Chocolate Corduroy Suit (and a Brown Boot Flashback), and Owl the Snakes

Today, I'm debuting this luscious chocolate brown corduroy suit.

I was thrilled to rediscover this June purchase a couple of weeks ago. I love a good suit! 

• Suit - B. Bennett for ASL, vintage 90s, thrifted; purchased here for $34.99
• Blouse - Girls from Savoy, thrifted; first worn here in February with two tones of brown
• Boots - Rockport, thrifted; last seen here in March with my Beene suit 
• Sleeveless coat (below) - Only, thrifted; last worn here in May over another coat

I wore the blazer undone like this for most of the day. 

I debated about whether I should do some textured or coloured tights with this look, but went with plain nylons instead. 

Isn't the suit amazing? It's the softest wide-wale corduroy ever. 

I'm a major Boss Lady when it's fully done up. 

Masked up - the pinecone/gold mask that Mom made. 

The blouse has a rounded scoop neck with a bow at the apex, which is why I chose it - I wanted something to show when I did the suit up! 

Without the jacket, which I took off a couple of times when I was hot-flashin'. 

On one of those occasions, I managed to leave my access card at my desk (it was looped around the arm of the jacket, d'oh!) when I attempted to use the bathroom, and locked myself out. 

I only had one other person on my floor, on the opposite side - he'd never hear me. I knocked on the window to the next floor...no answer. The only person there was on a conference call and didn't hear me. 

Tried the final floor - one person couldn't leave their video meeting, but one of my colleagues (Gary! so awesome!) opened the door then walked me upstairs and opened the door to my "office" (reception). I haven't forgotten my card in years! 

Outerwear - as the suit jacket is quite bulky, this was the perfect time to haul out my sleeveless coat. 

No buttons, just a tie front and a big shawl collar (and big pockets, yes!). It's a very useful coat - with no sleeves! 

• Wool gloves - Parkhurst

The stuff: 

I waggled my feet (very klassy, Sheila) at my Vancouver coworker Sasha on our biweekly video chat - she thought these boots were high until I pointed out the platform on the front. It's just over an inch heel - super comfy. 

Although I haven't had these boots long (not quite a year!), and they were packed away for spring/summer, we're still going to have a Flashback on them. Why not?

Snaky bling: 

This is almost every piece of snake jewelry I own.

• Bracelet - Whiting & Davis, vintage 80s, vintage fair
• Earrings/hair pin - Red Sky (local)
• Silver snake ring - BC Museum Gift Shop, 1985
• Amber ring - c. 1996

I also have a black glass snake pendant, a snake necklace like the coil bracelet above, and a silver snake brooch too. I am always on the lookout for nice snake jewelry.

In case you're wondering how I wore a hair clip on my blazer lapel, the secret is...

A safety pin! And lots of experimentation, until I found a position where the loose front snake part wouldn't flop around or fall off. 

Vizzini really wanted to get into my closet when I got home from work. 

"No, I don't, I'm just cleaning my paw, see?"

Such a liar! He kept going in there and licking my clothes.

He's been feeling the cold lately - the west coast of Canada is a temperate rainforest climate, with the emphasis on "rain", and we are right on the ocean here, so it's a very damp cold and it really seeps into your bones. It feels colder than a mid-west or prairie cold, honest! 

Anyway, I feel it in my knuckles and joints, and if I feel it, it's likely my little fuzzy-head feels it too. So I filled our hot water bottle with piping hot tap water, slipped it into a Fluevog shoe bag (minus the ties, removed for Cat Safety), and presented it to Vizzini in his favourite napping spot. 

"I don't know what this is, but I love it and hug it and call it George."

I could hear him purring! He has a very quiet purr - I usually have to actually feel his throat to see if his motor is going. 

"This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

He's sprawled right across it (see his little curled up paw?), getting all the heat. I might have to buy another one for L and I, as he's so taken with it! We'll never get to use it! 

Flashback: Rockport Basic Brown Boots

I bought these boots almost exactly a year ago (here) in October 2019 for $34.95 at the big Women In Need (WIN) store, back when I did massive trawls and try-ons. 

Although I have brown boots (a few pairs), I didn't have any in this nice chocolate brown, and I'd also been looking for a pair with a dressier heel vs. a chunky heel or wedge. I like different shades and styles - variety! - to go with different looks.

I don't often find shoes in thrift stores, so it was a nice surprise to find this wardrobe staple at such a good price! These would have been around $150.00 new.

I first wore them right away in October 2019 with one of my other new purchases from that weekend, this orange double-breasted blazer from Dots.

I let go of that skirt this year - I could barely walk in it (skirts need walking slits!). 

I wore the boots once nearly every month, only missing February. How did I survive without them? 

Here they are in November 2019. We just saw that sweater recently, and we'll see that leather ruffled skirt at some point. 

These boots were made for suits! This blazer is part of one of the oldest suits in my closet. I should wear it soon, just for the Flashback.

I love that leather skirt too! So many skirts, too little time! 

I might have to duplicate this outfit from January 2020 again in its entirety. 

The velvet blazer, the cuffs, the bizarre blanket skirt, the lion rampant belt! What's not to love?

And here's the last time I wore them, in March (the day the reality of a global pandemic hit!) with yet another suit. 

That was the first wearing of my Geoffrey Beene suit. Suit boots! 

Mathy stuff: So, how am I doing after only a year? Today was the 6th time wearing these boots, which brings them down to a respectable $5.83. It'll be fun to revisit them in another year and see how much better my cost-per-wear has gotten.