A Hot Day and Some Shopping (Featuring a Mystery Brand)

Happy Hot Sunday! It's up in the 20s again today and I'm dyin' over here! This is summer weather for us - I expect there will be a lot of sun-burned people at work tomorrow.

I went out this morning to get groceries. I also swung by my work to pick up my mp3 player (forgotten in the excitement of it being Friday), and then had a leisurely browse through the Women in Need (WIN) warehouse store. 

As well as being slathered in SPF 60 sunblock (expired, had to buy more), I covered up mostly from head to toe to keep the sun off my delicate skin. I'm linking up to Patti's "Visible Monday" over at Not Dead Yet Style!

My cream sandals were worn 6 times in the June 2012 capsule (recap here). I liked how the pearlized cream worked with the yellow of the poncho. This poncho was worn 3 times in the August 2012 capsule (recap here), and was wonderfully light to wear - the breeze ruffled the hem most delightfully.

I kept the underneath pretty simple, since I only took the poncho off to try things on.

This tee is one that never made it into a capsule (I was surprised just now to check my spreadsheets and see that!). I last wore it in December 2011 (for a Neutrals Week), and before that in July 2011 with bright yellow. I bought it on consignment in May 2011 (worn here with my poufy bright skirt that I said goodbye to last year) for $16.00 - it's by RW & Co. (a Canadian mall chain store). I don't mind that I haven't worn it a ton. I like the colour and the cut-out embroidered detail at the neckline.

The skirt is my wonderful Club Monaco "mushroom" maxi that I wore 5 times in the all-neutral June 2012 capsule (recap here).

It billowed and swirled as I walked around, although I did step on it a couple of times. I swapped purses to this cool Aldo fruit bag, because it looked so rad with the outfit. However, it doesn't fit over the shoulder and was a bit of a pain for shopping. But I looked good, dagnabbit!

Poncho (BCBG Max Azria, thrifted), top (RW & Co., consignment), belt/skirt (Club Monaco), sandals (Artisan by Clark's, consignment), bag (Aldo).

I had a great day at WIN - I found some amazing things, starting with this incredible silk shantung vintage dress:

It has some pretty interesting boobular action (I will have to hike my boobs way up when I wear it), but the single pleat at the front is so cute and the dress fits me perfectly. It's in immaculate condition (rare!), and is probably from the mid- to early-1960s. I imagine it was worn maybe once (there is not a mark on it, not even in the armpits), and then sat in someone's closet until she died. Yes, I'm calling it: this is a Dead Old Lady Dress.

Check out the label:

It's fully lined and I found this label at the bottom of the zipper:

It's a union-made dress, and made in Canada. Nice. It was only $13.50 - that kind of kills me. I see SO many cheap H&M and Forever 21 and mall store crap items being sold for so much more in thrift and consignment stores, and yet this 50 year old dress, hand made of silk is only $13.50. *sigh* Oh well, at least it's getting a good home with me!

Someone got jealous of all the attention I was giving the dress:

"What about me? I want a tummy rub!"

The look of outrage as I continued taking pictures is evident. Beware the blurry twitching tail and the barely-retracted claws.

"I will find some other way to get attention."

I also found this really cool white cotton/spandex blouse:

It's by Uno Due, which appears to be a Netherlands brand. I like the high, ruffled collar and the puckered front panel, contrasted with the hard elements of the snaps down the front and on the cuffs. It was on half price for $7.25.

I found this amazing silk scarf for $4.50:

Vizzini flopped right down and laid on it.

The colours are orange, beige and olive green. I see that there's a big H logo on it, but there is no tag or label anywhere on the scarf. All the edges are hand-rolled, and from the hard creases of it, I'd guess this never got worn.

Any thoughts on what the H could be? My first thought was Halston or Hermes, but neither of them use just an H, do they?

"I shall eat this card!"

I had to carefully extract the scarf from the cat, as he wanted to play "sink the claws" into it.

I also found this fantastic graphic full cotton black and white skirt:

It was $14.50 and is by Bedo, a Canadian company. It doesn't have a lining or pockets, but I love the strong pattern and the full cut.

From retro to modern and back to more recent retro, I found this boxy silk blouse for $8.50.

I used to love this cut of top in the mid-80s. This is squarely 1985-86, for sure. ("Fer shure!"). The brand is I. Magnin, which I recall being very high-end back in the day. Don't you love the rich cerulean blue? I don't know how much I'll wear it, but for $8.50, a couple of times could be enough.

My last big find of the day goes to a purse. Now, I am not a major purse person, especially not like Australian blogger Mica, who has the best purses of any blogger I've seen (don't know her? Check her out at Away From Blue, and her adorable puppy Cooper too!). I tend to have about 6 purses that I rotate and then use for a couple of weeks straight (whether they go with my outfit or not), and then change. I'm boring that way.

But this purse was so awesome, I couldn't believe my good fortune.

First, it's real leather, and made in Italy. The brand is "The Trend" which I've never heard of, but at this link (info only), I see that their cross-body bags start at $155 and go to $175. Wow, score! I paid $18.50.

Every zipper pull has "the Trend" stamped on it (you can see two of them up there), and it's got a big central compartment (zipped), plus two more on the front, and one on the back.

The strap is fully adjustable and although the corners of the bag have a tiny bit of wear, this bag is like new. The chocolatey-brown leather is thick, but soft and supple. This will be a really useful addition to my collection.

And how was your weekend? Did any cats try to snag your possibly-Halston scarves?