabulous Miss Megan doing my hair (standing on a stool no less since I'm so tall!)

One thing we didn't plan on: it takes time to get all prettied up. Nearly 4 hours! We ran back to my house, changed clothes, and hit the road. Luckily we made it with some time to spare.

I LOVED my dress for this year's contest! I found it at Decades (a vintage clothing store in SLC). It's a Girl Scout uniform circa 1938-1942 (based on what I could google about the tag). It looks terrible on the hanger; seriously, I almost didn't try it on! So glad I did (thanks for the encouragement Tracy!) When I did, it fit like it was made just for me! WOW! I couldn't believe it. 

So I took it home and Kyle helped move a few of the buttons and fix a tiny tear in one of the seams. I paired it with a red belt and my awesome shoes (those shoes were supposed to appear in last year's contest, but were on back order at the time.) Before I knew it, I had a rockin' outfit! I'm not very good at this sort of thing (and by that, I mean putting together "outfits". Now I can put together clothes; anyone can do that. But it takes some special female-woman skill that I missed out on to put toether whole outfits.) It must have been kismet. I had the belt and shoes, I just needed the perfect dress. (Truthfully, I wasn't really planning on buying a dress when we went to decades. I had an entirely different outfit in mind.)

I loved the way my hair and make up turned out as well. Hair is another area where I struggle (seriously, did I miss something in the maturation program or in health class about doing hair and outfits? Was I absent for those lessons?)

I felt awesome in my whole ensemble. Like everything was exactly how it should be; truthfully, it felt very natural. Like I should have been dressing this way for years. And I liked that feeling a lot.

The most important part is that I had so much fun doing it! I think it's important to get all dolled up once in a while and remind yourself not only how pretty, but how elegant and lady-like, you are and can be. 

I came in third place overall! Which was fantastic! I was beat by my best gal Tracy, who got second with darling little Hudson at her side.

All of the amateur contestants (minus Tracy since Hudson couldn't wait much longer for dinner!)

All of the professional contestants

But my favorite part? I had tons of people commenting on this dress/outfit all weekend! How authentic it looked, how perfect it was for the 40's, etc. (which it should be, since it's from then...) Even weirder, just as many of the comments were from the guys as they were from the gals. I had no idea it would be that well received! I received some great feedback too (If I could improve my poses, I probably would've won first! And that I should compete in the professional category next year!) I was even asked to be a model for a local retailer of vintage reproduction clothes, Endless Indulgence! WOW! Who knew I had all this in me?!