Lacroix Dress Flashback, Guest Star, and a Present Under the Tree

 Happy Friday! It's been a quiet couple of days here, with L and I mostly watching football (yesterday) and Netflix (recommendation: Derry Girls), and playing board games. 

I really needed to get groceries today, so I headed downtown only to find the police arresting someone outside the store for refusing to wear a mask and threatening the staff. Unfortunately (unrelated to the arrest), the store wasn't doing deliveries today, so I caught a cab home with my groceries after. 

• Dress - Desigual by Christian Lacroix, thrifted; last seen here for my birthday week in October 2019
• Boots - Matisse, consignment; last worn here in November
• Leather coat (below) - Danier Leather, consignment; last seen here (4th outfit) in February

I easily would have worn this dress before now - it's a regular work and/or weekend shopping dress - but with fewer days at work, and choosing to shop less, it's taken me a little longer to get around to it. 

Although it doesn't have any pockets, it's firmly in the "jammy dress" category. One and done! 

We'll have a Flashback on it shortly. How many different ways can you wear a dress like this? We shall see!

The dress is a Desigual piece and shockingly, the back of it is not solid black. 

That's a constant beef I have with that company (and any other designers who do that) - I hate when the back of a patterned garment is solid. We're seen on all sides! Carry that pattern around, please! 

Masked up - I went with this leopard one from Lazy Susan's. 

I was out for less than an hour. 

Outerwear. Oh, yes, I re-purpled my hair in the shower this morning (it'll fade - it's not permanent colour). 

My lovely thermal insulated leather coat gets its first outing. It was a good find last year.

I'm also wearing a new pair of olive green fleece-lined tights (I bought everything Dots had). 

By the time I got to town, I was already overheated, and unzipped the jacket and shoved my gloves in my purse. 

• Gloves - Parkhurst

The stuff: 

I took my boots off when I got home and switched to slippers, but I'm leaving the rest on all day/evening. Poor L usually is subjected to my much more casual "around the house" clothes when we hang out, so he deserves a nice outfit for a change. 

Weighty bling:

The belt is leather and chain mesh, with massive brass decorations over a sisal-type of material. It weight a ton. 

• Belt - Sand Castle, thrifted
• Amber ring - c. 1996
• Feather ring - Fossil, thrifted
• Earrings - thrifted

Before we get to the Flashback, I have a special guest star - Ally of Shybiker! 

We had a Zoom video visit today and chatted for over an hour! So great to see you again, honey! Let's do it again soon! 

Flashback: Christian Lacroix for Desigual Dress

I found this dress at the big WIN (Women in Need) store in January 2016, so it's nearly 5 years old in my closet.

I spotted the amazing pattern immediately in the slew of black dresses. What is this interesting creature? 

I adore the abstract floral/honeycomb design, most of which is just printed on the dress. However, it also has some nice embroidery detail on the front mid-chestal region section. 

Outlined yellow leaves and the red leaves directly below them are embroidered and beaded. The areas that are near them and look beaded actually aren't - they are just an optical illusion. You can also see the stripes of sparkly gold thread that run through the entire garment.

My original picture of the label and price tag are rather fuzzy, but I knew that face from previous research. Lacroix left haute couture in 2009 and has been collaborating with Desigual since 2011. 

At $24.00, this seemed a bit pricey at the time, but now feels  like a bargain. Funny how you get used to dresses being $9-10 in thrift stores and higher prices feel outrageous. I'm so out of touch with retail pricing, don't even get me started on the sticker-shock I have in actual stores! 

This dress is from 2013 or slightly before (I found this post here from Vancouver's Angel Boutique - hey, it's supposed to have a beaded belt! - link 'cause I love) and it likely would have been around $150-200+ new. 

I wore it right away in January 2016, pairing it with my lovely caramel boots. 

I nearly wore those yellow sparkly tights today! I still have them, and that tooled leather belt too. 

I think I'm wearing a gold belt here in March 2016, but "someone" is blocking the shot. 

"I'm more important than your belt, Woman. Also, your earrings look tasty." 

Ooh, I'm all Legs McGee there! Those shoes were Flashbacked here. 

I basically just pick out colours from the pattern for my tight/belt/shoes, as I did again here in April 2016. Same tights as above. Wow, my hair is short there! 

I can tell I'm going shopping because I'm not wearing a belt to cover the elastic waist. It's a great piece for shopping because it just pulls on over my head. Boots Flashback here. 

Same tights again in November 2016 - I have actually never worn this bare-legged as it just feels too short to expose my thighs in.

Hello, L! We are going out for brunch, and I'm totally going shopping after (no belt, walking shoes). I don't have those shoes anymore, but they were awesome for many years - I do remember I only paid $2.00 for them, and they were Italian-made leather. 

I really grooved on those rust-coloured tights for a long time (and I just checked: I still have them!). 

This is a work outfit (you can tell by the belt and my "profesh" hair) from November 2017. After my initial flurry of outfits in my first year, I relegated it to fall/winter only. Why? The tights thing and the more autumnal colour palette. 

Here's another work outfit in March 2018, and it's the first time I layered a jacket over it. 

"Who are we talking to again?"

I am wearing nylons there. The dark bottle green jacket was passed along to Caro. 

A rear view from October 2018. 

Nothing exciting to see - just brown tights and cowboy boots. I'm going shopping.

I tried a different colour of tights in December 2018 - the pattern has tons of colours in it, but I tend to default to rust, brown, and yellow. 

I don't think the wine colour quite works. Those boots got a Flashback here. 

That didn't stop me from wearing the same tights again in February 2019 for some Weight Watchers in-person training (I really don't miss that!). 

I added my matching leather obi and my dark red walking boots - L and I went for lunch after. 

And here's the last time I wore it, to work in October 2019 during my birthday week, when I wore all my most favourite things. 

The shoes are browny-burgundy, and again, I'm wearing nylons. 

Mathy stuff: Today's outfit marks the 11th time I've worn it, bringing me to $2.18 per wear. Excellent! And it still has oodles of potential. 

What would you wear with it? I'm intrigued by finding out it originally came with a beaded turquoise-patterned belt, but I'm not sure how blue or turquoise would go with it.

And now, I will leave you with this present I discovered under one of the trees yesterday. I hadn't even plugged the tree in yet (I do it once it gets dark out). 

"What? Where's the present? Is it for me?"

Vizzini has mostly been good about the lit trees so far, although he's experimentally tried chewing on the branches to see if he gets a reaction from me (no, but I've gently shoved him away, and have also distracted him with a brush). 

"Oh, I get it. I'M the present. What a rip-off."

I'm a little nervous - L and I will be unpacking all the ornaments Saturday after brunch, and there are some very tasty tempting things that I'm sure he will want to bite. Wish us luck! I'll have loads of pics from the final decorating surge for your bigass Sunday wrap-up, so please pop by later on this weekend to check it all out. 

Take care, my friends!