Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Deja Blue; Leopard and Yeti; Shopping Scores; Scads of Cat Pics, Leather Feature

Get ready - it's been a busy weekend for me, and I went shopping (twice) so I have oodles of pictures to show you! Vizzini's also been making his feelings known, so lots of cat pictures too. 

We'll start it off with a bit of deja blue - I wore The Dress again on Friday night to celebrate a friend's 50th birthday party at the Royal BC Museum. 

 I'm not ashamed to say that I wore the exact same outfit as I did last week.

• Dress - Chloe Prusa, custom-made; first worn here (2nd outfit) a week ago for my birthday party
• Shoes - Big Presence Desmond, Fluevog; last seen here (2nd outfit)...a week ago!

 The party was in the Old Town exhibit at the Museum (my favourite part, link here - that top pic is where we were), with a bar and canapes.

My outerwear consisted of cashmere-lined leather gloves. Thank goodness it wasn't cold or rainy out! I stowed my gloves in the pockets of the peplum - you couldn't even tell they were there.

L and I were the dressiest attendees (as usual) - it was a cool venue and a fun way to celebrate Bruce's birthday.

The stuff:

 I had to do comfy shoes - we caught the bus home after. Forget being dressiest at the event - we were most definitely overdressed for a city transit bus at 10:30pm on a Friday night!

• Gloves - Club Monaco, consignment
• Purse - Reiss, thrifted
• Earrings - Matisse, vintage 60s, vintage fair
• Amber ring - c. 1998

Bruce very generously gave out a "party favour", this amazing limited edition portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, commissioned during her visit to Victoria in 1983.

 It was done by Myfanwy Spencer Pavelic, a Victoria artist, who died in 2007, aged 91.

 Pretty sweet - there were only 500 of these prints made. We'll have to get this properly matted and framed.

L and I were up early on Saturday morning - we're still getting enough people to play Ultimate Frisbee! I don't remember ever playing this late in the season before, and we've been playing since 1999!

 The rain held off - phew! - and once we were warmed up, the weather was great for running around. Of course, I dressed nicely for brunch afterwards.

• Sweater - Magaschoni, thrifted; last worn here (2nd outfit) in December 2016 with a long leather skirt
• Skirt - Lui Jo from Florence, Italy; last seen here in March with more leopard
• Boots - Matisse, consignment; last worn here (3rd outfit) in September with green florals
• Yeti coat (below) - Kimchi Blue; last seen here in March for our anniversary trek to Vancouver

I'm a fan of cashmere and I'm a fan of leopard - this sweater is both!

 I was happy to have this skirt back in the closet - I love the rich colour, the leather look and the length. So good with boots!

 It has micro-pleating at the waist, which becomes looser as it gets to the hem.

Add one yeti jacket and voila! An outfit that caused random strangers to holler at me, "I love your outfit!"

 It is a spectacular piece! This is my entry for "Visible Monday over at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style. Get your stylish self over there!

The stuff:

 Comfy boots for walking after lunch.

Vizzini has been a monster since we brought his post in off the deck and locked the doors shut. Our deck isn't insulated, so it's very chilly out there.

"I have a fur coat, Woman! I demand that you open these doors!"

 But when the doors are open, he won't go out. Just meows at us and looks sad.

"Well, if you would make it warmer, I might be persuaded."

 Silly bear.

I haven't treated myself to a thrift shop in a few weeks, so I headed out to the St. Vincent de Paul after lunch.

I did so well! I found this lovely pink-lined sundress.

 I like the uneven hemline and the pattern that looks like butterfly wings.

 One side has these pretty pleats.

I knew as soon as I touched it that I was made of silk.

 Made in the USA too! Sweet! I love finding things that are actually made in North America.

The back of the tag notes a style number, which helped me discover that this is called the Raindrop Dress - it's by Nanette Lepore and was originally $260.00 Canadian.

 Yes, I paid $5.00 for it! Score! It's really lovely on, too - can't wait to wear it...next summer. I'll give it a steam then pack it away for spring 2018. Shopping year-round has its benefits!

Speaking of summer-wear, another dress leapt into my hands. Again, I could tell this was silk shantung as soon as I touched it.

 It has a great fit, and yes, it's voluminous around the upper thighs due to the bubble hem, but pockets!

Confirmed, there's the content tag.

 100% silk.

The dress is by CoVelo Clothing Inc.

 Only $6.00. I suspect it cost more than that originally.

This was a flash from the past - I used to own the black velvet version of this top (it had grey embroidery on it)!

 It's from 1999-2000, from the era I worked at Fairweather women's clothing, a now-defunct Canadian chain store. Aw! I recall it was around $35.00 new.

This one still has the extra button bag attached, so it's never been worn. And it wasn't $4.00 - all green tags were half price, so this lovely velvet top was only $2.00.

I spotted this awesome green lace jacket right away - it was very eye-catching!

 Sweet! I love the contrast banding of the elastic cuffs.

What? This couldn't be...? Gucci??

 For $5.00?? But no, this is a FAKE Gucci. Look at those nasty serged seams - real Gucci would never leave raw edges like that. They did make a pink lace bomber jacket just like this, but the details (like the seams and the hardware) were much higher quality. So instead of Gucci, let's call this Gookey.

Another top that I spotted right away. Distinctive prints are one of the things that make good quality items stand out from the crap that's usually in the thrift stores.

 Pixelated roses/flowers and black beads sewn into a starburst pattern. That's pretty interesting.

All sewn by hand, and ooh, look at those lovely seams!

 All French seams, no exposed edges anywhere - compare those with the seams in the Gookey jacket above.

The black piping is silk.

 And yes, I have thrifted a Dries Van Noten top for FOUR DOLLARS. Two of the beads need to be resewn, but pfft! I can do that!

 Even if it hadn't fit (which it did), I would have bought it anyway. I'm not leaving a Dries piece behind at that price! This is likely pre-internet and probably sold for around $500 new.

Flush with my shopping scores (I spent a total of $22.00 at the St. VdeP), I strolled down to the Patch for a quick look-through. This quirky jacket caught my eye.

 Unusual construction! I like the exposed zipper, the tweedy plaid, the mismatched lapels, and the V of grey wool flannel. All three pockets are real, but have not been opened.

The back features a nice scoop on the sides, exposed stitching down the centre and on the arms, and another exposed zipper.

 We are in my quirky wheelhouse here!

It felt amazing. I knew it was wool.

 Two big snaps do up the lapel above the front zipper.

Oh, nice, it is wool, and made in the USA again!

 Fabulous - the lining is 100% silk.

 Gotta like that! And it looked really nice on - a little boxy, which I don't mind, and the front hangs higher than the back for a bit of a mullet.

 At $34.95, it was the priciest thing I bought all day. The brand is Julie Haus, which I've never heard of, but a little research reveals she had a brick-and-mortar store in SoHo, NYC back in 2010 (now closed, sadly). I found this article here (linking 'cause I love) that noted cropped blazers in the 2010 collection, and I see one in the picture with this same zipper on the arm - it's likely that my new blazer is from the same collection. She still collaborates with her husband (a print-maker) on collections - jackets on their site retail from $1,645 up. I feel better about spending $34.95 now, ha ha!

I can't resist a cool leather skirt, especially when it is pearlized metallic in a chartreuse-y lemon!

 It's high-waisted, and soft as butter.

Not a size 12, though. Well, not in modern sizes, at least.

 It was $26.95.

The brand is Firenze by Santa Barbara - I remember Santa Barbara from the 80s, so this is before the Great Size Shift - it's a modern size 8.

Another made in the USA piece. Gotta like that. How many of the clothes we buy are made in the US/Canada nowadays? Not many! The Patch had a pink leather skirt exactly the same as this, but I already have an awesome pink leather skirt.

Vizzini supervised me taking pictures of my purchases.

"I'm disgusted that there was nothing for me."

 He hung out with us all evening - we had Cat and Ross over to play boardgames. Look what Cat found for me!

 It's by the Indiana Glass Company and it's iridescent amber (I collect amber glass by this maker) - it's for deviled eggs, my "specialty". I will use this for our next party!

Today, I slept in, then walked to town to get groceries. Vizzini was in a mood.

"I am a seething ball of fury!"

 He whipped around on his post, scratching, biting and kicking.

"This curtain offends me!"

 He bites and grabs at the curtain, then gets distracted.

"Mousie?"

 And then he was all casual.

"What? I'm just sitting here, chilling out, Woman."

 You can tell I slept in because the sun was fully on my stairs.

 I love this faux leather-fronted dress - another piece I was really excited to have back in the wardrobe.

• Dress - Joe Fresh, thrifted; last seen here in March for a casual Friday followed by a concert
• Booties - Dirty Laundry, thrifted; last worn here in March for a weekend shop with Yvonne
• Coat #1 - Cache Contour Collection, thrifted; first worn here in June 
• Coat #2 - Danier Leather; last seen here (3rd outfit) over Etro in June

I'm also thrilled to let you all know that I was featured in a post on High Latitude Style (links 'cause I love), called "See how these midlife women look stunning in leather". Thank you very much to Nicole for featuring me (and asking me if it would be okay first!). I'm in four of my favourite leather pieces, so check it out!

 I hope this faux-leather dress meets with her approval, since she's down on leather dresses in general. Hmmm...not counting this one, I have three leather dresses...

• This totally on-trend black slip dress style from the 90s, here.
• This beautiful taupe one, great for layering, here.
• This fabulous deep purple suede dress, here.

And I think I look pretty fabulous in all of them. Care to re-think your assessment of leather dresses, Nicole?

The back and sleeves of this dress are a thin knit.

 Add some tights, and I'm ready to go.

Just got to put on a jacket. This one!

 No, yuck, ugh. This is not working. Why did I buy this jacket? It's in the giveaway pile now. Thank goodness I only paid $9.95 for it.

Yes, that's more like it, right?

 Duh! I love my bright yellow leather jacket! It's a classic.

The stuff:

 I totally planned to go to the WIN Boutique on my way home. Guilty.

• Earrings - local

Pickings were very slim, though - they must be getting ready for winter. I stocked up on layering thin tops. I wear these around the house, under big chunky sweaters and use them when it's cold to get an extra layer of warmth.

 A nice stripe.

 Land's End for only $6.95. I'll get that down to pennies per wear for sure.

A pinky-rose one.

 Adea is the brand, and it was $6.95 as well.

 I don't usually go in for leggings (I subscribe to "leggings aren't pants!" as a general rule). However, I could not resist these galactically awesome ones.

 With just a peek of them showing above some over-the-knee boots, with a long sweater over them - I could do that in public. I probably won't, though.

 They were only $4.95 - it's more likely that I will be wearing these around the house in winter a lot.

I also found this brand new set of scarf, toque and gloves by Calvin Klein for $10.95.

And a book by Nora Ephron. Excellent.

I hope you all had a great weekend! Any good scores?