Mental Health Shop: Gone Red, Lucky Shoes-Day and a Peplum Splurge

My week is in disarray due to my biannual periodontal appointment on Thursday, so I did a Mental Health Shop today instead of my usual Mental Health Walk. I deserved a little pre-dental retail therapy!

I squeezed in a wearing of this dress when I bought it in late summer last year, but it's been packed away since then. 

• Dress - Heartbreaker, thrifted; first seen here (2nd outfit) in September 2020
• Shoes - Groovy Husymans, Fluevog; last worn here in February with pink limbs
• Coat (below) - Cache, consignment; last seen here (3rd outfit) in October 2020 for my birthday party in the park

While I love the colour and the overall vintage vibe of this dress, I'm not keeping it. 

I wore thin nylons, and a light coat, and had skirt bunching issues the entire time I was out. 

The zipper is also a factor - I can barely get it done up at the top. A two-person requirement for a dress is one person too many! It's in the giveaway pile. I can do better. I don't feel bad, as I only spent $11.95 on it - $6 bucks per wear is fine. 

Masked up. 

I was super-careful everywhere I went, and in most of the stores I was one of a few customers, if not the only one. COVID cases have been surging in Canada, and here on our little island, even though vaccinations are going quickly (I'll be able to register for mine tomorrow, woo!). 

Outerwear - I wore leopard accessories with this dress the first time I wore it. 

I love red and leopard together. 

We are supposedly experiencing very high (17 degrees) temps for this time of year, but it looked really windy, so I didn't fully trust that forecast.

"Excellent, we are going out on an adventure in the hallway."

Flashing the red lining. I forgot to take the picture of my mask and gloves, oops. 

• Mask - Lazy Susan's
• Gloves - Danier Leather

All ready to go! 

I was so glad I had my coat - it was SO windy! It completely counteracted any warmth from the sun. 

The stuff:

I had another pair of shoes picked out, but ended up with these comfy boots. 

Gold bling: 

Nothing to get in the way. 

• Belt - BCBG Max Azria, consignment
• Earrings - Biko, consignment
• Chain bracelet - thrifted
• Bee pin - gift from Megan Mae

I wore the bee right at the V of the dress' neckline. 

Vizzini was not happy to see me when I got home. 

"Oh, I hadn't noticed you were gone."

Lies! He was roaming around in the background while I was on my Zoom call with Mom, to our amusement. 

Shopping goodies! Happy Shoes-Day to me! I had to swing by the Hudson's Bay Company to pick up more of my MAC foundation, and had a little peek through their shoe department. I rarely buy shoes retail (aside from Fluevog), but the Bay's always had a great shoe selection.

I loved these leather snakeskin print sandals. 

These will be awesome with my summer clothes. 

That's a very walkable heel. They zip up the back to get them on/off, and the two buckles at the ankle are adjustable. 

They are by Lucky Brand, and the regular price is $135.00. 

No, I would never pay that for department store shoes. 

Marked down to $54.00? 

Better...but there was also an extra 20% off, and the lovely sales assistant noted that I had "Bay points" that I could cash in, so I said, "The shoes are Lucky Brand, so it's my lucky day! Let's do it!" and they ended up being $25.51. Awesome. 

From the Bay, I went over to local store Footloose, and check out their Last Pairs sections. 

I really liked the mod look of these white shoes. That's a really comfortable heel and these are really soft. 

They are leather with a snakeskin texture.

I do like a white shoe. I will probably wear these with trousers, I think. What would you wear with them?

They are by 5yMedio, the "Ramona" style, and were marked down over $200!

$325.00 to $89.00 is a great deal for a comfy all-leather shoe! 

I nearly missed a rack and had to go back and get these mustard suede and white leather lace-ups. 

That colour! 

I love that white sole! The piping and laces are actually leather. I'd better keep these away from Vizzini!

They're by Homers and were originally $308.00.

They were marked down to $154.50, so half off. Both of my shoes from Footloose were made in Spain.

Flush with my Shoe Victory, I walked up Fort Street, heading home. I hadn't planned on trying any clothes on, but I had to pop into the Velvet Crease for a quick look around. They had a ton of new stock, and I had a good browse. 

I had some other items that I was "this close" to buying, but I splurged on a Very Expensive Jacket, so put those iffy items back. I kept this dress, though, as I loved how it looked on. 

It needs a belt, but it's a gorgeous soft green, with silk-screened scribbly trees on it. It has pockets! I love the stand-up collar, and the slight cap sleeves. 

A close-up of the scribbly trees. 

Now, here's a detail you do not see every day: button-holes done horizontally. Most are vertical and lead to button-poppage, but horizontal buttons stay put and do not gape. I think these buttons might be made of coconut husk because...

It's made in Hawaii! Hilo, in fact, on the Big Island. I cannot read that brand name, but how many Hilo, Hawaii designers could there be? I discovered that this is by Sig Zane (see, it says "Sig"), link to his site here ('cause I love!). Sig and his wife Nalani Kanakaole started their business in 1985 - I'd guess by this style that it's from the mid-90s. I had a very similar style of dress in 1994 (long sheath, buttons up the front). 

My dress is called the Kalehuaokeola Lūhaupua dress (here, in a different fabric), and they note in the current dress' description that "more than a decade" has passed since they last made this. It's a soft tencel/linen blend and was $40.00 after the 20% discount. Not bad, considering it retails for $135 US/$169 Canadian. 

Okay, here's my splurge. It's a black leather motorcycle jacket...with a massive peplum! 

I put it on and just fell in love with it. It was $348.00 after the 20% discount, which is A Lot. 

Okay, the details. Two zippered pockets on the chest (which have good-sized pockets inside, a nice surprise), and one on the waist (also quite big). 

It's encrusted with gewgaws, like barnacles on a ship's hull.

The peplum section is a full circle, and it's covered with lace and studs. 

At first, I thought the lace was embroidered and the dots were sewn-on beads, but then I flipped it over. 

The "beads" are metal and go right through the leather (which is supple and well-tanned, but not too thin). The lace parts are sewn on by machine, and that is really finicky work. A lot of labour went into this.

More barnacles lace and studs.  

The sleeves - note the zippers, I love zippers. 

The back of the jacket has vents at the shoulders for extra movement. 

You can see the nice quality of the leather there. It's beautifully made in general.

Look at this bigass peplum! 

I am excited to wear this and to show it to y'all. 

Another illegible signature. 

It looks like BAEL? That's a crown below it. I see a couple of other leather coats identified as that brand online for $600 to $6,000. 

UPDATE: Much thanks to ReaderRita, who discovered that this is actually a Tijuana, Mexico brand called "Exclusivos BAEZ" (FB link here; website here). Wonderful! Thank you so much, Rita!

It's by EB Internacional, and EB stands for Exclusivos Baez! 

It was made in Tijuana, Mexico. 

Back to Vizzini, lurking while Mom and I caught up.

"You seem to like these bags, Woman."

I made it home just before our Zoom call, so Mom was the very first to see all my goodies "in person."

"Let's see how you like it when I...EAT THEM!"

I turned the camera so that Mom could watch him attacking the bags. 

"I'm going to make a ruckus!"

The white shoes came wrapped in tissue in their own shopping bag, and he was biting and grabbing and making lots of noise. 

"You better be looking at me, Woman!"

Look at that silly kitty. 

"This bag shall be mine!"

I'd better give him some tummy rubs. I hope your day has been filled with sunshine...Happy Shoes-Day!