Bride of Dress Week - Casual Friday Goes Cowgirl

Ah, Sunday. I guess I should get off my lazy butt and post Friday's outfit, eh?

This is the 3rd new dress - and I think I saved the most whackadoo for last!

Those are my new boots that I got a couple of weeks ago - pushing my own envelope again by wearing them with this party-style strapless dress. As Friday calls for denim, I tied my denim shirt at the waist...but then I really went cowgirl and added my brown belt (not matching brown and black - I'm learning) and a bunch of chunks of turquoise.

The obligatory Wonder Woman pose:

This is the Pouffiest Dress Ever. It's like tent material, so whenever I sit down (i.e. on the bus, at my desk), it puffs up and I have to pat it down. It also rustles when I walk - you can hear me coming!

The short boots made this extra insane. I got a few askance looks at work, and when Ruth and I went to the mall at lunch. Ha!

This is what the dress looks like on its own (those are my bra straps):

End of the day...cooling off my sweaty feet from being in the boots all day. Someone is also happy to see me.

The back of the dress is a panel of elastic ruched fabric so it fits snugly. Despite this, it slid down constantly. Arg. I also wish it had pockets. It also has a couple of bigass belt loops on either side, which I might remove, since they are lower than the sewn waist.

The stuff:

Aren't those sweet boots? They are Miz Mooz and are leather (they have that awesome leather smell). Very comfy. They were half price: $80.

A close-up:

I adore that belt buckle. I've worn that belt several times: here, here, and I guess for a couple of casual weekend outfits that I didn't bother to photograph...huh, I thought I'd worn it more than that.

The dress was thrifted for $22, and it still had the original price tag on it!

Apparently, it was made in the E.U. (that would be the European Union), manufactured in Russia or some other country that uses the Cyrillic alphabet. It was 165 something, though, possibly dollars. I got no hits for the label or brand at all.

Dress (Vita Boutique Couture, thrifted), shirt (Mexx, consignment), boots (Miz Mooz), belt (Shi Studio), necklace and ring (Plum).

I wore the dress again yesterday for my Weight Watchers meeting:

I wanted to do it more girly this time. I also wore this outfit out for lunch, and for wandering around town shopping in the rain (yes, rain. Thank you, West coast).

I got a lot less askance looks and way more compliments. However, not having a belt on meant that the dress was much more...volatile...in its shifting. I was constantly grabbing at the top and hiking it back up, as well as having to re-align the seams frequently as it tried to rotate around my body.

Dress (as above), cardigan (Guess, consignment), shoes (Expressions, consignment).

Cat picture!

He was being very meowy.

Bride of Dress Week - Circles and Squares

New dress #2 makes its appearance today!

I fell in love with the fabric; however, it is 100% acetate, which is the Worst Fabric Ever, since it can't touch water, heat, air, dandelion fluff, without self-destructing...I will probably only wear this a few times before I re-consign it. It was only $22, so I'll get my money's worth out of it (and I'll probably get more for it on consignment than I paid!).

I've done a variation of "top over dress" a few times to make a fancy dress work appropriate, because despite how rockin' this dress looks from the front, it ain't safe for work:

There, Wendy! I'm doing my Wonder Woman wristband! You happy? Ha!

But back to the dress - due to the extreme back, I could only wear it on its own with a bra that converts to a low back (like this, only I buy them at La Senza):

Sorry for the glimpse of my bra, but the point had to be made! It's too low.

Ah, now that I look for the label, I see that JS Collections specializes in evening wear - it all makes sense! It's a cocktail dress. It's a brand that Nordstrom's sells (another store we don't have in Canada - wow, they sell this brand for around $100 US! Score!).

I liked all the checkered shapes mixed with all the circular shapes in the stuff:

Those shoes are going to the consignment shop in the next few months - they are just a smidge too small for me and they hurt my feet. Hmmm...maybe I'll wait until I find replacements first. They are awfully cool and they look so gooooood.

A close-up:

My trust grey belt, stud cuff (more squares), and cheapy earrings and ring. Isn't that great fabric?

Dress (JS Collection, thrifted), shoes (Ralph Lauren, consignment), shirt (Club Monaco, consignment), belt (Plum), cuff (old), earrings and ring (Le Chateau).

Bride of Dress Week - Pink and Roses

Yes! Finally! It's a new dress, presented to you in full-on Wonder Woman pose:

Okay, you can probably see why I was drawn to this - my cheapie camera does not do the colours justice. It's peach and pink and dark greeny teal and yellow and brown, all smooshed together in a lovely watercolour mess.

I actually took a little yellow cardi to work to wear over it, but this dress has a super high waist and the cardigan looked all wrong with it, so I just trucked it to work and home again in my trusty backpack.

I'm used to waists being at my...waist, as opposed to being at my underboob. My hands in the top picture are at my real waist.

The dress is probably a half size too big, but eh, I'm never going to get it tailored. "Good enough for government work!" as my dad would say.

I thought the bigass rose went perfectly with it and added a little somethin' somethin'. And as soon as I started holding the dress up to my shoes in my closet, these Fluevogs leapt out at me. I know, dark shoes, light dress, but the colour went so well!

The stuff:

The colour of these shoes never quite comes out right - they are a dark green. Click here for pictures of them when I got them before the writing on the sole wore off, as I knew it would (caution: there are pictures of me dressed for an Alice Cooper concert - don't say you weren't warned!).

But doesn't the rose look amazing?

A close-up of the sparkly stuff:

I really liked the way this green bracelet looked with all the pinks and oranges. The bracelet is one of Mom's from the early 60s, I believe. The earrings are clip-on vintage, probably late 50s. Neither item is stamped or marked. The ring is a $5 cheapie I got in a costume shop years ago.

Whenever I buy a new-to-me article of clothing, I always search inside for the tags. For one, I am not spending my hard-earned $22 (yes, that's how much this dress was) on something I'll have to dry-clean. For another, it often yields valuable clues as to the origins of the item.

In this case, a) it's machine washable - woo! and b) it sold in Target in Q3 (Fall/Autumn) of 2009. Nice. We don't have Target in Canada.

Dress (Merona, thrifted), shoes (Fluevog, "Memories" family, "Madly" model), rose pin (Roberta's Hats), bracelet (Mom's, vintage 60s), earrings (vintage 50s).

Bride of Dress Week - New 'Vogs and Strapless

Just so ya know, neither of the dresses I wore on the weekend were the new ones I bought on Saturday! I've updated yesterday's post to add some links. I'm such a tease!

And today's dress is also not one of the Saturday dresses! Muahahah! You'll have to wait. Still, it's an awesome dress anyway:

I'm doing my "Wonder Woman" pose for A-Dubs and D-Meds at "In Professorial Fashion" - woo! You know I love Wonder Woman!

*ahem*

Anyway, this glorious purple shirt is new-to-me. It's H&M and I got it at the thrift shop for $3.50. It's quite tight across the boobular region, so it's perfect for wearing under other items, like this dress (nice segue, eh?).

I've had this dress for a while now - I wore it twice in Jane's last wardrobe challenge (all the outfits recapped here), as well as here, here, and here. Heh, I've never worn it on its own.

A rare shot of the top half of me:

Showing off my pretty necklace and boob flower. Ignore the pink around my eyebrows: I just had them waxed (my one beauty indulgence...my eyebrows smell like lavender...mmmm).

But wait! Did I not mention "New 'Vogs"? As in NEW FLUEVOGS? Yes! Yes, I did! I saw these on the clearance rack at a shop downtown, last pair...in my size...$110 off the regular price...After some whining and puppy-dog eyes, L bought them for me. Whatta guy!

Oh, sweet mother of shoes, those are so beautiful. They are the "Sumatra" in the "Coffee" line, which refers to the shape of the heels. I also have a pair of "Tea" Fluevogs (these ones, which are now discontinued). I think they have discontinued this design...yup, this is the full "Coffee" line now.

They were incredibly comfortable all day, and I kept checking myself out in reflections in my office. Hee.

A close-up of the sparkly stuff:

My cheapass jewelry.

Thanks to all the amazing suggestions for future Dress Weeks! I'm never going to run out! Full credit to Megan, Audi and Style Underdog for your awesome creativity! Kudos!

Dress (Club Monaco, consignment), shirt (H&M, thrifted), shoes (Fluevog, gift from L), belt (Nygard), necklace (Le Chateau), flower (Roberta's Hats), earrings (Aldo Accessories).

Here are some of the Fluevog bits:

The box (I usually toss them for space), the shoe bag (I have a bunch of these), the sole of the shoe, the Fluevog logo, and the Fluevog signature on the side of the heel.

Bride of Dress Week - Begins...on the Long Weekend!

In the hallowed tradition of my other Dress Weeks (see sidebar for links), this week's title is based on yet another monster movie title (the most excellent "Bride of Frankenstein"). I'm running out of ideas for titles, though! Any suggestions? I'd like to continue the monster movie theme, and it must work with the phrase "Dress Week".

I wasn't intending to do a Dress Week until September, but I was browsing in a second-hand store on Saturday and found THREE amazing dresses (all in the $20-22 range). Well, of course, this called for a Dress Week!

Saturday's outfit:
Nice and light for Weight Watchers, with a bit of badass in the skull scarf. I also went for lunch in this and did some shopping. Of course, I just got this dress last week and wore it on Monday.

Dress (Taylor, consignment), shoes (Reaction Kenneth Cole, gift from Cat), scarf (Metrowear, San Francisco).

Today's the holiday, but we still had to get groceries:

I ended up abandoning the shoes when I got home - darned things kept loosening up as I wore them. When I got home, I changed into a pair of flats, and we went out for lunch.

I've had this dress forever (3 years?): wore it here, here, here, here, and here. Whoa, that's a lot!

The weather's off and on, so the jacket is needed. We're off to the museum, out for dinner, and then going to see "Iron Man 2" at the IMAX!

Dress (Kenzie), wedge shoes (Tommy Hilfigger, consignment), flats (Franco Sarto), leather jacket (Danier), earrings (Plum, gift from L).

Hope you had a great weekend!