Oct 31st - Outfit #30 - Happy Hallowe'en! New Shoes and a November Preview

Happy Hallowe'en! 

I hope you're having a spooky good time wherever you are!

Me, I was in full costume all day. I have been planning my costume since I saw these feather crows in the dollar store a few months back. In fact, I built October's capsule wardrobe around my costume! 

And without further ado, here we are:

'Ahhhhhhhh! The birds!"

In case you can't guess, I am "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock. Not an original idea - and strangely enough, when I sent a picture of my costume to Jody at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion, she posted the next day that 3 of the entries were all the same costume! Too funny! I guess we are birds of a feather... (I know, bad pun).

Don't forget to check out Ally's Hallowe'en party here! 

I did a test run of my costume on the weekend, to make sure that it would be practical for wearing to work and sitting at a computer all day.

"Get them off, get them off!" 

It turned out to be fine, but by the end of the day I was, "Seriously, get these &#@%ing birds off me!"

This is my green tweed suit worn as a suit, finally. I've also attached the faux fur collar to the jacket for the first time all month. I last wore the jacket here with my barn skirt, and the skirt here, with shades of red and brown.

The hat is a straw vintage hat with a black velvet bow and a dotted veil. I don't recall where I got it, so I've obviously had it for a while.

"Get this bird off my leg!"

The purse is my fake Tod's bag, picked up at a vintage fair for $4.00 last year. I got the gloves (also vintage) for $2.00 at a thrift store.

L took these pictures outside our condo, on the front lawn. I wonder what my neighbours thought?

Two of the crows have ripped my bloody glove off and are fighting over it while they perch on my bag.

The shoes are my black granny shoes (last worn here on Friday with neutrals and mustard).

I sat at the computer in costume on Saturday to make sure it would be comfortable. Vizzini spotted the crow on my arm.

"Hello, what is this?"

The birds had wire sticking out of the bottoms of their legs, which made it easy to just poke through the straw hat and the fabric of my suit without damaging it.

I used fake blood to paint scratches on my hands and on my face.

"This vile creature has hurt my woman!" 

 By the end of the day, the blood was all dried and cakey. It felt really gross on my face.

"He looks tasty."

 Lunge!

"I attack!"

 This morning, I reassembled and got into costume again.

I ate a lot of Hallowe'en candy last night and didn't sleep well due to the sugar coursing through my veins. I woke up exhausted and had a crazy day. My work did a pumpkin carving contest today, had pizza in for lunch, and many of my coworkers participated in a group costume where they all dressed up as the favourite director. He was a super good sport and I think he ended up really being touched that everyone wanted to tease him. Anyway, a crazy day.

I rode the bus like this to and from work. On the way home, a woman said to me, "You look amazing. Your costume makes me very happy."

I did a double string of pearls (fake, had 'em since the 80s) and pearl earrings. I also had red lips and toned down make-up.

I slashed the gloves (they were only $2, but it still hurt to cut up good vintage) and applied fake blood to them.

The hat stayed on my head with an elastic hairband that I stapled to the inside trim (removeable). My hair was slicked back.

The crow that's attacking my leg was stapled to another hairband (you can see a bit of it in some of the pictures). I tore holes in a pair of nylons and put fake blood on my leg.

This is how I looked before I put the jacket, hat, gloves and crows on.

Almost normal!

Suit (Precis Petites), top (Mossimo, consignment), shoes (Marc Softwalk), hat (vintage), purse (fake Tod's).

For fun, this is what my work area looks like (I'm actually trying to work in this picture).

I had fun decorating my desk. The pumpkins looked great! Aw, I'll be sad to take it all down tomorrow morning.

I had a lovely surprise today - Fluevogs arrived in the mail!

These are the Wonders Ayers* in olive green. My wonderful Winesday Women gave me a gift certificate for my birthday, and I let them choose out of my top 3 favourites which pair I should buy - these won. Awesome! I can't wait to wear them!
*I link because I love - you know I love Fluevogs!

However, it won't be in November, because that wardrobe is raring to go! Here we are - the shoes!

Two pairs of over-the-knee boots, one pair of flats and four pairs of heels.

The bottoms:

Mostly skirts - only one pair of pants. Four of the pieces are leather/suede.

I am making sure I have a variety of lengths:

Short to very long!

The sweaters, cardigans and jackets:

A good mix of texture, pattern and colours.

The dresses and tops:

One of the dresses is suede.

And that's it! Did you notice the theme? It's another neutral month! I wanted to give it a shot for colder weather - if you haven't looked at my summer neutral month, please feel free to check it out: June and June recap.

Speaking of which, the October recap will be up on the weekend (they take a long time to write).

Oct 30th - Outfit #29 - Skulls, Spiders and a Snake

Hallowe'en is almost here! I'm so excited! Mostly I just want to show off my costume. Hee hee.

Today I went with sort of a Hallowe'en-them: creepy-crawlies.

Someone actually said I looked Christmas-y today. Really? Yeah, no.

My plaid-tastic dress (last worn here with the same boots while trying to channel the early 80s) gets fully shown off with my black wool sweater and black boots (both last seen here on Friday with mustard and my snowflake skirt).

I added my black stomacher with a red belt over top - it's all about the accessories!

I have striped tights on (better seen in the top picture), and I actually wore this skull and crossbones scarf down my back all day. It drove me nuts dangling in everything until I moved it.

The stuff:

Ha! Boob shot!

My earrings are spiders, and I have on my snake and spider rings. A little bit more leather and silver and we're good. Spoooooky...

Dress (Plum), sweater (Jacob, consignment), boots (Marc Softwalk), scarf (Metrowear, San Francisco), earrings (gift from ex-sister-in-law), studded cuff (homegrown vintage, 80s), black cuff (Guess, thrifted), red/silver ring (Mexican, Oscar & Libby's), spider ring (homegrown vintage, 80s, gift from Mom & Dad), snake ring (homegrown vintage, 80s).

Oct 29th - Outfit #28 - Hello, Weenie

And the month is winding down...only one more outfit before my Hallowe'en costume! 

I went full-on October theme for today: orange and brown! I felt very visible, so rock on over to Visible Monday at Patti's "Not Dead Yet Style."

This is my orange velvet blazer, which I last wore here, also on a Monday. It must be a "fake it till you feel it" jacket, good for perking up one's mood on a dull grey autumn day.

I last wore this brown skirt here with a throat full of swallows.

And last but not least, these awesome Fluevog booties were last seen here as part of my steampunk vampire slayer costume.

I hope everyone on the east coast is keeping themselves out of the storm's way - thinking of you guys!

Jacket (Jackpot, consignment), skirt (Liz Claiborne, thrifted), boots (Babycakes Minis, Fluevogs), belt (Club Monaco), mink pin (consignment).

Oct 27th - Outfit #27 - A Bit Bizarre

Happy weekend! Everyone having fun? I am! L and I cleaned the bedroom top to bottom, I sorted out my November capsule wardrobe (and discovered I was about to unwittingly duplicate a shoe! Heavens!), and I may nap a bit.

Edit to add: yes, I'm in the area that the earthquake affected, but farther south and we didn't feel anything. Good vibes to the communities farther north who might be in danger. My area is in a tsunami advisory, but it's considered to be at a very low risk level. 

I went to my WW meeting this morning and then for lunch with L and a bunch of friends.

I needed to be warm (it's pouring today) and yet be light for getting on the scale. I layered my Noa Noa blue netting skirt under my red pencil (last worn here with crazy patterns). I also have a red cami layered under my blue sweater (last worn here a couple of weekends ago for a shopping expedition).

I didn't feel like wearing tights, so I wore knee high blue and black argyle knee high socks. I don't care if I'm too old for this look - I felt great.

My black boots were excellent in the rain - I last wore them here with red legs a few days ago. The Smoking Lily silk obi finished of the colourificness. The boots have one more wear this month, but all other capsule pieces in this outfit are appearing for the last time.

I wore odds and sods of silver jewelry ("you missed one finger," one of my friends said at lunch).

Sweater (Reitman's, thrifted), cami (Mexx), skirt (Jacob, thrifted), boots (Marc Softwalk), underskirt (Noa Noa), obi (Smoking Lily), socks (MacGregor), assorted charms, earrings and rings.

I am getting excited about November's capsule - only 3 outfits to go for October, including my Hallowe'en costume which is actually made from my capsule! I'll be working on that tomorrow.

Oct 26th - Outfit #26 - Mustard Snowflake

Happy Friday! Man, these 5 day weeks are lame. I need a long weekend.

I enjoyed this mostly neutral outfit - the pop of mustard at my face a nice accent. 

The bottom half of this outfit, the shoes and the snowflake skirt were last seen here while I was dying from a hangover and shopping with Zoe for her birthday last weekend. Scroll down past the debauchery.

The top half is my black wool sweater (last worn here before the debauchery started), and my mustard ruffly shirt (last seen here with my nice tweed jacket).

This shirt has once again proven to be a food magnet! Arg. Good thing it's washable.

The stuff:

A mix of vintage and new.

Sweater (Jacob, consignment), blouse (Gap, thrifted), skirt (J.J.F, consignment), shoes (Marc Softwalk, thrifted), bracelet (Trifari, vintage 50s, Grandma J's), pin (gift from Lynne), floral ring (Sarah Coventry, vintage), spinner ring (Twang & Pearl).

We have a pretty sedate weekend planned, well-needed after last weekend. Ah...

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Oct 25th - Outfit #25 - Little Green Sprout

I realized today that it's only 2 months till Christmas! Yikes! And here I am in red and green, hee hee.

Seriously, we're so close to the end of October already! I have to work on my November capsule this weekend (and my Hallowe'en costume!).

The red loafers appear for the second time this week, and I like them better this time around with brown tights.

My paramecium blouse (last seen here with the same shoes in a symphony of reds) is layered under my green bell-sleeved sweater (last worn here with my snowflake skirt, 3rd outfit, scroll down). I really liked how well they layered.

I often have issues with sweaters being too thick and overwhelming me, so finding a nice one is always challenging. This green one's a keeper!

My green tweed skirt is so much awesomeness. I last wore it here on the same weekend as the green sweater, only the 2nd outfit down.

I liked how the brown accents (the legs, the leather belt and the brown cami I have on under the shirt) help keep this from actually looking too Christmassy. The choker is Mom's from the 60s.

Sweater (Max Studio), shirt (Liz Claiborne), skirt (Precis Petites), shoes (Hilary Radley, thrifted), belt (Olsen, thrifted), choker (vintage 60s, Mom's).

Oct 24th - Outfit #24 - Red Legs and a Puffer

Oh, I had all these big plans today: I was going to go for a power walk after work! I would blog and cook dinner! I would sort all my clothes for Big Brothers/Big Sisters to pick up in the morning. 

Well, everything but the power walk will happen. That went by the wayside when I got stuck at work for an extra half hour. But I walked home extra fast.

And here's my slightly cuckoo outfit today. I think the red legs were pushing it a little, but I don't have any microfishnets right now, but I do have a drawer full of tights I don't wear that much, so I'm trying to wear them all. Hence, red legs.

This with the jacket is what I intended to have on all day:

I was too warm, with all the running around I do at work, and the jacket hung on the back of my chair all day.

This tweed jacket (last worn here with a lot of brown) has never been worn with the sleeves rolled up! Outrageous. Another wearing of the lime cashmere sweater (last worn here for my birthday).

I liked how the greens worked with the barn skirt - they brought out the yellow-y shades in it, oddly. I last wore the skirt here with my crane cardi.

I'm so much in love with these boots that it's silly. I last wore them here with my plaid dress. They are just the right combo of rocker and Victorian.

I miscalculated on the weather today. It was not as cold as I thought it would be. Part of the problem is that when you wear a blazer, you need a looser overcoat. Most of my fall-weight coats have skinny arms, which is uncomfortable and sweaty-making when you walk to work.

Anyway, the end result is DRAMA.

This is my Melanie pose.

Yes, it's the dreaded, feared and to-be-viewed-in-awe red satin puffer coat. I got this on consignment last year and fell in love with it due to its softness and warmth. It has wide bell cuffs and a bow in the back (a BOW!). But it was far too warm for today. I ditched the hat, gloves and scarf on the way home.

Blazer (Precis Petites), sweater (Daniel Bishop, consignment), skirt (Gap, thrifted), boots (Marc Softwalk), zipper rose (Victoria and Albert Museum Gift Shop), earrings (The Cobbler), assorted rings.

Oct 23rd - Outfit #23 - A Winning Combo

In looking at my handy-dandy tracking spreadsheet, I've just realized that every single time I've worn this blouse this month, it's been with this skirt. 

Of course, I don't have any other solid-coloured skirt in the capsule that goes with this blouse, so I guess that's to be expected.

Anyway, I last wore the blouse and the red pencil skirt together here with my orange velvet blazer over it. I previously wore them both together here (2nd outfit) - even the shoes are the same there! At least I'm wearing different black patterned tights every time.

The shoes were last worn here, with my barn skirt. I actually liked this simple blouse and skirt combination. I went with heavier accessories: my braided black leather belt, my rocker chick necklace and matching earrings (and of course, a finger party).

Hey, if it works, it's all good.

Sadly, this red pencil skirt is not going to remain in my wardrobe after this capsule. It's become a wrinkle-monster, and I spilled some salad dressing on it a few weeks ago, and haven't been able to get it out. And yes, I've tried Folex, talc, soaking it, washing it, spot washing it, corn starch. It's some kind of indelible salad dressing. Besides, it's photographing too pink, which means it has too much of a blue undertone and not enough of an orange one for my taste.

I'm kind of bummed. I thought my red vintage suede pencil skirt (from my March capsule) was It, but it unzipped on me every time I sat down. Suede or possibly wool is my ideal composition, and pencil is definitely the cut, though, so I'll keep looking at the thrift/consignment stores.

The search for the perfect red pencil skirt continues...

Blouse (Marcona, thrifted), skirt (Jacob, thrifted), shoes (QTee Minis, Fluevog, consignment), belt (Gap), necklace (gift from Tina), earrings (gift from Megan Mae), my usual rings (snake, spider, silver/red).

Oct 22nd - Outfit #22 - Dark Blue

It was so dark this morning that I had to take my stair picture after work. Good thing I had a toque on - the rain was coming down pretty hard when I was walking home. I hate hat head.

I wanted to wear this pretty rust top again (last seen here with Secret Octopi). I liked how it contrasted with the navy blue velvet blazer (last worn here with my plaid dress) and how the tweed skirt (last seen here with tonal tans and mustard) played off the sparkly neckline.

I wasn't super enamoured with the red loafers. I think it's the high vamp on them contrasted with the lighter fishnets.

Vizzini seems to like them.

I much prefer them with a darker tone leg, like here with all the reds and a bronze-y leg.

I got a lovely surprise in the mail today! It was a sweet little birthday gift and funny card from the gorgeous Lynne of Practical Paralegalism. Look at the lovely (albeit slightly blurry) lizard!

He's enamel and crystal and I would guess is from the late 80s. Thank you so much, Lynne! That's so sweet of you.

Keeping this short and sweet today - I'm totally behind on everyone's blogs due to my riotous weekend!

Jacket (Armor Jeans, thrifted), top (Spenser James, from Kara), skirt (Julius, vintage, thrifted), shoes (Hilary Radley, thrifted), leaf pin (Grandma W's), cuff (vintage 60s, Mom's), spinner ring (Twang & Pearl), floral ring (Sarah Coventry, 70s), gold/blue ring (Louvre Museum Gift Shop), lizard pin (gift from Lynne).

Oct 20th & 21st - Wild Card #2 and Outfit #21 - A Wild Evening and A Difficult Day

Well, kittens, it's been quite a ride! We went to an event called the Monster Bash last night, and oh my goodness, much cavorting was had! 

It was costume, so naturally, I went to town.

I'm a steampunk vampire slayer! This is a fun wig that's reserved for costumes. I liked how it made me look so badass. I'm linking up this outfit to Visible Monday at Patti's "Not Dead Yet Style" - go check it out!

The clothing items: my leather shirt (from the February capsule wardrobe), worn over my full vintage slip, a sort of patchwork skirt (last worn here with this month's black boots, and not yet in a capsule), and my Fluevog minis from this month (worn here, last outfit last weekend to go shopping).

My accessories are what takes this outfit to 11.

Vizzini was totally freaked out by me in the wig.

The harness is by Audra Jean; I purchased it from Megan Mae (seen on her here). I was really excited to wear it - and I loved having it on all night.

I'm also wearing my handmade leather and metal gauntlet that I bought at the Steampunk Con in April (pics here, the gauntlet is the last picture), which I also wore for L's birthday party in June, here.

The back action:

I have a couple of leather cuffs on over my right sleeve, and I'm wearing a little clip-on fascinator hat.

I'm wearing a gothic cross necklace and a leather choker.

What else? Ah, my earrings are dangling crosses (to keep vamps off my neck, of course), I'm wearing black fishnets, and I have on leather fingerless driving gloves. The cross-body bag says it's by Jil Sander, but it's a fake.

L was a vampire!

Kitty looks nervous.

He's modeled after the Gary Oldman depiction of Dracula. Doesn't he look awesome?

We made a great pair all night!

In fact, we won the costume contest! L vamped out on the stage, and I pretended to stab him (and then I did some kicks and looked tough). We won $200 towards dance classes!

Shirt (Danier Leather, thrifted), slip (Suzette Lingerie, consignment), skirt (Dolcezza), harness (Audra Jean, via Megan Mae), boots (Qtee Mini, Fluevogs), gloves (Danier Leather), bag (consignment), gauntlet (SkinZnHydez).

My awesome friends also really dressed up. Check out Cat's fabulous flapper outfit!

She even has her stockings (correctly) rolled down to just below her knees. That dress used to be mine!

A new friend, Berenice, joined us. She was a cat.

Love the leopard tights!

Check out this amazing re-purpose of my girlfriend Caro's wedding dress:

She dyed it herself and then sewed the front up into all crazy layers! What a beautiful dress - so cool that she'll be able to wear it again!

We all met up for dinner and drinks, then walked over to the event. We stopped in the square for some shennanigans:

L's always up for bloodsucking, and Caro looks like a willing victim!

The burlesque was totally fun, and there was musical acts as well, but my pictures didn't turn out (the lighting was too erratic). I did get a great shot of this guy's handmade chainmail shirt:

He made that himself! Well done, Joe*! He won a prize in the costume category as well.
*I link 'cause I love - his work is art!

Today, I spent with my soon-to-be 13 year old niece Zoe. Happy Birthday, sweetie! But oh, man...

Please make the light go away

What a hangover I had...

At least I looked decent. I last wore my red cardi here on Day 1 with my barn skirt, and that's my snowflake skirt (last worn here, 2nd outfit). The top underneath is just a layering piece (not in the capsule). I should have worn my black sweater but I wasn't thinking too clearly at 10 am. Not after going to bed after 3 am...

The leather obi is so cool. I am just loving obis right now.

Please just chop my head off now

I wore my granny shoes (last worn on Saturday, 2nd outfit) for walking...and we did a lot of walking! I set Zoe up with a full set of make-up (including brushes), all very low-key and neutrals, and then showed her how to apply it. Mascara application is a difficult art!

We also got her a beautiful Shi Studio leather wrist-wrap and a gorgeous pair of leather booties by Fidji. She's old enough to start getting better quality stuff, and I was proud of her for wanting to skip most of the mall stores and look at local boutiques. She's nearly ready to learn how to thrift with me!

Sweater (no label, consignment), top (Mossimo, consignment), skirt (J.J.F., consignment), shoes (Marc Softwalk, thrifted), belt (consignment), choker (locally made).

We made a stop at Footloose*, the sister store of Heart and Sole, where I got the Fluevog sandals on Friday. I spotted these gorgeous Agnes Adrian boots (where Agnes is the name and Adrian is the family) on final markdown. They were the last pair so I got another 10% off.
*I link 'cause I love - this is a great local shoe store!

They ended up being 60% off the regular price! Awesome! $160.00 is a great price for these. They are just amazing on.

The harness is removeable.

And there's the John Fluevog signature stamp.

I like the soles:

These were small-fitting size 10s. Fluevog's sizing is so erratic.

I am thankful that my head has finally stopped pounding!