Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Velvet and Leather Skirt Flashback; a Wee Shop; Bubbled Zoom; Steamed Scribbles

Hello, my friends! I hope you've all had a joyful weekend - I have a lot to goodies to share with you, so grab a cup of whatever your libation, and let's dive in, shall we? 

First up, we have my brunch and shopping outfit - a few goodies may have come home with me! We'll be having a Flashback on my skirt too. I wore the same outfit over to Chris and Ali's place where L and I hung out with them (and Nick) on their spacious patio, enjoying their new "fire table" (a table with a little built-in gas-powered heating section with rocks and flames - very cozy!). 

Following that, we joined our Happy Hour Zoom call - even though we can all gather, we're being cautious and careful with how quickly we expand our contacts. And today, I also gave one of my new-to-me garments a transformative steam. 

Here we go - the brunch and shopping ensemble. 

I built the outfit around this sweet little ruffled-hem leather skirt, and we'll be taking a look at all the ways I've worn it shortly. 

• Velvet bomber jacket - Zara, consignment; last worn here for my birthday in October 2020
• Sweater - Zara, hand-me-over from Rae; last seen here in January with bronze and a Flamenco skirt
• Leather skirt - Kay Unger, thrifted; last worn here in November 2019 with floral cashmere
• Shoes - Mini QTee, Fluevog, consignment; last seen here in January with Etro

It verged into warmth and bright skies on Saturday, with temps up to 12 degrees. I probably should have worn a "real" coat, but screw it! I'm ready for spring. 

Getting in another wearing of all of the pieces that are NOT the leather skirt. I'll be packing away all of it for spring/summer. 

I love the jungle print of the bomber. 

Without the jacket, although I didn't take it off the entire time I wore this outfit. 

I have a camisole under it for extra warmth. 

I love mustard - it's such a versatile shade of yellow. 

Geared up - silly me, I left my mask at Chris and Ali's! 

It felt decadent to change up my purse! 

I forgot to do an outerwear stuff picture - I had everything lined up, just didn't take the picture! 

• Mask - by Mom
• Scarf - Pierre Cardin, vintage 70s, thrifted
• Purse - Ted Lapidus, vintage 90s, vintage fair
• Gloves - Parkhurst

I'm ready to shop! 

I popped into MONA and the Velvet Crease, then walked home. 

The stuff: 

Good walking shoes! Of course, if I wear buckled shoes, I'll have to undo it to try on a pair of shoes. It's like a Shopping Law. I didn't buy the shoes I tried on either! 

• Necklace - Plum
• Spinner ring - Twang & Pearl
• Brutalist ring - vintage 70s, vintage mall
• Ear-balls - Dior, consignment

Here's what I bought - I found this cute slip dress at MONA for $40.00

It's a polyester weave, very thick, with two side slits

Back view - I like the dark teal colour. 

"I approve of this, especially those tasty-looking beads on the back."

The spaghetti straps have dangly pieces down the back that are finished with a pearl bead with a gold seed-bead. 

A nice detail. 

It's by Sam Edelman - I did not know they made clothes! I thought only shoes - huh. 

This originally retailed for $119.00, so I guess $40 is not so bad! I'll likely go full 90s and wear thin tops under this. It's going into the spring/summer pile as I have a fall/winter teal dress already (which I'll be wearing soon!).

From there, I popped in next door to the Velvet Crease - they have an entire rack of $15.00 dresses right now, plus 50% off some winter stock and 20% off everything else. 

This black top caught my eye. I can't resist a zig-zag fringe! 

The fringe is that hairy kind that is very swishy. There is a lot of movement in this. 

It's on a mesh background, so it's not too warm.

It's by H&M and was $30.00. 

I spotted this crushed and wrinkled mess of a dress and knew immediately who it was by. 

It's a classic early 00s/late 90 tank dress. It was $50.00, but this would have been over $200 new, easy. 

Made of 100% silk - that's the lining as well as the outer shell of the dress, and the cording that forms the design of the dress. 

Of course, it is by Tangerine Jill! I love the colours in this: teal, light grey/blue, cream, pale pink, hot pink, and burgundy. It really was a mess - I think someone washed it, saw how wrinkled it came out and then couldn't be bothered to spend the time pressing it. 

This skirt called to me. 

Lime green sheer pleats? The outer layer is actually a fine mesh. 

Um, yes, gimme gimme! 

It's by DKNY, and it's a size 2. I can barely do it up (but I can!) so it's a generous size 2. 

Even so, I will be covering up the faux leather waist when I wear it to disguise the not-quite-done-up waist and side zip. I think this is probably from the early 00s - it was $40.00, which seemed high, considering it's just polyester. But that colour! 

Flashback: Kay Unger Ruffled Leather Skirt

Back in the day (and hopefully onward into the future), I used to take people thrift/second-hand shopping: friends, coworkers, coworkers' children, bloggers, blog-readers too! This beautiful brown leather skirt was spotted on a rare trip to Value Village in downtown Victoria, while shopping for my coworker Simona's daughter Sam here in July 2015. 

I find Value Village too overwhelming generally - there is so much crap and most of it is overpriced. I also don't like the crowds - it's a claustrophobic kind of place for me. However, I do take people there when they want to do a big haul or fill up a lot of wardrobe gaps. Quantity, the "VV Boutique" has! 

As I was running my hands along the skirt racks, feeling for gold, my Shopping Spidey-Sense detected real leather. 

I was shocked at the $7.99 price tag - I think the pricers thought this was fake leather. It is butter soft.

It's by Kay Unger New York, a brand that inclines towards Special Occasion dresses and separates (eg. parties, proms, bridal, etc.), but she's been around a while as a member of the CFDA (link here, 'cause I love) and as a designer for over 40 years (about her here) - she started out as an assistant to Geoffrey Beene! This specific line was started in 1992, but this skirt's style inclines me to think it's early 00s or late 90s. It definitely retailed for more than $7.99 - maybe $79!

The leather is actually metallic brown - the ruffle at the bottom is a sweet, feminine detail. 

This was an upgrade of an earlier brown pencil skirt, and I wore it right away, in July 2015, one of only two summer wearings of it. 

Vizzini is being very helpful. I no longer have that mustard blazer, but I do still have those pony-hair leopard shoes (they're in my Archives). This outfit needed more pizzazz! 

Like this outfit, from October 2015 - I felt utterly badass in this. I wore it to the theatre with Elaine and then out after with our friends. 

I still have that corset-y thing (it's vintage Betsy Johnson), and we saw the boots in Flashback here. 

I wore the skirt with the leopard pumps again the following July 2016. 

Legs McGee! I still have that necklace. Belt Flashback here. 

This will not be the only appearance of these funky gold and wine tights. This outfit is from November 2016. 

I loved that dark purple velvet jacket so much, but I could only wear it done up (it looked weird undone), and the colour never showed right. I passed it along to Yvonne a few years ago. Those Fluevogs were also moved along a few years back - I just can't wear heels that high anymore. 

A leather-centric outfit from November 2017. The top is faux leather and started to come apart. 

The scarf is Balmain (classy!). Boots Flashback here. 

There are those tights again, as well as the same boots as above, this time in October 2018.

I let go of that velvet blazer - this was in my Velvet Phase, which was closely followed by my Velvet Rage Phase.

Showing off a fun vintage top here in November 2018.

Those shoes have yet to be worn this season - uh oh! 

This funk look is from January 2019.

The boots were too twee-80s for me, and the brocade top was too boxy. Both have gone to new homes. 

And here's the last time I wore this skirt, with my floral cashmere sweater in November 2019.

Boots Flashback here. 

Mathy stuff: It's a good one, since I paid so little for this skirt. This is the 10th time I've worn it, so we're at 80 cents per wear. Awesome! 

We hung out at Chris and Ali's for a few hours in the afternoon, then came home and ate leftover Thai food for dinner, before joining our full group of friends for our Saturday Zoom Call. I love seeing my friends weekly!

Although I didn't model my outfit this time, I still got fully dressed. I wanted to sneak in a wearing of this new-to-me ruffled bubble-hem dress. 

• Turtleneck - M&S, thrifted; last worn here in February under a vintage dress
• Dress - Samuel Dong, thrifted; purchased here for $16.95
• Boots - Prepare Volunteer, Fluevog; last seen here in December 2020 with a pop of red cashmere

The dress is a little big on me, plus I wanted to stay warm (I was chilled after sitting outside, even though I had a blanket). 

Layer a sweater under it! Easy! 

I love a bubble hem - they are so funny. 

The dress is maybe a little precious for me (ruffles, bows!) but it does have one major thing in its favour. 

POCKETS! Gotta love nice big pockets. 

The stuff: 

I clomped around in these for about an hour and a half, to L's joy (he hates them - "oh yay," he said). 

Sparkly bling: 

I love this vintage necklace - here I am wearing it for the first time in October 2011 (10 years ago!). It was a gift from Allison (a different person than Ali) for my birthday that year. 

• Necklace - Allain, vintage 50s, gift from Allison
• Cuff - Swarovski, consignment, gift from L
• Earrings - Swarovski, consignment
• Silver/crystal ring - Soul Flower
• Square crystal ring - Uffizi Gallery gift shop, Florence, Italy

Today, I attacked the massive amounts of wrinkles on my silk Tangerine Jill dress. I cannot recommend a full stand-up steamer enough to my fellow bloggers/readers - no kickback or anything! I just use mine every single day - it's been one of my best wardrobe-related investments ever. I no longer have to deal with an iron or ironing board, ever! 

My steamer is the Rowenta Master Valet, and the features that I love the most are:

• It heats to full steam in about 30 seconds, and you turn it on with your foot. 
• It has a pull-down screen for giving garments a good press - I need that resist that the screen gives to make things really smooth. I would not buy this without the screen.
• It has pant-clips - the shoulders are made to fit men's clothing, so they are too big for many of my blazers and blouses/shirts. I use the pant-clips for nearly everything. 
• It turns itself off when it runs out of water (this is good for my speck-like attention span)
• It takes up as much room as a standing person. 
• It disinfects and kills any germs that might be on second-hand clothing - nice if your brain likes to think about those things or you get ooked by wearing someone else's clothes. 

I paid $169.99 for this (on sale) and it has been worth every penny. 

So! With a really wrinkled garment, I'll turn it inside out first and smooth out the lining. 

This makes a huge difference, both against your skin, and how the garment lies. 

With this dress, because the outer layer also has a flat backing under all those loops of silk, I pulled up the lining and steamed the back-side of it flat. 

This involved much pulling and gentle tugging (and one nasty hot blister on my finger - the steam can burn, even through multiple layers of fabric!).

From there, I turned the dress back right-side-out and gently steamed all the loops back into place. 

It allowed me to really appreciate the amount of work that went into this. Like my Post-It dress (here) and my Stained Glass dress (here), all of the silk details are put onto the fully-made garment at the end. 

This isn't a fabric with loops on it - those loops were added by hand after this dress was made. 

It looks so much better now! I'll have to sneak in a winterized version of this soon! 

Vizzini, how has your weekend been? 

"Fine until now, Woman."

I guess he didn't appreciate the flash while he was napping in L's tie-box under the bed! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! I so appreciate you reading, commenting and taking the time just to visit my corner of the Blogoverse!