Two-Fer: Winesday Women; Picnic Plaids and Pink; Earhart Flashback

Hello, my friends. It's been a hard week: our dear Karen is not doing well, so the core group of Winesday Women gathered to support her with our love and sisterhood, possibly for the last time. 

Clockwise from me: Yvonne, Vero, Karen, Caro and Cat

We all expanded our COVID bubbles for her and Nick - there haven't been any cases in Victoria for a month, and there's no way I'm not going to be there for and with my best friends.

It was a mixed day, and my outfit shows it. 

I cried all my make-up off - I did skip the mascara, though. 

• Vest - Religion, consignment; purchased here for $44.79
• T-shirt - Ted Baker, consignment; first seen here in April 2019 with an iridescent skirt
• Culottes - Topshop, thrifted; last worn here in January for the Year of the Rat
• Shoes - Sam Edelman, thrifted; last seen here to visit Mom in April, with leopard trousers

I'm not feeling this tee. It'll go into the "stuff I sleep in" collection where I will whittle it down to pennies per wear. 

It's very soft and I like the pattern, but t-shirt dressing is just not my thing.

I'm also not in love with these cropped trousers, even though the colour is fabulous. Into the giveaway pile with you!

I loved the vest, though. I like the boxy cut and the ragged edges.

Without the vest.

Nah. I have better things that I love more.

The stuff:

Like these shoes! They are great for walking.

Shiny bling:

 A little more armour. We're all feeling very tender right now.

• Cuff - thrifted
• Crystal cuff - Swarovski, consignment, gift from L
• Silver/crystal ring - Soul Flower
• Crystal ring - Uffizi Gallery gift shop, Florence, Italy
• Ear-balls - Swarovski, consignment

In the face of death, everything else feels very insignificant.

But the flowers keep growing.

The sun shines.

Life continues. The world turns. 

We hung out with Karen for a couple of hours. It was a mix of crying and laughing and just being there with her. Every moment is precious.

Thanks to Rob for taking these pictures of us. I'm a weepy person, so I look on the verge of bawling at all times. 

Today, I had a haircut after work, so I wanted to look fabulous for Sofia. I may have cried into my mask, sorry, honey. I'll show off my haircut in the next post, but I did the same "long bob, chunky layers and curtain bangs/fringe" as I did last time I got it cut, back here in February (only my bangs are longer now).

I really loved all the colours in this and the pattern mix. 

• Jacket - Marc Cain, consignment; purchased here for $45.00
• Blouse - Talbots, thrifted; last seen here in December 2019, layered under a sweater
• Skirt - Banana Republic, consignment; last worn here in August 2019 with more navy and white and my Darth Sheila duster
• Shoes - Big Presence Earhart, Fluevog; last seen here in May with copper and a Miami print

More Clothing As Armour - expect a bit of that in the coming weeks, for sure. I hope you'll bear with me as we go through our grieving for Karen - we've been friends family for 25 years, so there's a lot of love there. 

First wearing of this new-to-me jacket, and I loved it. It would be better if those were real pockets and not just fake flaps sewn on, but I'll let it slide. This time.

It did snag on my office keys a bit, but it's hardly noticeable in the jumble of colours.

My picnic plaid skirt is a favourite - it is navy blue and white check. It's a stretchy cotton.

Jacket done up (2 out of 3 snaps down the front).

I'd been waffling over this pink blouse as I hated the whole outfit the last time I wore it, but the colour was perfect with the jacket.

Sometimes you just need a solid, although the viscose fabric actually has a woven snakeskin pattern in it.

The stuff:

I adore these shoes - I would never have thought this would be a useful shoe in my wardrobe, but it is! We'll check them out in the Flashback below shortly.

Sparkly bling:

My rings are like comfort food. One from when L and I were dating, one that my Winesday Women "bought" me in Italy for my birthday, and my Dad's ring. 

• Earrings - vintage market
• Silver/sodalite ring - Scotland, 1996
• Silver/amethyst ring - Frances Jewelers, c. 1965, Dad's
• Crystal ring - Uffizi Gallery gift shop, Florence, Italy

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Flashback! 

Today's Flashback is these Fluevog shoes. They are from the Big Presence family, same as my yellow and orange waxed canvas Desmond (after Norma I'm-ready-for-my-close-up from "Sunset Boulevard") pumps, Flashback'ed here and here; these are called the Earhart (after Amelia the aviatrix) 

These are a really comfortable heel height for me, and I know what size I am (9.5) in this family, so I can buy another pair of Big Presence if I see a pair online that grabs me. I am also a sucker for that sweet pointy toe - I was a teen in the 80s, what can I say? 

I bought these in the after-Christmas sale at our local Fluevog store in 2017, so I've had them for 2.5 years. I paid $169.99 for them here on the "last chance" sale wall, and spent gift cards on them. I love getting gift cards!

I first wore them in January 2018 for a big corporate event. 

Classy all the way! Although they might seem to be a difficult colourway - mango orange and lilac pinky-purple - they've been surprisingly versatile.

I often pick out the orange for matchy purposes, like here in February 2018.

I need to wear that skirt again - it's definitely Flashback-worthy.

Mixed with warm autumnal shades in April 2018.

That patterned top (which was a dress that I chopped in half) had bits of orange and pink in it.

This is one of my favourite outfits with them - although, I do like 95% of my outfits, which is as it should be.

This was in May 2018 - you can see I've loved this flapper-y look for a long time.

Pulling out a bit of orange in this vintage Etro dress - there's some purple in that pattern too.

 I love that dress - another one I need to wear soon! This was in July 2018.

This was also in July 2018, and you may remember this from the dress' own Flashback.

I'm a rainbow for Pride Week! 

I keep these shoes out all year round - here they are in October 2018 with a blouse that has bits of pink and orange in its floral pattern. 

I love that leather dress - I've had it for over 5 years. The belt is Christian Dior (KLASSY). 

With the same blouse ruffling out the front of my soft pink blazer in January 2019. 

The colour of the blazer goes really well with these shoes.

So well, I paired them again here in March 2019. I love pink and yellow together.

 This tweed skirt has flecks of pink and red, which work well with the orange in the shoes.

Another top with a pattern that has bits of pink and orange in it. It's surprising how many patterns these shoes go with!

That's my vintage Dolce & Gabbana 90s wool slip dress, also Flashback-worthy when I unpack it at the end of September. This was in June 2019 - ooh, we must have been having "June-uary", one of our chilly Junes. I would normally not wear anything this sweaty-making in summer.

Pink and orange matchiness here in September 2019.

My orange "jello shot" necklace is a nicely matching accessory - I also wore it with the Etro dress above.

And that brings us back to May, when I wore the shoes with copper and this annoying shirt that is now in the giveaway pile. I'll be pinking up my hair like this again very soon.

Including today's outfit, I've worn these shoes 13 times, bringing them down to just over $13.00 per wear. They are still looking really good, so I can certainly see many more years of outfits with them! 

And now, I need to chill out. 

"Like this?"

Yes, exactly like that.