Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Two Long Cardis; Buffy Brunch Dress; Cleaning Out L's Closets; Blue, Red and Shopping

Hello, and welcome back! As always, my weekends are packed with stuff, so let's get right to it with a double-shot of long cardigans on Friday. 

'Tis the season - for Hallowe'en-themed outfits! I have a bunch of "spooky" or very October-y items, and I always like to bring them out around this time of year. 

Nothing new here, all things I've had for a while.

This is my outfit for "Visible Monday" over at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style. Patti's visible in Manhattan; I was visible in Victoria.

• Cardigan - swap from Sarah; last worn here in March with this same sweater and a different pair of leather pants
• Sweater - Jean Paul Gaultier, consignment; last worn here in that same outfit in March
• Leather pants - Classique Entier, vintage 80s, thrifted - last seen here (4th outfit) in June for the 3rd outfit worn at L's birthday party, with vintage Stephen Burrows
• Shoes - Qtee Minis, Fluevog, consignment; last seen here in March with my tattooed lady dress
• Leather trenchcoat (below) - vintage 70s, thrifted; last worn here in March

My coworkers loved this outfit and I had several of them stroke the leather of the pants, which is butter-soft.

I also stretched out this fine wool sweater to show off the design - it includes a spider, a snake, a ribcage, birds and a floating head.

I love the colour of this cardigan.

 It goes well with a lot in my closet.

Totally chill for a Friday, but it was a busy day.

 I was glad to be done. These short weeks are so difficult.

It's been raining for several days. Geared up.

 I adore this wonderful vintage leather trench - I wear it in the rain, no problem.

• Hat - Edward Mann, vintage 60s, thrifted
• Skull & crossbones scarf - 2006, San Francisco
• Studded leather gloves - Danier

I rarely show a back view of my coats.

"No one cares about your coat. What about me?"

He's comin' in for a rub!

And a cuddle.

"You look like a spy."

I felt like a spy!

The stuff:

I loved these shoes, but my feet were tired by the end of the day. Too much running around for a Friday!

Spooky bling:

Snakes!

• Cuff - vintage 70s, vintage expo
• Snake earrings - Red Sky

My rings are all the kind that fall over, so here's a picture of them all one one hand.

I've had the snake and spider ring since 1986!

• Snake ring - BC Museum Gift Shop, c. 1986
• Spider ring - gift from Mom & Dad, c. 1986
• Silver thumb ring - vintage mall

On Friday night I did the ol' quick change...into another long cardi!

L and I went to our friends Mack and Petra's place for dinner. I needed to lounge about on their couch in something more comfortable than leather pants.

• Cardigan - Ports, vintage 80s, consignment; last seen here in September with yellow and houndstooth
• Dress - Karen Millen, consignment; last worn here (4th outfit) to the theatre with Mom in February
• Shoes - Half Truth Veda, Fluevog; last seen here a week ago with red and plaid

Both the long blue cardi and the sweater dress are wool blends, so I am snuggly warm if I need it.

 There's a bright blue stripe in the dress.

I love cobalt blue, don't you?

 I could fall asleep in this, although that would be rude when in company (I snore).

And if I got too hot, I could take the cardi off and still look classy.

 I love this dress.

Who says horizontal stripes aren't flattering?

 I disagree!

Same outerwear accoutrements, although I skipped the hat since we cabbed both ways.

And I could button up the cardi if I needed it.

The stuff:

I only wore these on the short walks to and from the cab (I took socks to wear in their house).

As we were getting ready, L was debating which trousers to wear with his shirt. Vizzini had very strong opinions on it.

"Not these ones. They are obviously evil and must be destroyed."

And L wore the other pair.

On Saturday morning, I was up early for my Mental Health Walk, then after showering, we headed down to Pluto's for a quick brunch, followed by some chores.

Knowing that most of my outfit wasn't going to be seen except in Pluto's, I went with my retro-90s "Buffy" leather dress.

• Top - Topsy Turvy, vintage 90s, thrifted; last worn here in June under another vintage slip dress
• Dress - Danier, vintage 90s, thrifted; last seen here (4th outfit) in March for a Sunday shop
• Boots - Ash; last worn here (3rd outfit) for a weekend shop in snakeskin
• Coat (below) - Avoca; last seen here (2nd outfit) in August for brunch

These are all quite weekend-y things - I wouldn't wear this to work.

 Too casual.

I like this fine mesh top - it has a tropical print.

The dress is a butter soft leather.

I've had it for years, and worn it a ton.

 Today, I did sheer blue tights.

And just planned on most people seeing me in my outerwear. I wore the hood up in the rain on the way to town, but it had stopped by the time we walked home, and I wore it like this.

 Additional factors for the outfit under this were: things that don't cling to t-shirt fabric, which is what this waterproof jacket is lined in.

• Wool gloves - Parkhurst

The stuff:

I have a selection of "shoes I can wear in the rain" and these boots are near the top of the list.

• Earrings - vintage fair

One of our chores while we were out was to get a bunch of storage for L's spring/summer and "archive" clothing. For my dear husband - after many years - finally agreed to work with me to clean out and organize his wardrobe!

"I heard the vacuum."

Vizzini was not present for most of the 4 hours it took to clean out L's closets. Yes, you read that right. L has 3 closets to my one. I get the walk-in, though! I did not take any "before" pictures because, well...it was a mess.

These are the "after" pictures. This is the closet in our bedroom, all tidy and cleaned out. We bought the brown boxes on the top shelf today and stored away a bunch of stuff in them. Clearing out all of the top shelf and a ton of crap on those bottom metal shelves made a ton of room for actual clothes!

We packed away all of L's spring/summer clothes (Hawaiian shirts, dressier shorts, very thin shirts and lighter fabric trousers), filling two flat bins that are now stored under our bed with my 3 bins.

This left us room for:

• All of L's hats to come out of his shoe closet and live on the top shelf.
• His Boston Bruins and Miami Dolphins jerseys, on the left side.
• His colourful collection of work shirts on the left middle.
• His more formal trousers in the middle, with his collection of silk, satin and brocade vintage dressing gowns.
• His awesome collection of printed shirts (some vintage, many thrifted or consignment, some new).
• Special occasion clothes (cuffed white shirts - some frilled, vests, and two zoot suits!

We have massive storage in our hall closet. I get the left side for my coat collection, and L gets the right side for his.

Winter/heavy coats on the far left, then funky blazers and jackets (lots of patterns, velvets, brocades), and his Boston and Miami jackets.

And then there is our "linen cupboard" in the hallway, where he's basically taken it over for his shoes.

Lots of Fluevogs in there! I counted: he has 29 pairs of shoes, not including runners.

Just like I have the top of my dresser for accessories, L has as well. The mirror over the dresser - as well as reflecting me! - shows the main bedroom closet on the other side of the bed.

I pulled out one of my amber glass plates for L to put his belt buckle collection on, he has his own jewelry box, and that blue Fluevog box is for missing socks (L does the laundry).

A closer look at the belt buckle collection:

Clockwise from the top:

• Cheeky lady in a pile of balloons (local)
• Sassy lady showing off her legs (2006, San Francisco)
• Vintage Playboy cover (with a headline about the "Girls of Canada") (thrifted)
• Enamel and pewter rattlesnake buckle (thrifted)
• Pewter abstract with real stones (thrifted)
• Enamel and pewter tall ships (vintage, Portland)
• Diana and skulls buckle (local)
• BC Fish and Wildlife brass buckle (gift)
• Porcelain cream buckle with branches (thrifted)
• Brass buckle with gold crown on green background and rhinestones (thrifted)
• Brass with rhinestones, slightly hiding (thrifted)
• Las Vegas strip (local)

In the centre:

• Vintage koi fish buckle (vintage fair)
• Square silver-tone with faux moonstones (thrifted)

By the time we finished, Vizzini was thoroughly traumatized.

"Nonsense, Woman, I'm under here for warmth."

After a relaxing evening of boardgames, I was up early on Sunday to finally do a proper grocery shop. Our schedule's been messy, what with Birthday Week and all, and our cupboards were literally bare. 

Dressed for function: weather and shopping.

• Sweater - J. Crew, consignment; last seen here (2nd outfit) in March
• Skirt - Danier Leather, thrifted, Powell River; last worn here in June to the Corey Hart concert
• Boots - Arnold Churgin, thrifted; last seen here (4th outfit) in September for Winesday
• Coat - Danier Leather; last worn here (2nd outfit) in October

Here's the outfit without the red leather coat, but I was only down to this when I was actually in fitting rooms.

 Easy off and on clothes! That's the trick to clothes shopping.

I have a snug camisole on under the sweater for warmth and a layer for trying on tops.

I prefer to wear a skirt and tights when shopping - pants are too much of a pain.

One of the various states of being done up and undone.

It was sunny, windy, cloudy and pouring rain, all in the space of 4 hours. Ah, Victoria in autumn!

Fully done up.

I have worn this coat in the rain many times - it doesn't hurt it to get it wet.

Speaking of wet... I had to pin up my hair and wear a hat for much of my afternoon.

I enjoy having a cohesive outerwear look when I'm out and about.

• Hat - Delux
• Scarf - Roots, thrifted
• Studded leather gloves - Danier
• Bag - vintage 80s, vintage mall

The stuff:

I tend to wear minimal jewelry when shopping. These boots are awesome in the rain - I can see that the toes are still wet there.

I had a gift card from Head Over Heels (link here, 'cause I love) - a birthday present from 3 of the VPs at work - just burning a hole in my pocket! I saw that they had 10% off on one of their lines this weekend, so I bit.

These are a lovely embossed leather, printed with black/grey/blue/white snakeskin.

They are pull-on with the wide elastic gussets on each side.

 They're by Gabor, and were full price $215.00.

With my gift card and the 10% off, they came to $118.00.

 It's not often I buy retail, but these are hugely comfy and I don't have anything like them - and I supported a local brick-and-mortar store.

From there, I went to Flavour Upstairs, and immediately found a replacement for the horrible tartan skirt I got there last time (this evil one here). The lining would not stay inside and the front of the skirt rode up weirdly - it's in the giveaway pile.

This one is a thick wool blend, fully-lined and even better because...

It's got pockets!!

 And it was only $17.99. I like the yellow and cobalt blue lines in it.

It's by Liz Claiborne.

I'm excited to wear this.

I really, really liked this skirt, probably because it's very, very swooshy.

 It is cut on the bias, and is a full circle skirt. It's lined to midway. The hem is not uneven; it's just very full and hanging oddly there.

It has no tags - nothing! - but it does have a beltloop on each seam.

I think it's a polished cotton (you can see the slight shine on the fabric). It's very light and swooshes magnificently.

I am a sucker for a cool skirt. This one is tie-dye suede!

 The hem is uneven this time, and it has a long slit up the right side. It's lined to the top of the slit.

The waistband has a "stitching" detail. Some of it's coming apart, but I don't really care too much, as I'll probably just hide the waistband when I wear it.

I've never heard of Marc O'Polo before, but apparently it's a Swedish-German brand that's been in business since 1967! It looks like their skirts are fairly pricey (in the $200 range and up), so I'm sure this would have been more than $29.99.

As I was taking pictures of my new-to-me items, I noticed Vizzini lurking around the corner.

"I'm not lurking! Who's lurking?"

He was trying to get me to feed him early. Not gonna happen.

I vividly remember the mid-90s when these floral dresses were HUGE. I had one then, and well, I have one again now.

It's not much on the hanger, but it's very pretty on, super-SUPER girly. The neckline is ruffled and wraps across, it has a smocked elastic waist, and a bigass flowy skirt.

I quite liked the pattern, with the Vs of different florals, almost like a patchwork quilt.

The colours are pretty, although this is a very 90s palette.

There's a self-belt made up of 3 cords in the same fabric, with a trio of beads on each cord.

The colour choices are a bit perplexing, as none of them quite match. Huh. That was the 90s.

It's by Decisions and was $29.99.

No info on this brand - there were millions of these dresses at their heyday, and I'm sure a lot of little brands popped up and made them.

Many of the ones I see are rayon, which is not washable (those dresses and skirts tended to shrink funny in the wash).

 I was happy to see this one is polyester and washable. I like that it was made in the US too.

I waffled over this, but I felt so badass in it that I had to go for it.

It's a poncho!

It's a thick woven acrylic wool, made by Ralph Lauren.

 It was $27.99. I can't decide if I'm going to wear it around the house, incorporate it into my regular wardrobe, or take it to work to wear when the AC causes my office to be freezing! What would you do?

From Flavour Upstairs, I walked over to the big WIN (Women In Need) store on Pandora, where I gave into slight non-buyer's regret and bought this lilac frou-frou tea dress.

It's polyester and I love the sheer layer. I can't wear this as-is, as my bra will hang out everywhere, but I'll probably layer a top under it, or wear a cardigan or jacket over it.

A look at the detail.

If I wanted to remove that bow, it's just stitched on.

Someone came in to investigate...

"Feed me now, or the dress gets it!"

It's by Alfred Sung and was $22.95. It's marked "as is" but I can't find anything wrong with it.

Someone has tacked the cleavage shut (easily removed, but I actually like it), so maybe that's it? It's definitely worth the price.

It's totally a bridesmaid dress.

And based on the hand-TYPED label, it was probably a special order. Based on the style, I'd say it's from the late 90s/early 00s.

While I was waiting to pay, I found this rainbow leopard scarf that leaped out at me.

A better look at the colour:

The background is brown - this will go with a lot of my coats.

It's by V. Fraas and is acrylic, and made in Germany.

 For only $5.95? These are over $40 new.

And that's it! What item are you most excited to see me wear? What's your fave?

Time to go take care of Mr. Meow-Head.

"I am a seething ball of fury! Feed me!"

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!