Take Back Hallowe'en!

Happy Hallowe'en! I hope you are having a spooky (but safe) time and not eating too many chocolates! Wait, is there such a thing as too many chocolates? What was I thinking? I must be...

Mad! 

Mad, I tell you...quite mad!

Interesting fact: did you know that hatters were in fact driven mad by the mercury they used to felt hats back in the day? True! I know because I read it on the interwebs (Wiki link), hee hee.

I will be linking up to Judith at "Style Crone"'s next Hat Attack!* coming this weekend! It was hard to choose, but really, if I'm the Mad Hatter, how appropriate is that?
*linking 'cause I love

My costume that I wore to work today was a reprise of the one I wore here (2nd outfit and many close-ups of the make-up and parts) a few weeks ago. The only change is that I wore an orange camisole so that I wasn't quite as boobalicious.

Complete with "Eat me" and "Drink me" teacup and saucer

One thing I will say about wearing a costume to work: it requires dedication! I wore this for close to 9 hours, and by the end of the day (much like last year), I was all, "Get this off me!"

Wearing a costume for a party also involves alcohol (at least, for me it does) which makes all the little things less irritating. This was also abominably hot and sweaty-making in my office, with all the layers.

However! It is an awesome costume (if I do say so myself) and I had a lot of fun wearing it. I have been grooving on the Take Back Hallowe'en* movement, which is discussed here*on Epbot* (what? You don't know Epbot? Tell me you at least know Cake Wrecks*!).

Take Back Hallowe'en is all about creating costumes from our imagination, not from buying them at a store. As I am already on board with Shopping Second Hand First*, this is a natural fit for me. While I don't fall into one of their categories (I'm technically cross-dressing here as the female Mad Hatter from "Alice in Wonderland"), I like getting inspiration from all kinds of areas, whether a movie like my "The Birds" costume from last year or a book like this year. It's so much more fun when you use your imagination!
*linking because I love!

And...that's a lot of links and I shall step down off my little soapbox now.

I have disassembled my costume back into the things that live in my closet (jacket, skirts, boots, grey corset top, obi, scarf), and my jewelry box (pins, earrings), and the things that are for parties (hat, fascinator, leather gloves, black corset, butterfly), and things that go into the tickle-trunk of awesome (ribbon and curtain pulls, tassel, lace cuffs), and stowed away all my pins, needle-threaders and seam ripper.

So much more fun when combined!

For more close-ups of my costume, please visit my previous entry on it (here, again). And please do check out Ally's party over at "Shybiker"* to see all the other awesome and imaginative costumes out there in the blogosphere!
*of course, I love Ally - she's the best!

Tomorrow, I plan to break my company's dress code - because I am all about being sneaky that way! How does one break a dress code on a Casual Friday? Stay tuned...

Plaid, Blood Red and Head Shot

Ah, it's late and I need my sleep. After work tonight, L and I met up with Cat and Ross and Nick and Karen to go see Neil Jordan's film "Byzantium" (Wiki link for info) at the university theatre. We generally get together and watch a scary movie every Hallowe'en, but with it being mid-week, this worked better. 

I enjoy working the bloody, spooky theme into my clothes - so blood red! 

It's so dark in the mornings now!

Boots first, because I didn't take a picture of them - I last wore these blood-red beauties here earlier this month, and that is a very similarly-constructed outfit to this one!

Lurker in the background: to poop or not to poop, that is the question

This wonderfully swoopy skirt is actually a dress! It didn't make it in to the 30 For 30 For 12 Wardrobe Challenge, except for one Wild Card Outfit and it's been packed away with my fall/winter things, so it's been well over a year since I've worn it.

Here we are, let's cast our net into the past:

• November 2012 - the aforementioned Wild Card outfit. 
• November 2011 (2nd outfit) - for Celia's afternoon tea pre-wedding shower.
• October 2011 (3rd outfit) - for dinner out with L for my birthday

I tend to wear it with red because the pale blue/white/black plaid has a thin red line in it. I bought it at Dots, a local sort of clearance outlet for samples. I don't shop there anymore because nearly everything there is made in China, but they do have some really cool and interesting clothing lines that come in. It was $30.00 and is by the UK brand Naughty - my dress is called the Tartan Fling.

This is my first time wearing it with navy blue, specifically this navy cotton velvet blazer. I last wore it in the October 2012 capsule (recap here), last time in this outfit here. This is the 4th time I've worn it, and I paid $12.00 for it in the Beacon Thrift Store (while taking a mental health break from work one day in August 2012), I am down to $3.00 per wear. That is excellent cost-per-wear in my book!

The stuff:

I never get tired of my wonderful soft leather obi - it's locally-made, bought for me by L and it gets softer every time I wear it. The usual assortment of cuffs, creepy-crawlies and skulls accompany my zipper rose.

Jacket (Armor Jeans, thrifted), dress (Naughty), boots (Miz Mooz), obi (locally made), leather cuff (Rimanchik, local), metal cuff (thrifted), silver/red ring (Oscar & Libby's), snake/spider rings (homegrown vintage, 1985-6), skull earrings (local).

I am excited about this Unlimited Woman awards*/celebration thingy - and yes, I do have my outfit picked out for the photo-shoot on Monday already! Stay tuned - it's very me.
*linking 'cause I love being a finalist! Wee!

I had to send in a head shot to them, so I got one of the guys at work to take my picture. No selfie for this one!

Wah! That's red hair, man

Another co-worker held the big light reflector thingie (I know all the technical terms, ha ha), so I let them both nibble off the catered lunch today as thanks. Scott (photographer) and Trevor (helpful assistant), thank you so much! I don't think I've ever looked that good.

Off to bed, although circles under my eyes will be easily hidden by my Hallowe'en costume tomorrow!

Rampant Lion, Kitty Update

A much better day today, both tights-wise and cat-wise. Vizzini seems to be his old self (although he lost a big of weight and is still a little tired): he's eating small amounts of food and is back to his old habits, like waking me up at 4am. I am relieved. Hugely relieved. Thank you for all your good vibes! 

And so, today:

Fresh red hair!

The top half of this outfit is basically a copy of this outfit from the November 2012 capsule, although I last wore the jacket here in April with purple shoes and tiger stripes (rar!).

The little sweater shell underneath is my Ellen Tracy, last worn here under my faux Hermes scarf with kitchsy 70s colour.

The skirt is just so amazing - I'd forgotten how awesome it was! I last wore it in the January capsule (recap here), with the last outfit being this one with my killer red boots.

It has crazy points and corners sewn into it, and the hem is up and down. The front has two low big diamond-shaped pockets that are a little too low for hands ("long monkey arm pockets" my coworker calls them). And it has a weeny little zipper in the front (it's super high-waisted) which makes it very hard to get over my hips. Regardless of all these quirks - or because of them! - it's a totally unique item that I love. I picked it up on consignment last fall for about $40. Not worth it as it's not even lined (I have a half-slip on), but the design is so cool that I forgive it!

The stuff:

The shoes were last worn in my "Beam me up" outfit here in August (shiny!). I thrifted them back in May for $24.00 (score!) and they are breaking in nicely. They were better with tights than barefoot, that's for sure.

The bling:

Every time I wear this Pringle of Scotland belt, I get an email from someone asking me to sell it to them. Dude, no, you can't have my belt! I'm not even close to being tired of this fab made in England, leather and pony-hair LION BUCKLE (rar!) belt.

First wear of my sputnik earrings. Bought them locally, and they were made locally. Go, me!

Jacket (Alison Wonderland, consignment), top (Ellen Tracy, swap from Caro), skirt (La Fleur de Mon Secret, consignment), shoes (Ramon Tenza, thrifted), belt (Pringle of Scotland, thrifted), earrings (local), spinner ring (Twang & Pearl), floral ring (vintage 70s, Sarah Coventry, thrifted).

Good and Bad...and I Swear They Were Teal

So I didn't go shopping with my niece yesterday - she stayed home sick (get better soon, sweetie!) - but we had other drama to deal with: Vizzini puking all over the house. Ugh, at least 6 times, and he wasn't able to keep any food or water down. Due to the fact that he eats everything, we're sure he ate something that either got stuck or is blocking things up. Anyway, we took him to the vet (very traumatic, as it was less than 2 years ago since we went through the whole thing with Inigo and lost him), and we were sent home with kitty-Pepto and instructions to watch him after he ate. 

He ate. He slept a lot. He got up. He puked. 

Dang. He slept under the bed all night (I slept on the floor near him, so worried), and L took him to our other vet this morning. He is still there, and had an X-ray (no blockage they could see, and he has no tummy pain), but he still hasn't eaten anything. We'll pick him up tonight and try to feed him and keep an eye on him. 

Please send good vibes to my fuzzy little monster. He is awful, but we do love him, and want him to be home and up to no good again soon! 

Let's do today's outfit and then I'll get to the good news (it's been a crazy week).

Okay, I swear that these tights were teal when I left home! But as soon as I hit natural light, they were all like, "Hey, guess what? We're green! Don't you look silly?"

Stupid tights.

Anyway, here I am in my nice burgundy sweater dress. I haven't worn it since the March 2012 capsule (recap here), last time in this outfit under a blouse.

Today, I wore my paramecium blouse under the dress. I last wore the blouse in the October 2013 capsule (recap here), last time in this outfit with the green sweater from the weekend.

My blue slip is hanging out, but I didn't have time to pull off the whole outfit and go for a shorter slip. Arg. And look at those tights - looking teal!

The stuff:

The shoes are nicely trimmed in teal (see? I had purpose!), and were last worn here in March with blues and oranges.

I tried out my cool vintage shoe clips on them - did you notice?

I liked how the shoe clips matched the shapes on the belt.

Dress (Eric Alexandre), blouse (Jones New York), belt (Brave Belts, thrifted), shoes (Pink Studio), cuff (Shi Studio), earrings (Oscar & Libby's), shoe clips (vintage, Rad Juli), Fulvia Ring (Wendy Brandes).

A couple of pictures of L and Vizzini on Saturday afternoon.

"What can I eat?"

 Vizzini is more interested in getting into mischief than having a cuddle.

"Look! A squirrel!"

I'll see you soon, buddy.

---------------

So the good and somewhat startling but also exciting news...a couple of weeks ago I got an email titled, "Congratulations! You've been nominated!" Naturally, I get all kinds of weird spam from having my email in my profile here, but I cautiously checked it out to see if it was a hoax. And no, not a hoax. I was nominated in the Style category for the Unlimited Woman Awards (link)! My wonderful girlfriends did it all sneakily.

And to my utter surprise, last night I got an email that I am now a finalist! It is down to me and 2 other (I'm sure) very stylish women, and I will find out in late November when I attend the gala with all my girlfriends if I win! This week, I have to send in a head-shot (I'm having a coworker take it for me), and on Monday, I go for the photo-shoot!

Anyway, so cool be up for a Major Award! Wish me luck!

Thigh-Highs, A Surprise, Grannies, Peignoirs and Of Course, Cat

Ah, weekend! Sweet weekend...but of course, my life is crazy. So much to cram in and so little time, especially when tired. 

Here's Friday's ensemble:

I am feeling better, thank you all for asking, and hopefully a few sleep-ins and naps will cure that extra tiredness. This was a nicely comfortable outfit for a busy day.

I know these drapey cardis aren't in with the cool kids anymore, but dammit, they fulfill a good function: non-fitted cardigan/layering piece. This one is an old Dots purchase, and was last seen in the December 2012 capsule (recap here), last time here on Christmas Day.

The striped top was last worn here (2nd outfit) to the Vintage Expo in September.

The skirt is the green corduroy one I thrifted here (way down) a couple of weeks ago for $10.50. It's the first wear for the skirt, and it is the last. I wore a half-slip under it to prevent tight creep, but it managed to bunch in wildly unflattering ways all freaking day and I was so annoyed with it by the time I got home, I threw it in the donation bag immediately. Gah! Evil skirt of bunchiness!

"I barge in like I own the place."

I wore really cool striped and snowflake tights under the skirt, but they barely showed (you can see a bit in the top picture).

I've had the boots since October 2010 (here, with my thoughts on the age-appropriateness of me wearing miniskirts and thigh-high boots). I last wore them as part of the November 2012 all-neutral capsule (recap here), in this outfit here, over my black satin pants.

Mr. Lovey came in for a cuddle:

"This is so undignified."

As you can see, I wore all my badass rocker chick accessories - I'm beating this cold up through the power of fashion!

I'll try to squeeze in outerwear shots when I can, as I know some of you (hi, Yvonne!) like to see what I'm wearing when I'm out and about. I'm having fun rediscovering some of my cool-weather coats, like this awesome Italian-made piece.

Scrumptious, isn't it? I last wore it in December 2012 (here). I paid $72.00 for it on consignment.

The bling:

I like a little spooky in my accessories in October.

Cardigan (Kensie), top (Finnigans for Truworth, consignment), skirt (Talbot's, thrifted), boots (Pegabo), tights (Trasparenze), tile necklace/skull earrings (locally made), spider ring (homegrown vintage, 1984, gift from Mom and Dad), snake ring (homegrown vintage, 1985, BC Museum Gift Shop), coat (Vassali, consignment).

I had to rush home right after work and feed Vizinni before heading back to town for our friend Chris' surprise birthday party.

It was a fun party outfit, and a good time was had by all.

My leather shirt was last worn here earlier this month for my company's annual meeting.

The skirt is a basic grey one. I think I will look for a lined replacement. I last wore it here in September when I put on a tough face for the dentist.

The tights are pretty cool, eh? I found them at Heart's Content in Fan Tan Alley - they're made in England.

My fabulous red birthday shoes came out to party again. I last wore them here on my birthday.

Blurry and in a hurry!

 Same coat as during the day, plus my fingerless gloves for the chill of the evening.

Working on a better back-view pose

The fascinator tickled my fancy. Why not?

The bling:

Leather and studs.

Shirt (Danier Leather, thrifted), shell (Spense, thrifted), skirt (Plum), tights/fascinator (Heart's Content), shoes (Marc), cuff (Guess, thrifted), studded cuff (homegrown vintage, 80s), red cuff (Rimanchik), earrings (locally made).

After a lovely sleep-in (thank you, L), L and I went for our weekly brunch.

I like long sleek lines on the weekends. I forgot to take a picture of my bling today, but it's the same earrings and rings as Friday daytime, and the necklace is my octopus Mahjong tile (this one).

This sweater is such a great colour, and I love the bell sleeves and that it's a thin weight. I picked it up at Winners a few years ago.

I last wore it in the October 2012 capsule (recap here), last time worn here with my paramecium shirt under it (ooh, I need to wear that again soon!).

I like how this pose makes my butt look

The skirt is my lovely new-to-me grey pinstriped mermaid, last worn here last week with my Empress Sheila jacket. It is truly lovely to wear, all swooshy and full.

I wore my granny shoes with a pair of grey socks (still not so cold that I need tights regularly, thank goodness).

I last wore them also in the October 2012 capsule (recap here), in the last outfit of the month, my Hallowe'en costume! Check it out here - I was Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" and yes, I wore that to work and worked in it all day.

The shoes are amazing to walk in - I loved rediscovering that today. Plus, I thrifted them for only $19.99 (note that the red Marcs above that I'm wearing I bought on deep discounted sale for $111.00!) - I was walking with smugness, I tell ya!

Are you dressing up for Hallowe'en? I will be again this year - I'm excited!

Sweater (Max Studio), skirt (Planet, thrifted), shoes (Marc, thrifted), necklace (locally made), earrings/rings as above.

So remember this dress that I tried on? My amazing Aunt Kathy insisted that my mom pass her mother Joyce's dress along to me. So my goal is to drop about 5 pounds so that my boobs fit in it - I need to wear this dress!

I got to take a really good look at it. Check this out:

That's not an applique - that is hand beading! And it's all totally hidden - gorgeously done.

In fact, this dress is actually hand-made:

That's the inside seams. It's fully lined, but you can see that the fabric was cut rather raggedly with pinking shears. That's classic 60s/70s lace binding - my mom used to have stuff like that in her sewing area when I was a kid.

If that dress weren't the most awesome thing ever, look at what else Kathy gave me.

Tail-tentacle

YES. That is a vintage nylon chiffon peignoir set (Wiki link for info)! This is a total of four layers of nylon chiffon fabric.

This is the sleeved peignoir with the extra-long hem and lace trim.

Dear god, I think these need to come back into fashion! 

This is the matching nightgown portion: 

Isn't it amazing?

The vintage label:

I found a few on eBay that were listed from $19.99 to $49.99. I think mine is a pretty nice set.

Kathy also passed along this

It's a slightly different shade of pale blue, and has coloured lace up the front, with longer sleeves. Vizzini was all over me in this - he wanted the ribbon ties very badly, naughty boy.

Another Canadian lingerie company:

From my research Patricia seems to be a 1970s company, sold through Simpsons department store.

I couldn't help it: I've been wearing this since I took these pictures and have been swanning about the house in this for a couple of hours! L actually really liked these - they have a fun vintage "Mad Men" feel to them (I should have a big bouffant hairdo, yes?).

I feel like the Lady of the Manor Home. Fetch madam a glass of wine, would you?

I don't know what the heck I'm going to do with these (wear them around the house??), but I love them.

As promised, cat pictures! After two sessions of banging on our bedroom door this morning (6 am and 8 am), L fed Vizzini and then he napped on his post for the morning.

"Hey, I'm napping here."

 As I went in for a tummy-rub, he got all cute on me.

"I'll allow it, just this once."

 I patted him goodbye and back to sleep he went.

"Enough of the papparazzi, I must nap."

And so must I! I have a big day ahead tomorrow: shopping with my eldest niece Zoe for her 14th birthday!