Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Fall-ified Summer Clothes, Plus Tod's Flashback

My closet swap-over usually happens at the end of September, but I'm going to delay it till the long weekend in early October - it's a bit of a large project, and takes a full day...then, of course, I have to blog about it. 

And while I impatiently wait to get at my fall clothes - I am pining for autumn colours! - I'm "fall-ifying" some of my summer things.

  • Kimono - no label, consignment; last worn here (3rd outfit) in August when I played badminton in it
  • Sweater - Zara, gift from Rae; acquired here in August for free!
  • Linen skirt - Andrea Jovine, thrifted; last seen here in July with leopard for lunch with Betty
  • Shoes - Tod's, thrifted; last worn here with my first "at home" outfit of lockdown in March
  • Leather trenchcoat - vintage 70s, thrifted; last seen here in March

Colours, layers and dark tights all work to fall-ify these items. 
This is the first wearing of this new-to-me mustard sweater - it's a nice fine knit (I have a cami under it), and this is a colour I love having in my closet. 

I'm always happy when I have something to go with this kimono, as the matchy colours are a bit tricky. It's not like you can throw on blue or pink with it! 
I will be packing away this brown wrap-style linen skirt because...it's linen! Way too cold for our damp west coast fall/winter. 

I typically also pack away this beaded silk devore (de-vor-AY! link here 'cause I love and didn't know this term until one of you dear readers used it) kimono too, along with the Darth Sheila duster. 
Mostly because they don't work well under coats, and then today it occurred to me...

Uh, duh, Sheila, you can always carry it to work and put it on again there! Gee, I'm so smart. That's what I did! 
The outfit without the kimono, which was removed whenever I went to the bathroom. I didn't want to risk ripping the beads off it or plunging it into the toilet. That's no fun. 

Masked up in my new leopard mask. 
Fall colour masks needed (my mom is reading - hi, Mom! hint, hint). Heh. 

I built this whole outfit around my new-to-me vintage scarf. 
See? It goes so well with my vintage leather 1970s trenchcoat, doesn't it? 

Too bad you can't see it at all! 
Maybe I need to wrap it around my head? I'll have to experiment more. 

  • Silk scarf - vintage 70s, Pierre Cardin, thrifted here for $6.95

The stuff: 
I haven't worn these clompin' sandals for a while - we'll have a wee Flashback on them shortly. They have a platform, and are still quite high but I didn't walk around too much today. 

Yellow bling: 
Saying farewell as I will pack my yellow stuff up for the fall (I do an accessory swap-over too!), and am showing some of my POLY collection. 

  • Cuff - thrifted
  • Bakelite earrings - vintage 60s, vintage fair
  • Necklace - POLY, thrifted
  • Ring - POLY, vintage fair
  • Bracelet - POLY, thrifted
  • Wood ring - Dots

I looped the necklace around my neck twice to make it shorter. 


Flashback! Tod's Platform Sandals

I spotted these lovely sandals here in July 2015 at the Women In Need Boutique, where they were marked at $29.50 with "Replica" noted on the sticker. After much digging around online, I discovered that they are, in fact, authentic Tod's. Unfortunately, the links that I had included back in 2015 to prove it aren't working anymore, but at the time I was able to glean that they are from the Spring/Summer 2012 collection. 

When I do my online research, especially on a much-imitated brand, I search "how to tell if [X items] are fake" and then I start really examining the item. Everything I found about Tod's shoes indicated that they were real, from the nubby rubber soles, to the shape and style of the leather-wrapped heel (very characteristic of the 2012 collections), to the high-quality leather (everything but the soles are leather), to the stamped logo with the "Made in Italy" mark, to the lack of a "Tod's" stamp on the buckles...all signs pointed to authentic designer! 

Tod's are sold in Canada at Holt Renfrew - similar heeled shoes run between $850 to over $1,000 CAD, making these one of my thriftiest designer finds. Even on designer resale sites, these would go for well over $400. 

I wore them right away, in July 2015 with my Isola Marras dress - showing the back here so that you can see the heels. 

Woo, those are high! The front has a hidden platform up into the tan part, making these about a 3.5" heel, which is my limit these days. They are good for when I don't need to do much walking. 

I wore them again in August 2015. 
I think all I have left from this outfit is my copper jewelry. 

I wore them on my birthday in October 2015, with a suit that once belonged to Kim Cattrall. 
Yes, THAT Kim Cattrall! Yvonne is the current owner of this suit, as she is a bit taller than me, and it looks better on her. 

I like this boxy top and gold mini in February 2016.
I love the wine-purple tights with this look. I still have that skirt. 

I wore them with my Christian Lacroix mini-dress, and my best black and white accessory, Vizzini, in March 2016.
"I'm glad to be included."


I started feeling more comfortable with wearing sandals and tights around this time. Remember when that was "forbidden"??

I'm here to break rules, baby. 
I wore this awesome dress to Urbanite at the Victoria Art Gallery, also in March 2016. 

I like this classy outfit featuring one of my least-favourite colours: mint green. I can usually be persuaded to try almost any colour, though. 
As I did here in August 2016. 

This was my last wearing of my vintage bright green culottes - some of you long-time readers will remember my fondness for these! 
This was in September 2016. No regrets - they were rather shapeless, although super-comfortable. 

The two-tone tan suede and chocolate brown leather are a natural match for leopard - here in March 2017.
Repeating my top seen above, with a faux leather skirt that I bought on holiday in Florence, Italy (I passed it along - I dislike fake leather). It fooled me! I thought it was leather when I bought it. 

Same necklace here in December 2017.
My dragonscale skirt! I'm excited to see that again. Today's sweater will go well with it, as that brown sweater got eaten by moths.

With my fluffy top (now gone) and my wallpaper pants in February 2018. 
Such a fun look. 

You know I'm fond of the equestrian vibe, and I'm rockin' it in March 2018. 
That's another one of those perfectly symmetrical silk shirts - I saw it, noted the even pattern, and yes, I bought it. 

I gave away this snake-beaded shirt this year to Vero - it was too hard to get over my head, and I was afraid to rip it. They put so much thought into the wonderful colour and beading, but no thought at all into how easy it would be to get on/off. A big zip up the side would have been aces. 
This is from November 2018. I love the green matchy legs with the shoes, and they remind me that I have a new-to-me green blouse in my fall/winter stuff. Exeellent.

A mix of olives and other neutrals in March 2019. 
Although I love bright colours, I also like to go all-neutral sometimes. That jacket is a favourite.

This was my last outfit of 2019's spring/summer wardrobe, worn in September 2019. 
That skirt is now gone. I am fond of that cabbage rose print, though. 

And here is the last time I wore these shoes, in March 2020, on my first day home after the lockdown orders. 
March seems so long ago! This was the first of my self-care "dress up at home" looks (still doing them!) that have been a balm to my mental health over the past few months. 


Mathy stuff: From the original cost of $29.50, I've now worn these shoes 17 times. I'm at $1.74 per wear, which is ridiculously good. They have lots of wear still in them, so I'm looking forward to getting that cost-per-wear down even further. 

28 comments:

  1. having trouble with the dang commenting today so try again. I love how you can wear any colour love you in fall colours ( I can't wear mustard or yellow). I get so many ideas from your flashbacks. I loved yesterdays outfit too and funnily enough just bought a "chicken" top off ebay. So glad you got to enjoy some down time by the castle with clear skies. Amazing posts as always. Shazxx

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    1. Shoot, sorry, Shaz - it's not me, it's Blogger.

      I do wear any colour that I love, and I'm so glad you get inspiration from me! Hooray for chicken tops! Thank you, my dear!

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  2. Your scarf is gorgeous, I suggest you experiment with the actual folding, so you can showcase certain colours within it of your choice. Love the dragon-scale skirt too, it has a similar vibe. Lise

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    1. Yes, you're right, Lise - I'm being lazy about this scarf! I'll do better next time. :)

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  3. Morning Sheila!
    There are so many of your outfits that resonate with me, from this post and others. Sometimes it’s the colors or the shapes or the proportions or the overall look...I am intrigued at how this can be and wonder if the brain processes outfit photos the same way it processes art?
    I absolutely LOVE the last outfit with these shoes, the March self-care dress up outfit. Smashing dress with the colors and metallics, and fabulous overall outfit that complements you!
    Yesterday I dressed in a favorite dress complete with jewelry and accessories to go out for an outdoor tea with Fred and my Aunt. I was reminded how darn good it feels to dress nicely for myself. Made a promise to dress accordingly once a week. Thank you for the impetus!

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    1. Morning, Laurie! I do think that outfit photos count as art - after all, art is meant to evoke emotion, and so if you feel joy or happiness when you see them, then it's art.

      Thank you - I loved that too (such a great dress). It really helped me deal with some of the early trauma of the lockdown.

      WOW! Good for you! Doesn't it feel amazing? Dressing up once a week sounds like an excellent goal for self-care!

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  4. The fluffy top has gone? Whoa I missed that update. As ever Shelia you look fab in all of these. But I have no idea how you walk in a heel that is "only" 3 1/2 inches, :(

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    1. Yeah, it started to yellow, and was getting rather ragged. I miss it, but not really. It had its time.

      Thank you, Lynette! Ha ha, I am good at heels - many years of practice! Trust the heel, walk with confidence.

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  5. Sheila you look great in this combo. You found the perfect top to complement this wonderful kimono and the wrap skirt is fabulous. The platform heels are the perfect finishing touch.
    It was great seeing the other outfits with these fab heels. I loved the one with the Asian style dress- such a vamp look.

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    1. Thank you, Ivana! I love that dressy look too - that dress is one of my vintage treasures, for sure.

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  6. I like the expression fall-ifying. I tend to do that with a lot of items that I wear year round. Tights and sweaters, and layers.

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    1. I like succinct words and "fall-ifying" just seemed perfect for the process of making spring/summer clothes work into the fall. Thank you, SAM!

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  7. Great seasonal colors. And a while ago (I don't know when) you started supplementing your posts with photos of old outfits; just want to say I enjoy the added pictures. Your history of gorgeous outfits deserves to be seen again and again.

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    1. Thanks, Ally! I started doing it a few months ago, and I really liked looking at them. Many of my readers - like you! - have responded well, and enjoy looking back at my archives. It's been fun! There's at tab under my header where you can visit all of the links for the items that have been "flashbacked".

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  8. That scarf looks so perfect with that gorgeous trench coat! What a beautiful warm colors. Have a great Friday! Almost weekend!

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    1. I do need to show it off more, though, but thank you, Nancy! Happy Friday! Woo!

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  9. As always this time of year, I am pining for Autumn colours too. I think mustard is a fine colour any time of year, but especially so when the leaves are starting to turn. I'm loving that jumper so much that I'm putting something similar on my never-ending mental (in both sense of the words!) shopping list. It goes perfectly with that amazing kimono too. And oh wow, that scarf with the leather trench! Utter perfection! And of course, tights with sandals are a great look. I truly enjoyed the flashback on those sandals. So many fabulous looks! xxx

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    1. Yup, I'm ready for them, Ann! I'm thrilled to have received this mustard sweater as a gift - one had been on my mental list for ages! Glad you enjoyed the Flashback! Happy weekend, my dear friend!

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  10. I love the mustard knit with that kimono! I've really been enjoying adding more mustard tones to my wardrobe recently, and I've been wearing it pretty frequently too. Makes me smile! :)

    It's great you have gotten so much wear from those shoes too and what a nice shop to have tried to authenticate the shoes (even if they were wrong). I see a real mix in stores here - fake items being locked in display cases with crazy high prices as they are "labels" or authentic pieces stuffed in the $2 rummage bin because the brand isn't as well known. Got myself an authentic $2 Balenciaga clutch that way. Have also bought a few replica accessories I've not been as lucky with and had to return though, haha! I was most upset about the $20 one that turned out to be fake - it was real leather so I thought it might be real and a style I always wanted, but realised when it literally fell apart the first time I tried to wear it that I shouldn't have paid for the authentication service as it definitely wasn't real!

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    1. Thanks, Mica! I knew you would like the kimono outfit! :-P Mustard is a great shade of yellow, isn't it?

      Yeah, they tried, and I can understand why they thought they were replicas - there was nothing online that even looked like these. I have bought things that I knew were fake (my "Gookey"/Gucci and my Lewis/Louis Vuitton scarf), but I've been fooled by a few things in my time. What a score on the Balenciaga clutch! I see so many Coach purses here - I'd rather have something better made by a smaller label. I didn't even know you could PAY for authentication!

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  11. Great tips on fall-ifying some outfits and also on wearing a kimono at work (they're totally impossible to wear under a coat!) and removing it when going to the bathroom!. Great advice for clumpsy ladies like me, ;DDDD
    Love the color combo and love your leather coat and fab new scarf!. So elegant!
    Fab flashback on these really high shoes, I love there are lots of interesting textures and shapes in these outfits, you rock earthy and neutral colors too!
    besos

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    1. You're so welcome, Monica! I know, right? I can't believe I didn't consider carrying my kimono to work! Ha!

      I love that scarf, but need to figure out how to show it better.

      Thanks! They are such fun shoes.

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  12. Those sandals are an incredible find, and you've certainly got your money's worth and more to come. I really like the rich autumn colours in your first outfit - the gold and brown shades look beautiful with your hair.

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    1. I really did well on them - and they thrill me whenever I look at them. Thank you so much!

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  13. Fall-ify is my favourite new word - especially since it's something I do both in my wardrobe and throughout other areas of my life through all year long.

    What a gorgeous autumn colour palette you created. It calls to mind everything from stunning autumn sunshine to fields of ripe corn and wheat. Truly, truly lovely.

    Autumn Zenith 🎃 Witchcrafted Life

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    1. Feel free to use it! Thanks very much - I really love fall colours (you can probably tell by my blog palette!).

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