Bigass Long Weekend Wrap-Up: Friday Stripes, Leopard Brunch and Shop, Deja Orange Party Dress, and Dark Thanksgiving

And...deep breath! Here we are, it's (Canadian) Thanksgiving Day, and I have much to be thankful for. Far too many things to list, but I am reminded to be grateful for every interaction and moment and to continue to try to live in the right now. 

I spent my weekend being present and accounted for. This outfit is my half-day Friday look.

 I took the afternoon off and met L for lunch after a quick grocery shop. We even had time for a nap - half days rule!.

This is my entry for "Visible Monday" over at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style.

• Dress - Karen Millen, consignment; last seen here in April with pops of orange
• Shoes - Truths Makena, Fluevog; last worn here (3rd outfit) in late September with lilac vintage
• Leather coat (below) - Danier Leather; last seen here that same weekend

I know L likes this curvy dress on me, so why not wear it for my sweetie?

 It's a wonderful wool blend, nice and snuggly and stretchy. I have a vintage slip on underneath for smoothing and a bit of extra warmth.

I can't wear this dress dress with nylons, fishnets or tights, as it rides up, so bare legs it is!

 It makes for a tricky dress to wear - it has to be warm enough out for bare legs, but cool enough to be able to do a long-sleeved turtleneck wool dress. Fashion is so exhausting!

Outerwear - it's definitely Leather Weather out there! Rain, dampness, grey clouds, puddles...

 A few intervals of brightness.

Fedora time!

 I hate carrying an umbrella, so I'll always wear a hat if it's not too windy out.

• Hat - vintage, thrifted
• Gloves - Parkhurst

The stuff:

 I walked home in the wet in these shoes - they are super comfy!

Steel bling:

 All but the blue ring has been stored away for the past 6 months. Welcome back!

• Necklace - early 60s, Robert Larin, vintage mall, gift from L
• Earrings - Glee
• Friendship ring - consignment
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes

I love that cool necklace - L has good taste in gifts!

We hung out and played board games on Friday night, and were both up bright and early, with Ulti for L and a bit of thrift shopping for me.

I was jonesing for a shopping trip - it felt like it had been a while, so time to visit a few of my favourite places.

• Sweater - Sonia Rykiel, consignment; last seen here in May with aliens and ballet
• Skirt - Oui Set, vintage, thrifted; last worn here in March with a Bollywood jacket
• Boots - Ash; last seen here (3rd outfit) on our rock & roll concert weekend, for our 2nd Frank Turner gig
• Coat - InWear; purchased here from Dots for $29.99

As you can tell by the light in the stair picture it was a rare sunny day!

 I am tossing these super-annoying dark grey tights. I had major crotch creep from them. Gone!

This was an outfit that met all my criteria for shopping. Easy off/on for trying clothes on. Shoes that slip off/on. No fussy fasteners. Minimal jewelry for non-snagging.

 I love this bright orangey-red boucle (boo-CLAY!) mini skirt.

I'll be 51 years old tomorrow - I do not give a flying elephant about a woman of "my age" wearing minis.

 First wearing of this new wool jacket. Who knew that leopard would be majorly in style when I bought it back in early June??

This chick, that's who!

 Of course, leopard has always been in style in my closet.

Did you know I did a "Leopard Week" back in 2011 (link here), and was even featured as the lead photo in a Wendy Brandes post (link here on how she came to write it) on The Huffington Post (link here)?

That was nearly 8 years ago, and it kind of shocks me at how rebellious it felt to wear all that leopard then.

 Now, I'm all like, "Yeah, whatever, leopard, deal with it."

The stuff:

 My kickass boots. Love these!

• Earrings - Lazy Susan's

I had a lovely time browsing shops for two hours before I met up with L, Nick, Chris and Greg for lunch after Ultimate Frisbee. First, I swung by Roberta's Hats, a local hat shop where I always purchase my wool fingerless gloves.

I could probably buy these cheaper at a chain, but these are made in Canada, and it's important to me to shop local businesses. These navy blue ones were $15.99 and I'll wear them to death.

From there, I headed over to Flavour Upstairs. I was hoping that they'd have turned over some of the summery stuff and brought out more fall, and I was not disappointed. I checked out the men's section, and lucked out on this dusty purple shirt for L.

 It's a soft Indian cotton, and is woven (not printed) with a brown ornate design.

It also has hand-stitched edging on the stripes.

 I love nice details like this.

Some blue embroidery at the cuffs, which is repeated on the front placket.

 That contrasting cuff/collar thing that many men's shirts have these days.

This is a Robert Graham shirt - it was only $24.95 so I snatched it up!

 These shirts sell between $200-300 each new - I know, because L bought one at a chi-chi store years ago on sale (and it was still expensive). This was a score! L really liked it too.

I always try to be really picky and really LOVE what I pick for myself. It would be easy to buy many more pieces that are cool/interesting/a good price but that I don't utterly adore.

 I love the colour of this thin pink sweater - it's a really vibrant pink and looks great on me.

It's a tissue thin mohair - I think it will be great for layering, under and over various things.

 No labels or tags other than this Chinese one. It was $24.99, so the store obviously recognized the good quality of it. It doesn't look like it's ever been worn.

These black cotton trousers made me giggle with delight. You know when clothing makes you giggle? You have to buy it!

 They are fairly high-waisted, with double pleats on the front, and pleats on the side.

Nice details: wide belt looks, adjustable side pieces, snaps on the slash pockets.

 There are also snaps on the rear pockets.

Check out this bizarre side box pleat below the side belt.

 My arm and hand is up in there. This causes the pants to be very snug around the upper part, and then balloon out into Ginormous Crazy Legs.

They are See By Chloe. I paid $24.95, and these would probably have sold for between $200-400.00 new.

 I couldn't find these exact pants online - See By Chloe has been around since the "not quite the internet" days of 2001. I think these are early 00s based on the "Skater Boy" shape of them.

I found a nice burgundy angora and wool toque with a flower on it.

 Post-shopping selfie!

It was $9.99.

 It's made in Japan which is unusual. I suspect it is also from the early 00s.

This next top confounded me. It has a fancy-schmancy couture label on it, but it's made in China. After a whole bunch of online research, I'm actually excited to report that I think it's real Miu Miu - in my searches, I did find that many of the "big names" do manufacture in China.

I have bought a piece of Miu Miu before (a jacket, here in 2012, scroll way down), seen the same "made in China" label and assumed it was fake, but now I'm wondering about that one too! I gave it away to a coworker years ago, but I don't think it was anywhere as nice of quality as this is.

So let's look at this. Isn't that the most gorgeous chartreuse green? I saw this on the hanger and was all, "YES, further assessment needed."

 It's a funny shape, just a pull-on, with slash sleeve holes. The front is sheer silk.

The back is knit silk. It's very soft, and feels very luxe.

 That sheer piece of silk at the back of the neck is what finally convinced me of the garment's veracity.

Here's a bit of the detail on the front. I love the raggedy roving ruffles - those are machine-sewn, but all done by hand, and very labour-intensive. And keep in mind, the front sheer panel is not lined, so the care needed to make sure those ruffles don't pull anywhere - that's lots of work.

 That's the armhole - see how it's connected? Unusual!

I looked at how the ribbed knit silk was connected to the sheer woven silk.

 Wow, that's the inside! Much care went into this.

So, the neck...is actually a hole in the centre of one single piece of silk.

 There are no seams - that is one continuous piece of woven silk, from the entire front of the garment and all around the back of the neck. No connector seam. The neck is a hole cut in the centre! What! Who does that?

And whether this is real Miu Miu or not, it was only $17.99 and I love it.

I wish I had been able to find it in one of Miu Miu's Vogue slideshows, but no luck - they only go back to 2000, and Miu Miu's been around since the 90s.

Flush with my purchases at Flavour Upstairs, I realized I had 20 minutes, just enough time to have a quick look through WIN. I need to go back and have a thorough browse, because look at this black beauty.

I know, I have serious black skirt issues. But it's SO PRETTY.  I love the "paper bag" waist, the pockets (YES), and the double sheer layer under that sorta badass shiny, leathery texture.

That leather-looking fabric felt different in my hand, just working my way through the acre of black skirts on the rack. I just grab at them and feel for something good.

 That underskirt portion feels like silk.

Checked the label - yup, and hey, so is the outer part! Shocking - it's a really interesting texture, almost like a very thin leather, but it is indeed silk.

 It's also made in China, in case you were wondering.

I know the Ports brand from the stores in the 80s, but I discovered that this is not that Ports. This is Ports 1961, and my $16.95 skirt was a bargain.

 A similar skirt on their website is $600+ US. Score!

I briefly popped into Rich Rags after I spotted this plain sweater on the $10 rack outside.

 No labels, nothing fancy - but it looks good on and it will be very useful.

However, I did find this fabulous velvet coat for L. I paid $129.00 for it (consignment, not thrift) - when I find good stuff for him, I buy it, as interesting men's fashion in second-hand is really hard to find!

 I lucked out - it fit him perfectly! Phew! Always a risk! I have tried on L's coats myself, to make sure I know how they fit on me - it helps me assess things if he can't try them on.

 I love that the velvet is like wide-wale corduroy, and is in different random directions. Do you see it?

The back. Such an amazing piece! It's even more stunning in person - L is going to look totally badass in this.

He loved it - it's so wonderful that my guy likes to be a standout when it comes to fashion!

The brand is Messori, and it's made in Italy. I discovered that this company does made-to-measure pieces as custom orders.

Some very dapper gentleman must have ordered this many years ago. 

I had time for a nap with L after brunch before we tidied up the house.  

"Cleaning up? What's going on?"

 Got to get the house ready for a party, Vizzini!

"Hush, I am focused on this leaf, Woman."

Vizzini chattered at the leaf for a bit, but he definitely knew something was up.

"You are highly suspicious."

 He's very agitated by all the falling leaves, but was distracted by us moving things around.

"I must investigate...after I check out this leaf." 

 He dashed inside to see what I was up to.

"I smell food."

I had to wait until a few guests arrived before putting out the food. Someone likes to check it out a little too closely!

Saturday night was my birthday party! I celebrated "Turning 17 (for the 3rd time)" - here I am at my first 17:

That's my brother Dave - he was going to his own grade 10 grad, and I was off to my high school graduation ceremony. This is June 1985.

And here I am at my 3rd 17, and I'm still rocking my red lip!

 Deja vu! I'm wearing the same dress I wore last weekend! None of my friends saw it in person - only a few of them read my blog - so why not? I like this dress, and I'm going to wear it again!

• Dress - David Meister, thrifted; first worn here last weekend to a wedding in Vancouver
• Shoes - Ted Baker, thrifted; purchased here in June for $29.95
• Shoes - Half Truth Veda, Fluevog; last seen here (2nd outfit) in late June

Of course, I had to style it differently! This time I went with black accessories and rolled with the Hallowe'en vibe. After all, it is October!

 I did my hair in hot rollers for some extra curls. It looked great...and lasted about 15 minutes!

These stretch satin black gloves are from my work-life at Fairweather women's clothing store in 1999-2000. I think they were around $25.00, less my staff discount.

 Gloves kept me from eating all the cheese early! I shed them a few hours in, so that I could nosh on some of the food.

I did a little black feather fascinator at the back of my hair. I took it out later too.

 First wearing of these party shoes. They were...high.

Waiting for guests to arrive, playing around in my closet.

"When are you putting the food out?"

 He made off with a Ritz cracker, but L caught him. What a monster!

As you can see, I changed into my flat black shoes.

"The Buzzer! People are here!"

 He is good with about 6 people, then hides. He came out near the end of the party (around 2:30am) and hoovered up all the chips and crumbs that our guests had dropped.

The stuff:

 I lasted about an hour in the Ted Bakers, then switched to my flats. I went back to the heels later on for a bit, but oof, those are not standing shoes. They sure look pretty though!

Gold bling:

 Nothing too crazy. Some repeats from the last wearing of the dress.

• Fascinator - Heart's Content
• Bracelet - Lia Sophia, thrifted
• Earrings - vintage fair
• Ring - c. 1996

Stuff, part deux:

Mustn't forget the gloves or the other shoes. They might feel left out!

L and I with just enough time for a pose.

Lookin' fine! It was an awesome party, attended by all my favourite friends. We spent Sunday crashed on the couch watching football - heaven!

Today, we headed out to my mom's place to see my brother and his kids - it was awesome to visit with them all. I'm the distant yet crazy auntie, and L is the cool uncle.

 I always like to dress a little wacky for my nieces - they expect it.

• Sweater - Nor of Denmark, consignment; purchased here in June for $19.98
• Leather dress - Danier, vintage 90s, thrifted; last worn here in January with a great jacket
• Wool boots - Prepare Guide, Fluevog; last seen here (2nd outfit) with a sleek wool dress
• Coat (below) - Vassali, consignment; last worn here in April

I wanted to wear this new-to-me cropped grey cotton sweater, so I layered it over my 90s leather slip dress. I fondly call this my Buffy dress.

 Again, that whole thing with mini skirts. Do not care!

These tights made the grade. Great pattern.

 I liked the sweater. It has good nubbiness in the knit.

Coat over top.

This is one of my favourite in-between-seasons coats. It's velvet and wool plaid over cream satin. So, you know, subtle.

My skull scarf, and I even changed my bag! Klassy!

 It wasn't too cold out, so this was just right.

• Scarf - Metrowear, San Francisco, 2006
• Gloves - Parkhurst
• Purse - Steve Madden, thrifted

The stuff:

 I let my niece Sidney try on my boots - they're still a little big for her, though.

Spooky bling:

My homegrown vintage rings make their first appearance of the season.

• Spider ring - c. 1984, gift from Mom & Dad, from Mexico
• Snake ring - c. 1985, BC Museum Gift Shop
• Earrings - Vancouver

Vizzini's enjoying one of the few sunny days on the deck.

 Soon, it will be too cold to have the doors open.

We've already closed one door, and his post will move inside for the winter.

"I'm enjoying the moment while it lasts."

Wise words, my furry buddy.

A very Happy Thanksgiving to my Canuck friends!