Summer of Love: Indie Swimwear Giveaway

Yazzmin (and a friend!) wearing our Jungle Twist Bikini 

Some of you may remember the Love Bomb that went off this february and the year before that! No, not a literal love bomb (that could get sticky), but a declaration of love to our fellow independent brands!

The Love Bomb is a celebration of independent lingerie and swimwear designers. Each of the brands taking part in the Love Bomb is run by a handful of people (and in some cases, even one!), standing up against the mega-corporations to bring you innovative, quirky and unique knickers!  

Unlike the big spenders we are in this game for the knickers – like you, we can’t get enough of them! Many a day is spent lusting after other brands’ lacy wonders and structured glories, so we thought what better way to encourage support for indie lingerie than to gather together for a big, sloppy Summer love bomb!

There are 3 gift baskets up for grabs! Each giftbasket has a voucher, bikini or swimsuit from each brand, plus eyelashes from Sheeba Raye, as used in the shoot, luxury bath and beauty gifts from Mon Epris and a voucher for vintage designer sunglasses store Lunetier!

We put together a fun shoot with model Yazzmin and John Tyrell, who created these psychadelic, 60′s inspired Summer Of Love illustrations. The amazing makeup was by Cheyenne Raymond and hair by Doubravka Marcinkova!

Yesterday's featured brand was Kiss Me Deadly:

HOW TO WIN ONE OF 3 GIFT BASKETS

You can enter UP to 4 ways:

1. Share our Summer of Love image publicly (make sure you choose "public" in the drop down menu when sharing an image) on facebook.

2. Tweet this link with the hashtag #summerloveswim

3. Blog about the Summer of Love (email us on anna@playfulpromises.com letting us know!)

4. Reblog our Summer of Love image on tumblr

We’ll collate all the entries on the 28th August, and pick 3 winners on August the 30th.

Here’s the list of people taking part so you know who to watch out for:

Kiss Me Deadly, Miss Mandalay, Playful Promises, Paolita

Accessories:

Sheeba Raye, Mon Epris, Lunetier Vintage

Festival Survival Guide

Love it or loathe it, festival season is upon us again.

Why do we do it to ourselves? Surely the sanitary horrors, the medieval standards of personal hygiene, the food poisoning/sunstroke/hypothermia (suspected) and the post-festival trench foot (confirmed) would teach any creature with the ability to learn and evolve that these are places to be avoided?

I don’t have the answers I’m afraid. What I do know, as someone who’s done more than her fair share of festivaling both as a performer and a partygoer, is that there are some basic rules to remember if you want to go to a festival and come back with your sanity (relatively) intact.

1. No matter how good the forecast, how many offerings you’ve made to the weather gods, no matter what the evidence of your senses tells you, NEVER, EVER ASSUME IT’LL BE SUNNY.  The mere inclusion of a bikini top in your backpack is enough to make the skies darken and clouds gather ominously. However the corresponding principle is also true; come prepared for the worst and you’ll end up lugging an unopened backpack full of baggy jumpers and spare blankets halfway across the country. Only one thing to do really; tempt fate with your finest Playful Promises bikini top.

2. Accept that at some point you’ll be served a grotesque parody of food for which you will shell out hyper-inflation levels of cash. Literally wheelbarrows full of notes. You can bring as many of your own healthy snacks as you want but your tent will seem an awfully long way away after a couple of ciders and a few rounds of Gangnam Style (you were dancing ironically of course, we believe you.)

3. Buy a watch that you don’t mind losing. Sounds weird right? But you’d be amazed at how the time can slip past you when you’re far away from your laptop and your phone has run out of battery, and your nice designer timepiece has been (sensibly) left at home for fear of it ending up lost somewhere in acres of churned mud. Besides, if you’re planning on catching any of the scheduled bands, it might be helpful to be at the stage they’re playing  ten minutes (to five hours, depending on how popular they are) before they’re supposed to come on.

4. Leave the onesie at home where it belongs. It may seem delightfully whimsical to dress in a baggy felt badger costume but I’ll wager you’ve never tried to use a public toilet in one. Undignified doesn’t start to cover it. Instead, keep it classy and cool in our new shorts and trapeze top combo.

5. Bring socks. Lots of them. And for the love of god, all the baby wipes you can carry.

6. This might go against all the dire warnings above, but be open to spontaneity.  Some of the best festival times you will have will be after you lose the booklet and find yourself embracing the carefree spirit of the event; discovering new music, embracing new experiences, and generally just cutting loose and enjoying yourself.  You’re there to have fun; now go find it!

Minibreak Style Tips: Barcelona

We’re full swing into Spring (allegedly) and here at PPHQ we are eagerly looking forward to throwing off our coats and gloves and donning our best Whistle & Wolf frocks for a bit of a frolic in the sunshine. I mean – it’s almost June, how far off can those elusive golden rays be?  A glance out of the window confirms that despite swapping our woolly tights for seamed stockings and chunky boots for strappy sandals, we’re no less likely to be caught in a deluge that’d give Glastonury '05 a run for its money.

As the drab grey skies stretch out over the city and bedraggled people bustle by holding umbrellas that seem to have a spooky ability to poke a woman of my height right in the eye, it may seem like that well-earned summer holiday one has been fantasising about is a far off dream.  

But never fear! I have come up with a simple yet effective solution to these mid-May mopes, which I am going to share with you all now. I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to figure it out. Are you ready? Brace yourself.

One word: MINIBREAK.

From Reykjavik to Rome, Palermo to Prague, there are plenty of chic European destinations suitable for a weekend away in which to flash your new Playful Promises bikini, make a splash in our swimwear or glam up in something  quirky and/or classy from our Whistle and Wolf clothing collection.

So here are some city style tips for one of my favourite places on earth - Barcelona!

I first visited Barcelona whilst travelling through Europe in my teens; it seized my heart instantly and hasn’t yet let go.  It’s a fun, playful, vibrant city that nonetheless has a grown-up side – there’s plenty of culture and history to be explored at your leisure, but when the evening hits, you’ll be spoilt for choice with fantastic seafood restaurants, great live music establishments, and bars serving traditional cava and Catalan tapas titbits to keep you going til the early hours. Wardrobe-wise you’ll want an all-rounder if you’re planning on hitting the city after dark, which is when it really comes to life – our classic red dress is versatile, timeless styling at its best, and paired with our tuxedo jacket you’ll look the part wherever your evening takes you.

The seafront has an urban feel to it but there is golden sand for those determined for beachtimes. If you’re feeling daring the Barcelonans think nothing of whipping off their kit for that all-over tan!  However, if you’re not feeling the let-it-all-hang-out vibe, our digital Hawaii bikini with its parrot and floral print reflects the bright and bold nature of this city (which is home to flocks of colourful parakeets!), and will allow you to get a headstart on your sun-kissed look way ahead of your pasty pals back home.

Send us a postcard, won’t you!

Spring/Summer 2014 previews

It's that time of year when our swimwear and lingerie samples are being prepared, ready to shoot next year's lookbook!

We've already shot our AW13 collection (part of which will be arriving in late July), and now it's on to the colourful fun of Swim/Lingerie SS14. 

 

The above 4 images give you a sneaky look at some of our swimwear for next year - which print is your favourite?

And here's a little teaser of our SS14 lingerie collection! 

Keep an eye on our instagram (@playfulpromises) for more sneaky previews!

Swimwear Giveaway: Tell Us Your Ideal Holiday

The skies are gradually brightening, which puts us in the mood for our Summer holidays! And we have just the thing to wear, now that our new swimwear collection has arrived!

And because we want YOU to have a colourful summer, whether at home or jetting off to exotic destinations, we're giving one lucky reader the chance to win a set of swimwear of their choice from our new collection! 

All you need to do is comment on this blog post with a description of your ideal summer holiday!

It doesn't need to be where you are ACTUALLY going this year (girl has got to dream, right), so be as crazy as you like.

Winner will be announced on the 18th!

To start you off, some of the Playful Promises girls describe their own:

Emma - Dartmoor, as it is one of the only places in the UK you can camp wild.

Harmony - The Bahamas - who can resist a perfect beach!?

Louise - Tulum in mexico to see the historical ruins and go diving to see the fish.

Lydia - Being the swing dance addict that I am, I'm already planning my Summer holiday at Swing Crash festival in gorgeous Lake Como, Italy...amazing food, lovely warm weather, dipping in the lake to cool off in the afternoons and then lindyhopping to live music til 6 in the morning. I might even pluck up the courage to enter one of the dance-offs this year...

Anna - I have to be a real bore and say I love visiting my parents in Cornwall. It may not be hot, but there ARE palm trees! Catching the first glimpse of St. Michael's Mount as the train pulls into Penzance is amazing.