Ephemera: Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Fancy Friday in Bronze and Brocade; Safety-Pins and Tan Brunch; Birthday Party in the Wet Foliage

Welcome back, my friends! My weekend was far too short, and I'm eager to claim what's left of it, so let's get to this! I have a very Fancy Friday 'fit to share, plus my usual quirky brunch ensemble, and we went to Greg and Cat's Shared Birthday party, so I got my swank on.

Here's Friday's sparkly attire. No Stair Picture as we had another incident of People Sleeping Where They Shouldn't. It was resolved, all is well, but it's rather rattling.

So let's put on our armour and face the damned world, shall we? Look at all this shine - I'm Armoured UP!

Brocade blazer - Devil's Advocate, thrifted; purchased here for $28.95
T-shirt - Denver Hayes, thrifted; first seen here in May 2024 with my Peacock Jacket
Skirt - Ralph Lauren, consignment; last worn here in November 2024 with teal and cream
Shoes - Vogettes Pina, Fluevog; first seen here in January with beetle blues
Sleeveless coat (below) - Only, thrifted; last worn here a week ago

My colleagues loved this outfit, especially when I twirled for them, as the skirt is ultra-swooshy (Swoosh Factor 9).

I showed off the blazer. "How can you tell it's a men's blazer?" my coworkers asked.

"Because it has FIVE pockets! Including two inside." Can you imagine?

I did a simple white tee underneath to let the jacket shine. My one small area of restraint, heh heh.

Blurry, but still discernable.

I rolled the blazer's cuffs while at work to show off my bracelets, but pulled them down for walking to and from work.

Outerwear! It was grey and dry on the way to work, but rained all the way home.

I liked how my skirt billowed out from under the coat.

Accoutrements:

Should have worn a fedora, or done the Movie Star Wrap to keep my hair dry, but I didn't care that much.

Toque - gift from Tammy
Brooch - Monet, vintage 80s, thrifted
Silk scarf - Forele, vintage 60s, consignment
Leather gloves - Roeckl, consignment

The stuff:

I considered doing sneakers with the outfit, but my urge to be a Soft Goth won out. Spikes! These shoes are like wearing slippers with slightly more support.

Snaky bling:

I forgot to pick out rings, but I would have worn my Wendy Brandes lapis lazuli and Fulvia Ring, an aquamarine stone, to match the jacket.

Metal/glass flower brooch - vintage 60s, Mom's
Leather heart brooch - Smoking Lily
Leather/chains cuff - Jenny Bird, consignment
Crystal chain bracelet - thrifted
Spiral snake bracelet - Whiting & Davis, vintage 70s, vintage fair
Snake necklace/belt - vintage 80s, vintage expo
Earrings - Biko, consignment

I layered the thinner link bracelet with the bunch-o-chains one.

When I get home from work, I have a routine: I take the pictures of the Stuff/Bling, and deal with my work outfit, putting things away or in the laundry. Vizzini always begs to be picked up while I'm doing this - he climbs my leg and digs his claws in if I don't pick him up right away (this has caused some yelling and laddered tights).

"You know you love it."

I have to get my accessories off quickly as the little monster always dives for whatever he can reach and chomps on it.

He's lunging for the camera cord here. I can barely contain him!

"Entertain me!"

Okay, down you go, buddy.

After a fun evening of kicking L's arse at board games, we woke to grey skies and headed to John's Place to meet up with Nick for brunch.

Let's see, what shall I wear? I built the outfit around the new-to-me bone bangle that I picked up yesterday.

Chain and medallion top - no label, thrifted; last seen here in December 2024 under my tabard
Leather tee - Danier, thrifted; last worn here in October 2024 with big pink plaid pants
Skirt - Rena Rowan, vintage 90s, thrifted; last seen here in October 2023(!) with Christmas boots (I sold them recently)
Leather boots - Matisse, consignment; last worn here with the Jedi dress in January (gone to Limbo)
Buffalo leather coat (below) - Gianfranco Ferre, Spring 2003, consignment; last seen here in March 2024 with leopard and peach

I had a jacket in mind to wear with the outfit, so I selected clothes that would work with that.

My chain and medallions top is a warm layer under the leather tee.

See? There's the cuff.

The leopard skirt is plush with peaks and waves in it, like real fur. It's a lovely tactile thing to wear.

The folks at John's were very impressed with all the tones of tan.

I don't do boring neutrals!

But here's the star of the show - my 2003 runway safety-pin jacket by chi-chi designer Gianfranco Ferre. I even found the Vogue link (here) and the slide of this jacket and matching skirt here.

I've had this jacket for six years now and have worn it 10 times.

It's a little snug in the front to zip up (it's always been tight), but I'm keeping it.

Good enough!

A bajillion custom brass safety pins. I spotted Gianfranco Ferre jackets from his 2002-2003 collections online for over $2,000-5,000!

The back is held together by the safety pins.

Ready to brunch and grocery shop.

Gloves, a silk scarf and a handmade locally leather clutch.

Purse! I bought this many years ago with Winesday Women gift money.

I didn't need the scarf, and ended up tying it to the purse's wrist strap.

Accoutrements:

A field of galloping horses, for your pleasure.

Leather purse - Fiveleft
Silk scarf - France, vintage 60s, vintage fair
Leather/fur gloves - thrifted

The stuff:

Old favourite boots - I've worn these so much!

Brassy bling:

It warms me to wear this brass/glass necklace and brass/wood earrings now that Yvonne and Randall have borrowed and worn them. It makes me feel like my friends are with me. Aw!

Bone/brass/stone cuff - consignment; purchased here for $35.00
Agate bangle - consignment
Brass/glass necklace and ring - Raphael of Canada, vintage 70s, consignment
Brass Brutalist ring - vintage 70s, vintage mall
Bronze ring - P. Sarpaneva, vintage 70s, vintage expo
Brass/wood earrings - LA Express, c. 1994

I had a Five Minute Shop at the Beacon Avenue Thrift Shop next door and spotted one item that had to come with me.

How could I miss it?

I love this vibrant yellow, and was attracted to the giant pleated bell cuffs.

Not just a ruffle but sculped into a bell. Very cool.

To my surprise it's 100% cotton.

And made in Spain! You don't see that very often.

I was shocked to see it's by Zara Woman. I admired the nicely finished neckline.

I saw it in black and red online as well as yellow. It was $15.00.

Saturday night was a Birthday Party for our dear pals Greg and Cat. I've been saving this outfit for a special occasion, and in case you were wondering, this was just a house party, and yes, I'm ridiculously overdressed. My friends expect nothing less!

I got dressed early and mucked about with the outfit, trying different shoe and belt and accessory options.

Turtleneck sweater - Contemporaine, thrifted; last seen here in November 2024, layered under a sequined cardi
Dress - Ted Baker, thrifted; purchased here for $34.95
Shoes - Summertime Moonbeams, Fluevog, consignment; last worn here in January with coat-dress armour
Fringy kimono (below) - Forever 21, thrifted; first seen here in December 2024 with black and tweed

I have been layering tops under strapless dresses almost since I started my blog in 2008 - the painting by Megan Mae behind my head (the top one, first printed and put up here on NYE 2011), is of me in my old Club Monaco grey wool bubble-hem strapless dress 14 years ago. I wore that dress to death!

So the idea of layering a top under a strapless dress was nothing new, just pulling out an oldie from my bag of tricks. Instead of bare skin, I much preferred a sleeveless turtleneck to show off my ink.

My friends loved this dress and its optic watery landscape print. It's a lot of damp-looking foliage, perfect for this time of year.

They particularly liked how the necklace framed the little scoop in the front.

I also demonstrated that I have two belts on! The chain belt is hiding the obi's front knot. Belting pulled the length up slightly, plus I am not a fan of high Empire waists.

My old black leather obi has been with me - I found the day I bought it, here - since July 2012, when I bought it for $14.00! Wow, that's a good price.

I added my burgundy fringed robe as a topper in case I got cold at Greg and Rosanna's.

It ended up so warm, we needed to open windows, so I just wore it as my outerwear.

I packed some essentials in an old sequined purse.

It's from when Victoria had an Accessorize store in Mayfair Mall (old post from 2010 here - I went to the theatre with Mom and the nieces! - where I'm carrying it ).

My outerwear consisted of a giant hat and a furry scarf.

Plus long plummy leather gloves.

Accoutrements:

We cabbed there with Nick and back home with him plus Cat. It rained a little, but we are in double-digits, a true Victoria winter.

Hat - M&S, consignment, Powell River
Fur scarf - thrifted
Leather gloves - Bijenkorf Accessoires, consignment
Purse - Accessorize, c. 2006

The stuff:

I still had to wear heels to keep the dress from dragging on the ground - these are the kindest to my feet. Even so, my feet were tired on Sunday!

Crystal belt - Zara, consignment
Leather obi - consignment

Spiky bling:

The 3-way convertible necklace intrigued partygoers - they were boggled when I told them it was only $3.95 in the thrift store last June.

Black Lucite/crystal bangle - Alexis Bittar, consignment, Sidney
Gold/Lucite hinged bangle/earrings - Alexis Bittar, consignment, gift from L
Necklace - Stella & Dot, thrifted
Silver/aquamarine Fulvia Ring - Wendy Brandes
Silver/obsidian ring - consignment
Silver/crystal ring - Soul Flower

After doing my pictures, I clipped my skirt up, pulled on a wooly housedress, and kept my outfit on. I had a short nap, then hung out with L until it was time to go.