Saturday, October 20, 2012

Oct 19th & 20th - Outfits #19 & 20 - Let's Get This Weekend Started!

Hello and welcome to the weekend! 

Let's get right to it - here's Friday's outfit.
I've pretty much abandoned Casual Friday - I don't miss it
I wanted to wear my gorgeous burgundy leather obi again, so I mixed it up by putting against a background of neutrals. I last wore the belt with this same jacket and booties (here), although I last wore the booties here on Monday with oranges and reds.
I last wore this awesome brown skirt here with green tweed and mustard (that sounds like an exotic salad!). I also added burgundy tights and a burgundy cami to help pull the whole red thing together.

The swallow necklace that Mom gave me filled in the neckline nicely, and went well with my brown/bronze-y jewelry.

For my outerwear, I took the belt off and tied it over my coat. My new toque and gloves and my fur scarf kept me all snuggly in the chilly October wind.
And my eyes are closed
I showed my Obakki coat to a coworker who used to work in Vancouver and was familiar with their store. She gasped when she saw the coat and said it would have easily been over $1,000.00 in the store. Wow!

Coat (Obakki, thrifted), jacket (Armor Jeans, thrifted), cami (Jackpot), skirt (Liz Claiborne, thrifted), booties (Coffee Kope Tiam, Fluevog), belt (locally made, gift from L), necklace (Summoning, gift from Mom), earrings (Plum), assorted rings), hat and gloves (Roberta's Hats).

I went up to one of my favourite shoe stores in town after work on Friday, locally owned and operated Heart and Sole,* because two different friends had forwarded me notice of their sale - 75% off! They (and their sister store, Footloose) are the only stores in town that carry Fluevogs (a very small selection, mind you), so I had to stop in and see if there was anything left in my size.
*I link because I love - if you're in Victoria, go check out this great little store!

I was so close to nabbing a pair of the black Wonder Ayers for $54.00, but the last pair was a 10 and would have been a smidge big on me. Besides, the lady trying them on really needed a good pair of black shoes and they fit her perfectly. I think I convinced her to buy them - it's only good Shoe Karma, am I right?

Instead, I found these fabulous Spring/Summer sandals.
They are the Faith Reumah* in a floral-print leather. The soles are real wood, and you can just see the John Fluevog signature stamp on the strap near the buckle.
*I link because I love - and I LOVE Fluevogs!

The back of the heel:
As I often find with Fluevogs, sometimes a style doesn't appeal to me until I see them on my foot.

I actually kind of like how they look with my burgundy tights on:
I have fairly narrow feet and these fit like a dream. The straps are nicely adjustable and the front is not too toe-y (I don't like my toes poking out too much).

And they were only $54.00!
 Woot!

Today, L and I went out for brunch:
It was nice and sunny when we left.

My weekend outfits are a lot simpler: just my black sweater (last worn here in a dressier ensemble, 2nd outfit, scroll past the shopping pics), my Smoking Lily skirt (last seen here, in that same outfit as the booties, jacket and belt above!) and my granny shoes (worn last weekend, with my barn skirt).

A few steampunk-y accessories (a couple of leather cuffs, my octopus necklace), and I'm good.
We had some errands to do downtown (mailing a certain star/moon belt to a certain blogger, for one), so this was good for walking around.

For outerwear, I donned my thick black leather jacket and some fingerless gloves.
"Howdy!"
We ended up at a mall just out of town, looking for an accessory for L's costume tonight. I haven't been to a mall on a Saturday in a long time, and I was a little overwhelmed by the frenzy of consumption - bags of cheap oil-based fabrics made by workers who don't earn a living wage. I've just finished reading "Over-Dressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Fast Fashion*" and it was a solid reminder to myself to not buy cheap crap. I really want to work on buying local, ethically-produced fashion when I buy new, or at least clothing that is made in Canada. There's not much of that in the mall. I should have gone to the MAC store - at least much of their product is made in Canada.

If you haven't read "Over-Dressed" I would encourage you to do so. I know many of my fellow bloggers and readers are already buying ethically by shopping thrift and second-hand, and supporting local businesses, as well as shopping their closets, and that's a great thing! But somehow we still end up going for the cheap new stuff...and I know for me, I'm going to start asking myself how much I really want that cheap item.

Heavy stuff, man.
*I link because I love - and I recommend this book.

On a lighter note, L and I are going to a grotesque burlesque tonight! It's a costume party, and my dear friend Vero is one of the performers. I'm excited to do up a fun costume! Gotta go!

28 comments:

  1. Sheila....first I want to tell you how much I love the colors in your Friday outfit.
    Oh my gosh, its it time to bust our the warm coats already? Oh my.
    I read that book and its wonderful and life changing. It stirred me to action and changing habits. I want to make the same kind of commitments.
    Hmmm...'grotesque burlesque'...sounds interesting; will you be posting pictures?

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    1. My pictures of the burlesque didn't turn out - too dark - but I'll have costume pictures up soon!

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  2. Great outfits. But best of all is that super necklace. I love it.

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  3. Major score on the sandals! Oooh Vogs for $50 @u@

    Also I didn't notice your oxfords the last time around (okay, maybe I got distracted by your shopping goodies), but they are totally cute. I love the lighter colored skirt with the darker colors.

    The burlesque sounds like a great time. Hope you had fun.

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  4. OverDressed is a wonderful read and looks at so many different aspects of the MACHINE of fast fashion. I've made a similar vow as you.

    That said, I'm not surprised that this coat turned out to be one that may be so valuable!

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    1. Terri, you were definitely an inspiration for me to get this book! Thank you!

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  5. Excited to see your costume from the party! I'm about to go get dressed up for the Brisbane Zombie walk - although I know my costume won't be that great.
    Thanks for the book recommendation, I will definitely check it out. I buy so many cheap things :( I splurge on accessories that last decades but can't seem to do that with clothes.

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    1. Mica, can't wait to see your zombie costume! Yes, you hit on one of the points of the book: we'll splash out for an expensive bag or piece of jewelry but don't do that for our clothing!

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    2. Been trying to remember who recommended this book and had a moment of inspiration today - of course it was you! I ordered it, it arived last week and I plan to take it with me and give it a good read on my upcoming trip for work tomorrow. Thanks for recommending something to entertain me for the flights :) Will be sure to let you know what I think of it :)

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  6. I love your leather obi and the way it matches your tights - fabulous look! You have a lot of great jackets and skirts. Makes me think I really need to hit more thrift shops (and read the book you mentioned).

    And I love Victoria! I met my husband there when we were both traveling, me from Seattle, him from Britain. It's a beautiful place!

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    1. Hi, Val, thank you so much for commenting! That's so cool that you and your husband met here!

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  7. Gorgeous colors-that yummy burgundy belt along with the grey-ish neutrals!! Love the boots too. I'm enjoying seeing the outfit and then the outerwear. I should read the book. Sometimes I think I'm a little smug because I mainly thrift, but I also get snagged by H&M occasionally, although not nearly as often now.

    Your new shoes are really gorgeous. Congrats on the shoe karma.

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  8. Thanks for posting about fast fashion Sheila. I am with you on this. If I go into my city centre at the weekend, you see people leaving mall-type shops wIth giant bags stuffed. In the shop the stock is overflowing, and all of it will have been made in a sweatshop. The sad thing is that it won't last and then will get binned, it sometimes donated to charity but may well not get sold, as it is worn out due to being low quality.

    It is not that high-end/more expensive shops don't use sweatshops. It is pretty hard to wholly police this but I follow publications by a charity called Labour Behind the Label and don't buy from the shops they list as having bad practice. But I do buy second hand (no matter the label, it is out there now and needs onto be worn!). I also prefer a smaller wardrobe with workhorses that get a lot of wear. So I scale up my purchases for those, buy the best quality I can, and wear the heck out of them.

    On another note, I love the oxblood belt. It looks just as good with your coat as it does the oufit beneath! Excellent colour mix.

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    1. Yes, you're so right - most of the crap in the malls isn't even good enough for the charity stores! Thank you for the info on Labour Behind the Label!

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  9. You find the coolest pieces. Love the sandals, especially with the colored tights.

    I never understood fingerless gloves. The purpose of gloves is to keep you warm and cutting off the fingers defeats that. Are they worn just for style?

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    1. I find full gloves difficult for dealing with keys and things, yet they still keep my hands warm in cooler weather. It's not full-on cold weather yet, so fingerless gloves are just the right mix of warm and cool.

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  10. I just love your style! You always look so well put together. Although, I have not gone through your whole blog, I just may partake today.

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  11. Since this is an election year in the US I started thinking about how much clothing has become so much more affordable since I was in college 40 years ago. At that time allot of clothing was still manufactured in the US. When I was in college I had roommates that had a clothing budget so I remember going shopping with them a good pair of tailored slacked cost about 75.00-80.00. I had no money then and I was so envious of their ability to be able to buy current fashion looks. My clothing back then was very limited, usually hand me downs from my rich friends. I got to thinking about this because my daughters that are finishing up college and now looking for dressy trousers for work are looking at spending 75.00. I am wondering if we go back to manufacturing in the US will the prices go way up. Having cheap clothing has been a boon for this younger generation. I have so much more clothing now because I can afford to buy it. Now I know there is a difference between 'cheap' in cost versus 'cheap' in quality. I sew so I know how to look at the fabric content and construction details. I can find very well made clothing on sale all of the time. I would love to do more second hand clothing shopping but we don't have anything decent in my area. I still only can find the Salvation Army. I think that the authors point is well taken but don't you just love the idea of being able to try out a trend without a huge financial loss.

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    1. Hi, Adrienne, thank you so much for your thoughtful comment!

      Yes, I do think that if manufacturing is brought back to the US (or Canada, where I live), that prices for clothing will go up. However, it's not likely to happen 100% or ever go back to where it was 40-60 years ago; there will always be a demand for hip, trendy clothes now that the market has had a taste of what's possible. I don't know that I want to try out that many trends anymore! Seems like everything repeats anyway, and (at least for me) I can thrift or find that trend second-hand - and some of it I even already have in my closet!

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  12. WOW to the first outfit!! I love burgundy and brown as a combo--so warm and your new belt and necklace really set it off!!
    Kudo's to the fab coat find!!! I know how you feel!! i just thrifted a dark cherry wool/angora and cashmere car coat from Lord & Taylors in perfect condition for $4--I found ones similar on their site for $500 and up! WOO HOO!!

    Love your second casual outfit! wish we had Smoking Lily near me!

    THOSE SHOES!!!! OMG they are FABULOUS!!! I can't wait to see how you style them next spring/summer!!

    Personally I consider the mall to be one of Dante's outer rings of Hell....

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  13. Sheila, I adore your burgundy obi belt. And that coat, oh man, I would love one like that. Your new vogs are a wowser too. It was good shoe karma for sure.

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  14. Your swallows necklace is incredibly beautiful! I love that it's a substantial piece and has great motion. Your obi belt is amazing over the blazer AND over your coat - cool!

    Excellent Fluevog score - how exciting is that - those are beautiful!

    Your weekend outfit is simpler, sure, but still beautifully put-together with really nice pieces. Loving the granny shoes!

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  15. Ooh, I want to see pictures for your event you went to. How fun!
    Everything in your closet is so damn cute!! All the way to the floor I might add. ;)

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  16. Sheila, that swallow necklace is so wonderful on you. Your mom has fantastic taste!

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  17. I just started Over-Dressed the other day. Lots to think about; I will probably be blogging about it once I am done.

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  18. I'm loving your "new" Fluevogs... I like many of yours! Just for kicks, I took a look at the Fluevog offerings in eBay in my sizes... shockingly expensive for "pre-owned"... I will keep an eye out, though!

    As usual, I'm loving your outfits!

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    1. Fluevogs actually retain a lot of their value - funny how great quality and designed items do that!

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