Hello, my friends, and welcome to a Tuesday non-work day! Our province has had huge increases in COVID infections this past week, so all eat-in dining establishments have been ordered to close for the next three weeks. Everything else is pretty much the same, but good thing we went to Pluto's when we did.
Today, I squeezed in another outfit with some fun Flashback-worthy elements for my weekly Zoom chat with Mom. We also unexpectedly got our art on during our call, so I'll share that with you. There might even be a few Vizzini pictures in there!
Here's the outfit, built around this black "garbage bag" skirt.
I also felt like I hadn't worn this sweater yet this season, and I couldn't resist incorporating these new lacy tights into my look. They are brighter than I thought they were!
- Net sweater - Nor; last seen here in December 2020 with red cashmere
- Sweater - Beechers Brook, thrifted; last worn here in December 2020 with shiny leopard
- Skirt - Kenzo, thrifted; last seen here (2nd outfit) in December 2019 for marathon shop with Cat and Yvonne
- Boots - Groovy Huysmans, Fluevog; last worn here in February with pink limbs
We'll be having a Flashback on the skirt AND the sweater in a bit. I love the open knit of the grey sweater - I'm actually wearing another sweater under it, but it's hard to tell from pictures (it's much more obvious in person).
This skirt is VERY short, so I tend to wear it in the cold months when I can layer up some tights and a snug half-slip to ameliorate that situation.
It's nearly a full circle skirt, although it's sewn unusually to pouf out.
It has pockets! Oooh! Ahhh!
I often wear tall boots with it, as that's a lot of leg!
Here's my bright cobalt blue sweater which is tucked into the tiny waist of the skirt.
I'm a beautiful ballerina! Am I full of myself if I love my little waist? I think I might have been one of those "do it up tighter!" corsetry women if I'd lived 100 years ago.
The stuff:
These boots have been one of my best shoe purchases of the year - I've already worn them six times since I got them in July.
Blue and silver bling:
To match my blue legs and sweater!
- Belt - gift from Ruth
- Brutalist cuff - Robert Larin, vintage 70s, gift from L, antique mall
- Grapevine silver cuff - Karen's
- Necklace - Britain, vintage, furniture store
- Venetian glass/silver earrings - local
- Lapis lazuli ring/Fulvia Ring - Wendy Brandes
Flashback #1: Kenzo "Garbage Bag" Skirt
Yet another amazing designer score from Flavour Upstairs - I found this real Kenzo skirt for $19.99
here in January 2017. It's called the Monster Foiled Skirt (seriously, that's the Kenzo name for it) and it originally retailed for $950.00. You did not read that wrong.
My skirt is an early version, probably from the '00s - it's a design they've resurrected at some point in bronze metallic fairly recently (there's one on Lyst for $752).
Mine is made in Italy, and the newer ones are made in Portugal.
Look at that.
$20 for a designer skirt!
Part of the reason why it is so expensive at retail: this is a custom textile.
Those puffy parts are actually foamy/squishy - they have dimension in addition to the material that's been sprayed onto the main fabric.
This is the backing fabric.
Or is the puffiness part of this knit? I don't want to cut open to find out, but this kind of detail (vs. say, a print) is one of those things that distinguishes designer from mass-produced clothes.
I debuted the skirt for the Gala Opening of the Victoria Film Festival in February 2017. The theme was floral, which you might have guessed from all the flowers on me.
"You're going out in public in that?"
I layered my mint green crinoline under it for Maximum Pouffage, and yes, I'm wearing socks - they say, "I'm a Delicate Fucking Flower" (this is something I say in person in my Cranky Old Lady voice - Greetje will attest to this).
Bonus shot of both L and I. Don't we look fine? Such a fun night.
My dearly departed orange shoes are Flashbacked
here.
This is the next day, that same weekend in February 2017.
I went shopping in this.
This is the only time I've ever worn it to work (it was a half-day on a Friday).
This was in March 2018. We'll be seeing the Gookey jacket again soon - hooray!
Due to the aforementioned shortness, I tend to wear the skirt once a year, on weekends for shopping, as I did here in September 2018.
This is a spectacular look - I love the whole thing. Jacket Flashback
here and boots Flashback
here.
This was the day after the February 2019 Victoria Film Festival Gala - I wore this out for brunch with L.
Tight jacket + OTK boots = winning formula with a pouf-tastic skirt. Boot Flashback
here.
And here's the last time I wore it, bundled up for a marathon Dots shop and lunch with Cat and Yvonne.
We're in for some Leather Weather this week, so I might have to break out that yellow jacket again soon.
Mathy stuff: Today's outfit is the 7th time I've worn this skirt, brining us to a highly-excellent $2.86 per wear. Not bad for a once-a-year skirt.
Flashback #2: Nor "Net" Sweater
I bought this at My Sister's Closet back
here in June 2018 for $19.98 - I recognized it as a Dots brand (they sell a lot of European lines).
It's a cotton knit, and reminds me of fishermen's nets.
It requires a top worn underneath it as it's a very open knit.
I have accomplished that layering in various ways.
I saved it till colder weather for my first wearing, which was to Mom's house for a Thanksgiving/birthday family gathering in October 2018.
I layered it over my "Buffy" leather dress (Flashback
here), and rolled with the greyish theme with my woolly boots (Flashback
here).
A long-sleeved thin black sweater is the layering piece here in December 2018.
Great skirt (Flashback
here), and those are frequently-worn shoes (Flashback
here).
I kept it out for the summer, and wore it as my August 2019 rainy day cover over a light dress.
I still have those blue flats, I think.
This was a casual weekend brunch outfit in January 2020, with the sweater over my sparkly black turtleneck.
Those are silver pants, hence the glare. I didn't get to my Luke/Yoda shoes this season. Aw.
This was a "fantasy" outfit in March 2020, very early into lockdown when I needed to Dress Up for my mental health.
I have that sparkly tee lined up to wear tomorrow, funnily enough. I should wear those shorts soon too, as they haven't made it into an outfit since this one.
Here's the last time I wore the sweater, with my cashmere knit skirt in December 2020.
Same sparkly black top underneath, and I repeated this All Saints necklace from two years before.
Mathy stuff: How bizarre, this sweater has also been worn 7 times now! That brings it to $2.54 cents per wear. Fabulous.
Mom and I had our Zoom chat today as usual. Midway through, while Vizzini was on my lap (Cat Cam View so Mom can see him), Mom started working on her challenge for her art group, doing a "negative space" painting in acrylics.
She started with smudging a couple of colours together for the yellow/green/orange background.
She blended a blue/copper as the background and started making incursions into the already-painted yellow/orange/green section. "It's going to be flowers!" Mom announced.
The green border is painter's tape - you peel it off when you're done and you have a perfect square. Genius!
Then she went back in with some other colours, and daubed in details. Seriously, she did this in less than 25 minutes.
She'd accidentally bought a set of metallic acrylic paints, so those white "lines" are actually the metallic reflecting light.
Better lighting - and the finished piece.
That is amazing! Brava, Mom!
Of course, sitting and watching someone else paint off-screen is boring as heck, so I dashed out to my art stool storage on the deck and fetched my watercolour pencils, sketchbook and some Zentangle pens.
Mom picked purple me to start with so I added pink to that, and green for contrast. I scribbled on the colour, then used a dampened brush to make it all cloudy. I also dried it with my hair-dryer so that my pens wouldn't rip the paper.
Then, I drew on some swirly lines and started adding bumps and colouring them in.
This is how far I got while Mom finished an entire painting. What a show off! Ha ha! I plan to work on this some more this afternoon (maybe on the deck if it's warm enough??).
Edited to add my final results: I was inspired by all the cherry blossoms out right now to do an abstract version of them using some Zentangle motifs.
I thought I was done here, but didn't like how the bottom felt like a jumble, so I added some shading to create more dimension.
Better.
Anyway, that took me a little over 2 hours, and my hand cramped up, but it felt wonderful to do some art again. Thanks for the inspiration, Mom!
Vizzini was out there, scoping his favourite spots and becoming reacquainted with his expanded living territory.
"I've secured this side."
I sat in the sun, and he came right over.
"I don't know how you made it warm, but I am full of love for you."
He's been shedding like mad, so more brushing is on the menu.
"I could sit here forever."
Me too, bud!
Wishing everyone out there a bit of sunshine!
Spring days are nearly here!
I added my new dark red tights but they didn't match as well in pictures as they did in person. 
I'm putting the Balmain in the giveaway. It's not working and it isn't great on me and I'm not feeling it. Buh-bye! 
I had to rewash it after taking the second round of pics. 
I love this coat. 
Just the right weight for our low 2-digit temps. 
I didn't really feel the gloves either - they bagged out as I wore them, so they're also going in the giveaway. Sorry, Betsey!
I'm still in love with my silver boots - they're a little high, but comfy. 
Where is the other earring? I have no idea! I lost it somewhere between home and work this morning. I'm hoping Vizzini finds it (he's good at discovering my lost jewelry). 
