Visible and Incognito Weekend Wrap-Up: 80s Urbanite, Weather Strikes Again, and Some Retail Therapy

Our weekend did not go as planned. Well, parts of it did, and parts of it did not. 

This part did - Friday night was Urbanite at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria! They threw an 80s-themed party and sent out links for inspiration, encouraging everyone to just go for it and dress up. I'm so glad they did - you know we love to get our party clothes on! 

"Seriously, you're going out in public like that?"

 Heck yeah, I did! This is my entry for "Visible Monday" over at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style - I was very visible!

• Top - no label, vintage, thrifted; last seen here (2nd outfit) in July 2016 for the Alt-Pride Parade
• Skirt - Yucatan Bay, vintage 80s, thrifted; purchased here for $26.95
• Shoes - Calvin Klein; last worn here in January with an embroidered moto
• Suede coat (below) - Pioneer Wear, vintage 80s, thrifted; last seen here in December 2017

As I hinted at in my last post, I crimped all of my hair with my vintage pink crimping iron - I last did this for 2012's New Year's Eve (here).

 Rockin' my 80s attitude, ha!

I loved shaking my crimped mane around!

 Urbanite featured a local beauty business doing 80s make-up and crimping guests' hair - they were very impressed that I still had my vintage crimping iron. "My crimping iron is older than some of the people here," I noticed.

This little pink top is my go-to for an 80s party look. It lives in one of my boxes of costume pieces, along with this homegrown vintage 80s belt.

 I pulled the leather skirt out of the spring/summer pile for its inaugural wear. It's such a classic 80s colour!

Of course, I had to wear my fringed jacket!

 You can see some of my vintage-appropriate pink and aqua eyeshadow going on there too.

Big shoulders, and suede, beaded fringe? Oh yes, please.

"No, really, people are going to see you in this? Are you sure you want to go out?"

 Yes, Vizzini! Everyone was dressed in their version of the 80s - some of us oldsters had obviously raided our own closets, and some had gone vintage shopping - it was a riot of 80s fashion!

"I just can't look at you."

 That's okay - I enjoyed this fun outfit!

L and I all dolled up. I styled him in a "teddy boy" type of look, sort of like Duckie in Pretty in Pink.

 This was an outfit out of L's comfort zone (his actual 80s look was your standard 'eavy metal headbanger), but I loved it on him, and thought he looked amazing!

The stuff:

We walked to and from the Art Gallery (in the pouring rain, brr!), and after 3 hours of standing/dancing at the Gallery, my poor feet were ready to give up. These shoes were totally the right shape for the outfit, though. It was worth it!

Vintage bling:

 I bought that lovely leather and metal belt at Le Chateau in 1986. The cross necklace is from Plum, a Christmas gift from L from about 15 years ago.

• Purse - Miele Bianco, thrifted
• Belt - Le Chateau, c. 1986
• Studded cuff - c. 1996
• Leather cuff - Guess, thrifted
• Earrings - thrifted
• Spider ring - c. 1985, Mexico, gift from Mom & Dad
• Snake ring - c. 1986, BC Museum Gift Shop

Cat took some pics on her phone at the Gallery:

 Me, L, Nick and Karen.

Nick and Karen were the only people who did 80s punk rockers.

 What a couple of badasses! Woo!

Walter photo-bombed us!

 Karen, Cat and me - recognize Cat's vintage 80s leather top? It's this one!

The mansion part of the Gallery was all decorated in neon with black light, and the DJ spun 80s tunes all night - the whole crowd was singing along!

Three hot chicks who know it! 

I did a little extra - I included one of my smells of the 80s: 

 That's Salvador Dali perfume (Parfum de Toilette), which I bought at Eaton's department store in 1986 or 87. It has that classic 80s smell (I've been enjoying the reviews here, link 'cause I love). This is the first perfume that Salvador Dali ever made; he was still alive when this was created.

I love that the bottle stopper is a nose, and the bottle itself is lips.

 I have used some of it over the years, here and there (I'm not much into perfume these days), but I used to wear this out clubbing back in the day. I wore just a small amount on Friday night and had fun giving my friends that "blast from the past" with the heady scent of it.

I took the box apart - I store in the box, so that no light gets to it.

 The scent hasn't changed in 30+ years.

The perfume manufacturer:

 Ooh, a Telex number, how quaint!

The bottle is modeled from Dali's painting "Apparition of the Aphrodite of Knidos", done in 1981.

 I like the molded bottom of the bottle.

Mine is bottle 4475. 

After a wonderful night of 80s carousing, L and I were up early for our trip to Vancouver to see the Boston Bruins vs. the Vancouver Canucks (hockey, for those of you not into sports). 

L laid out all his jerseys for me to pick one to wear.  

"Maybe if I sit on these, the Man and Woman will stay home."

 Vizzini, you can't stay there.

"I most certainly can!" 

 We'd been watching the weather forecast all week, worrying about the snow and wind warnings for the coast and southern Vancouver Island. You see, when you live on an island, the weather can mess with you. This makes twice now (after this adventure last month) that the weather has ruined my plans. Arg! *shakes fist*

These are the faces of two Bruins fans who did not make it to Vancouver. Aw!

 The float plane flights were all cancelled due to winds, and it takes more than 5 hours to get to Vancouver by ferry/bus/Sky-Train. After much deliberation, we decided to cancel our trip. Neither of us wanted to get stuck in Vancouver or having to wait for hours to catch a ferry - that's not a fun way to spend a weekend.

Fortunately, Harbour Air has a great cancellation policy, so we won't be charged anything, and the Blue Horizon in Vancouver let us cancel and move our reservation (no penalty!) to our next planned trip to Vancouver. Unfortunately, we did lose out on the hockey tickets, but eh, that happens.

Instead, L and I went for lunch and did some house chores. Following a nap, our Vizzini vizz-itors (Cat and Ross) came over for an evening of boardgames...since they would have come over to feel and chill with Vizzini anyway! It was very relaxing and fun - just what we all needed (including Vizzini, who was spoiled by all the attention).

Today, I ventured out into the very cold and windy day - it snowed overnight, but there was none left by morning.

 Groceries, plus a wee bit of retail therapy, anyone?

• Top - Edit by Jeanne Bekker, consignment; last seen here (3rd outfit) with these same shoes in December 2017
• Skirt - Lord & Taylor; last worn here with a matching top in October 2017
• Shoes - Sperry, thrifted; last seen here (3rd outfit) in December 2017 with this same top!
• Leather coat (below) - Danier Leather; last worn here in January

 No one at all saw me in this. I was all bundled up.

Hair in a pony tail. Minimal make-up.

 I was totally incognito!

Who is that woman?

 I was so happy to get home and pull on 20 sweaters!

• Fur toque/scarf - Danier
• Gloves - Parkhurst

No stuff picture since I just wore a pair of stud earrings, and I am DONE with these shoes. They rubbed at my heels too much. Gone. Done.

I had a couple of $10 gift cards to the mall - I bought a new shower curtain (totally not exciting), and then swung by the shoe department of the Bay. All alone on a table were these cocoa-brown faux suede shoes, marked at $9.00. Yes, nine dollars.

 One pompom was missing, and the other had fallen off. These are by Design Lab by Lord & Taylor, originally priced at $110, and currently marked down to $29.99.

I like the lace-up design (so 2017!) and the blocky heel.

 I also like the pinky-brown shade of them, and they were a comfy height.

Did I need two pompoms per shoe?

 No, I think they look fine with just one! After taxes, and using one of my $10 gift cards, I paid a total of 10 cents cash for these shoes, officially making them the cheapest shoes I've ever bought.

From town, I walked up to the Women in Need (WIN) Boutique on Cook St - WIN saves up their donated high-end designer items, then puts on a week-long sale of it every year or so. I popped in to see if there was anything I needed.

I found this lovely silk men's bow-tie. These are not L's style, so I'll keep it for myself.

 It's by Countess Mara, it's 100% silk and was $7.95. These retail for between $75-60 new.

Isn't it a great pattern mix?

 I figured out how to tie it, so this should be fun to add to an outfit.

I did well with tops, including this cool swan photo print one.

 This is the "Nwot" swan top, by Divided by H&M.

Buttons down the back - it's a mullet top. Higher in the front, lower in the back.

 The colour is a dark brown.

This originally retailed for $30.

 $5.95 for me!

I really liked this simple polyester black and white top.

 It's very soft, feels like silk (but it's not!). This will be a good summer top - it covers my upper arm tattoos.

The brand is Sanctuary, and it was $5.95 also.

 Ah, this is an Anthropologie brand, no wonder it feels like such nice quality. It originally retailed for $98.00.

I hear stripes are in with the cool kids. I really like the cut and shape of this thin navy and white sweater.

 Very a la Francaise, oui? 

It's by Jones New York Signature, and was a good deal at $13.95.

 You can see the nice navy tone there. I like the little jaunty tie at the side of the neck. Very nautical.

You can never have too many white tops - they tend to not last long with me, anyway!

 This one is 100% cotton, but it feels very crinkly, like parachute nylon. I like the stand-up collar, and the box pleat in the front - this has that deconstructed feel that I've been grooving on for a while.

It's by Theory and was $14.95.

Considering their tops start at $255.00 new, I'm happy with that!

My only find in the "Designer" section was this olive green jacket. 

It has magnificent shoulders, is a somewhat boxy menswear cut, but looks amazing on. It's all about fit for me!

It's a fine knit, with viscose lining. The sleeves have 4 working buttons each. 

 The spare buttons are still down the side.

It's by Helmut Lang and was made in the USA. I paid $69.95, happily!

His jackets start at $500!

Vizzini, what do you think of my purchases?

"I'm far more interested in your shopping bag, Woman."

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!