Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Sparkling On - Geometrics and Putting the Shine Back

Woo, only a couple of days to go! I'm sure many of you are already on vacation and ready for Christmas to come (I still have to get a few things, and then wrap it all). 
As of Friday, I'll be off until the Tuesday after New Year's. I am pretty stoked. This calls for geometric patterns!


  • Top - Cartise, consignment; last seen here in March with fuzzy yellow
  • Skirt - Nygard; last worn here in January with blue and black
  • Shoes - Miista; last seen here (2nd iteration of the same outfit) in November with shiny patterned tights and velvet
  • Coat (below) - Hilary Radley, thrifted

I know, right? The top - and it is a TOP, not a jacket! - is so cool. All those little white strips of fabric are sewn onto a thin, stretchy mesh. People love to look at it - it's a very complex piece.

The back is just as cool.
I'm happy to be wearing this skirt again - it wasn't worn in the spring/summer wardrobe at all. I liked how the geometric patterns in it went with the top - and did you notice (most visible in the first pic) that my tights have diamond patterns too?

Outerwear:
Still cold, but not like last week. Still wearing this combo of my Danier fur toque/scarf and my vintage long wool gloves. Yup, seen it before.

The stuff:
I adore these shoes, but they are getting beaten up very fast.

Minimal bling:
An outfit with this much texture and pattern doesn't need many accessories.


  • Earrings - don't remember
  • Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes


As you can see in that last picture, there are black scrapes all along the insides of my shoes. When I walk, the heels scratch the metallic leather, actually removing colour from the underneath black leather.
Tsk, look at those scratches!

How to fix this? I used Testor's enamel model paint (L and I both paint miniatures - me, not as much as I used to) in Gold.
This stuff is permanent. I have to use brush cleaner/turpentine to clean it off surfaces.

Like my finger, which is what I used to rub the paint into the surface of my shoes.
I daubed a fingertip of paint onto the shoe, then rubbed it in.

Before:
Sad! All scratched up!

After (a bit blurry, sorry).
The texture of the scratches are still there, but the black leather underneath is covered up again. This colour is a good match.

And before, the back inside of the heels.
I can't rub that off because it's the gold colour itself that has rubbed off.

And here's the after shot.
Pretty good, eh? I am happy with how my shoes turned out - they're all shiny and nice again!

Note: I do not ever recommend that you do what I do to my clothes/shoes. I am always taking the risk that I will f**k it up (which I've done before) and ruin something.

16 comments:

  1. I love all the patterns together, perfect! And well done with the shoes!

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  2. Oh glad you could fix the shoes in the end! :) Sometimes it's worth giving something a try just to see what will happen, when everything else fails. You can get metallic shoe polish here, I've used the silver before but not sure if there would be a gold. Just in case the paint doesn't hold up, you could always look out for that?

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    1. I can't be bothered to go looking for shoe polish when I have paint right here, hee hee. Thanks so much for the suggestion, Mica!

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  3. LOVE the geometrics together and the shoes wrap up the total look like a bow! I would say this picture shows a refined artistry! My compliments to you on that!!!

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  4. Ooh, the jacket! Right down my alley. Your shoe-repair was inventive. I've tried similar repair with success.

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  5. I TOTALLY color in my shoes with markers and paint, too! And channelled my inner Sheila, and snipped open some pinching shoes where they pinched. Worked like magic :)

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    1. Ha, I've always done it with black markers, Erin! Nice, glad that snip worked for you! Great to see you.

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  6. Nice repair work on the shoes. I have scuff marks on my pink/yellow/orange patent leather docs and I have no idea how to remove them. Patent leather is a pain to look after. That top is amazing - love the complex design on the fabric.

    I will be off work after tomorrow until January 3rd as well and am looking forward to spending time on the couch reading, with my cat. Merry Christmas to you, L, and Vizzini!

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    1. Thanks, I was pretty pleased with myself. Ugh, yes, patent is awful. That sounds like a wonderful holiday - Merry Christmas to you and your furry fam. :)

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  7. There's that fun jacket again, it reminds me of cutting paper.
    Oh and that's quite clever with the paint. I try stuff on clothes and shoes too. I have ruined some, like an Armani suit I put in the washing machine :(

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    1. It's not a jacket! It's a top! Yeah, you have to be willing to risk that - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

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  8. Loving this geometric pairing today Sheila. The top is ace, really cool isn't it? Well done with your diy repair work. I seem to scuff my shoes in exactly the same way. The colour match is pretty damned perfect too!
    Anna x
    www.annasislandstyle.com

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