Sept 22nd & 23rd - Outfits #21 & 22 - A Closet Clean-Out and Some Shopping

Such a great weekend, and it's not even over yet! 

Warning: this is a big post. Lots of pictures! 

Saturday morning, I got up early and went to boot camp. I have pathetic upper-body strength and abs, but I can run pretty good. I have endurance!

L and I went out for lunch after, so I put on something pretty for him:

My stretchy floral kimono top makes it into a second outfit this month (first time here, with my denim skirt and that same vintage choker and my steampunk cuff). And what's that? A "fresh" skirt? Yes! I'm not sure why I resisted wearing this white eyelet skirt in this month's capsule - this is an awesome skirt!

It has no labels and I've no idea what brand it is or what it's made of, but it's really nice quality. I thrifted it in May 2011 for $12. I first wore it here, in an accessory-free outfit. I've also worn it here in July 2011 (scroll way down), and that's it, I think.

I haven't worn these beige suede sandals as much as I thought I would have. Last time was here with a simple dress.

As promised, here's my outerwear.

I thrifted that suede blazer for $7 in January 2009.

The stuff:

Doing a bit of a hippie vibe...well, I was born in the 60s!

Jacket (B.U.M. Equipment, thrifted), blouse (Mexx, thrifted), cami (InWear), skirt (unknown, thrifted), shoes (Kenneth Cole Reaction, consignment), choker (vintage 60s, Mom's), earrings (vintage 90s, LA Express), cuff (SkinzNHydez).

After lunch, L and I split up to do some shopping. I found these silver and coral earrings for $24. They're locally-made.

Unfortunately, those cool silver ovals are WAY too thick to go through my ear, so I had to remove them and do a switcheroo.

My silver bird earrings are starting get bubbly on the surface, so time for them to go.

Pliers! And we're ready to wear my new earrings.

Found these astounding chocolate brown suede over-the-knee boots at She She Shoes on sale for $175.00:

They're a very snug fit, but they feel amazing on. That's a very walkable heel.

Now why would a company make their label basically illegible? Don't you want people to know your brand?

They are Ilenia P. - I kept plugging different combinations of letters until the computer gods told me what it said. It's like magic!

When we got home, I rolled up my sleeves and hauled out all my winter clothes from storage under the bed. It took me about 3.5 hours to fully gut my closet and pull out everything that I've worn in the last 6 months.

These are all my shoes from April to end of August! My September shoes are still in use, of course.

Recognize any favourites from previous capsules?

I pulled out shoes I might want to keep out all year round (I'm lookin' at you, aqua Fluevogs!), and then packed away all my spring/summer shoes for the next 6 months. Come March, it'll be so exciting to pull them all out again!

I did that for each category of item in the closet - packed away summer and left in more all-seasonal items - and then evaluated what I hadn't worn in the last 6 months. I got rid of a few things (none of the shoes above were cut).

Some things, like these party dresses, don't get worn much. I tend to rotate a few years with Major Dresses, so that they feel like new dresses when they hit their next round of parties.

Eee, I haven't worn that Betsey Johnson dress on the far left (the blue thing) in a couple of years. I tend to hang onto my party dresses for a long time.

Here are my "regular" dresses that haven't made it into a capsule yet (or maybe got worn as a Wild Card outfit).

Wait a minute, that grey one in the middle was in July's capsule. How did that get in there?

The yellow halter on the far left, the renegade grey on in the middle and the swirly one beside it did not go into storage - they're in the giveaway/consignment pile.

Skirts: same deal.

The black on the far left got the axe. I'm going to wait and see with the rest and see if they have a place in a capsule for fall/winter.

Only two jackets didn't make it into a capsule:

The one on the left is too awesome not to keep, but the turquoise corduroy jacket is gone.

Here's the shoes that are left that have not yet made it into a capsule since I started this challenge.

Some of these are more party-type shoes

Where there's only one shoe, those are ones that I'm considering for Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan capsules. Yes, I'm really planning that far ahead!

Another couple of levels in the "Tower of Power":

The upper right section has a few of September's shoes in it.

More shoe funkosity:

I love those dragon heels!

These shoes live up very high in my closet.

I mostly wear them for special occasions.

Party shoes, and ooh...

Such cool shoes.

Hmmm...I wonder which month these shoes will be in?

I love my shoes.

Oh, and here are my sweaters that I didn't wear.

I got rid of that brown sequined thing. It's scratchy.

If you've never seen my closet before, here's a peek:

The Shoe Tower of Power! I'm usually much more organized with the hanging stuff, but I've made little pockets for upcoming months' capsules. I'm looking forward to having it all back where it's supposed to be when this challenge is over.

The other side:

Carefully cropping me in my robe out of the mirror!

I like my closet. I can spend hours in there - and I did!

Here's what I'm looking forward to:

Four new pairs of boots (3 of them Fluevogs) that I haven't be able to wear! Oh, they will be worn!

Naturally, all this disruption in the den caused serious excitement for Vizzini:

Checking out his favourite aqua suede fringed skirt (he chewed a bunch of the fringes off last year, little bugger).

Looking for shoelaces to chew on my fall/winter boots now that they're unpacked.

He's taken a shine to my purple combat boots.

He also got into this fabric bag.

I had so much winter stuff put away...I culled some of it when I unpacked it. Things I had been iffy on in the Feb/March capsules, items that have been replaced by better quality items...into the swap pile!

Today, I woke up stiff and sore, but not as bad as my last Saturday boot camp!

My brown blazer (last worn here, right at the beginning of the month), my peacock blouse (worn poorly here during Dress Week of Horrors!), and my denim skirt again (last worn on Friday).

I wore the blouse tucked in so that the frayed waistband of the skirt showed.

I walked down to get groceries, then hoofed it over to My Sister's Closet to do some shopping. Gotta keep moving to warm up those sore muscles!

These shoes (last worn here, last two outfits) are so good for walking around, and today it was lovely and warm, but you can feel that chill in the air.

I think I got the shoe mix right for a changeable month like September.

Jacket (Tahari/Arthur S. Levine, thrifted), top (Anne Klein, consignment), skirt (Mavi, consignment), shoes (Kenneth Cole Reaction, consignment).

I had very good shopping karma at My Sister's Closet. I found this gorgeous fitted and fully-lined velvet top for $22.98 (with tags still on!).

It's by Bianca Nygard.

I don't usually buy mall stores clothing, but this jacket was so unusual (and looked so smokin' on!), I couldn't resist.

It's from Ricki's (I know!) and was $26.98.

This jacket will be right on trend for winter whites:

The hanger doesn't do justice to it - it's great on. It's by Le Chateau and was $20.98.

This Banana Republic shirt was $18.98:

Navy's a neutral, right? I thought it would be a good basic.

I was so excited about this blouse:

Seriously, it's rufflicious! So slinky and drapey and look at those cuffs! The colour is a blush: pinky-cream. It's by Cabi and was $16.98.

This wool knit maxi skirt was $18.98:

It's by Animale - and it's an XL, which made me laugh.

I finally found a perfect red pencil skirt:

It's by Le Chateau (made in Canada!) and was $10.98.

I also had sweet accessory luck at a store called Leka. I found this awesome brass ring with floating copper rings for $36.00.

The brass has little hearts on it.

See how the rings move?

You can spin them, like a meditation ring. The ring is locally made on Saltspring Island by Twang & Pearl.

I also found this leather, silver and crystal choker for 1/2 price ($22.50):

The crystals are irregularly cut.

Look at the button and the clasp work:

The button looks like hand-cast silver, and the leather is stitched and trimmed and glued so that it lays perfectly flat. Love!

I may have squealed when I saw this mink rose pin at MSC:

It was $10.98. Vizzini tried to eat it right away, so it's getting stored away from him!

I also found this little winter fascinator at a store called Lazy Susan:

It was $16.00 and was hand-done.

I can totally see wearing this for a fancy winter outfit.

Now we're off to see The Shins!

Don't forget to check out Patti's "Visible Monday" at Not Dead Yet Style!