Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Lounging in Red Leopard; Brunch, Vintage Shopping and Chillin' at Canoe; Cat Pics

Welcome back, my friends! What a wonderful weekend we've had! We spent Friday evening hanging out at Chris and Ali's and enjoying their outside patio. We were up bright and early on Saturday to meet up with Chris/Ali and Spence and Kim (over from Vancouver for the weekend for the first time in years!) for brunch, followed by some vintage shopping and record/CD shopping, with our final stop at Canoe Club to meet up with the whole gang of our pals. Such an awesome treat to be able to all meet up! 

So let's get 'er started, shall we? After my half-day at work on Friday, I rested up at home and then got changed for our evening at Chris and Alison's. 

Although their back patio gets loads of afternoon sun, I knew it would cool off drastically by evening, so I wore layers. 

• Jacket/pants - Smashed Lemon; jacket last seen here (2nd outfit) in April, pants last seen here (2nd outfit) in May for Karen's birthday memorial, full suit last seen here in December 2020 for a trip to the periodontist
• Long vest - Religion, consignment; last worn here in April with stripes and purple
• T-shirt - Frank Turner, "Be More Kind" World Tour, 2018, not tracked
• Shoes - 5YMedio; last seen here with Sailor Pants Worn 5 Ways in June

I wanted to continue my subtle Canada Day weekend colours of red and white - this denim leopard suit was an easy pick! 

My Frank Turner tour shirt from four years ago (I sleep in it these days). 

Vizzini photo-bombed nearly all of these pictures; he can always tell when I'm getting ready to go out. Note that he's sitting beside my bag of snacks that I took with me. 

"You're leaving me again?"

I added my long rock and roll vest for extra pockets and warmth (and badassery!). 

"I'll trip you and you will not be able to leave!"

His ploy did not work. 

"I'll bite your snacks!"

I layered the jacket over the vest, popping out the lapels and collar to show the metal tube detail on the vest. 

"I'm a seething ball of fury!"

I liked how the hem of the vest hung down below the jacket - it looked like they were meant to be worn together! 

"I'm going to go sulk." 

We got home around midnight - Vizzini was quite grumpy and yowled at us. He's not used to us being social again.

"I might even puke up a hairball."

I wore my sunnies until it got really dark, at which point I remembered, "Oh yeah, I have sunglasses on!" and switched back to my glasses.

• Sunglasses - WOOW

Masked up. 

"This is your final warning, Woman!"

We took a cab both ways, which was the only time I wore my mask. 

• Mask - by Mom

The stuff: 

I liked the contrast of the white shoes with the leopard suit - I felt very rock and roll. 

Badass bling: 

Just a bit of armour, as one does. 

• Belt - gift from Ruth
• Lucite/crystal bangle - Alexis Bittar, consignment, Sidney
• Steel cuff - thrifted
• Turquoise ring - Karen's
• Silver/onyx ring - Toccara, vintage fair
• Silver earrings - Israel, vintage mall

I didn't take any pictures, so I missed Spence and Kim and Yvonne and Randall on Friday, as both couples had other obligations. L took this from the top of the patio stairs leading into the house. 

Clockwise from left: Cat, Ross, me, Nick, Greg, Chris, Ali, Casey. Such a lovely space to hang out! Chris had the barbecue going, and we hung out under the lights, catching up. 

After a late night, we were up early to meet up with Chris/Ali and Spence/Kim for brunch at the Ruby. 

Kim, Ali and I planned to go vintage clothing shopping afterwards; the menfolk were going CD/record shopping. 

• Dress - Proenza Schuler for Barney's, thrifted; last worn here (2nd outfit) in May for a Zoom call that didn't happen
• Shoes - Hopeful Sunny, Fluevog, thrifted; first worn here last week with the Spanish ladies dress

Again, my red/white Canada Day colours are represented in this dress. 

Plus, since it's 100% silk (lining too), it was insanely cool and comfy to wear, and it provided sunblock. 

I loved showing it off in person to my peeps, who have not ever seen it (aside from here on the blog). 

Masked up - despite the re-opening, many of the businesses (restaurants and stores) still requested that you wear a mask. 

Some stores had removed their "number of people" limits, sanitizer and mask requirements, some just the people limits, and some still had all protocols in place. I did whatever the business required. 

• Mask - by Mom

I wore a black cotton-blend cami under the dress, along with my cotton-blend petit-pants. 

It made this outfit an A+ for trying things on! 

The stuff: 

I walked to town at 10am, shopped for close to 4 hours, and then walked home at 6:30pm. It was a long day in new-to-me shoes, but these were champs. I had one small blister on one toe by the end of the day. 

Blue bling: 

I don't wear much bling when I shop. The earrings kept getting caught on my mask. 

• Earrings - local
• Silver/crystal ring - Soul Flower
• Silver/lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes

I took my camera, but I got caught up in Being With People and forgot to take pictures again till nearly the end of our time together. 

I did snap this one on our way to brunch - they've painted the old Floyd's Diner from the bright pink to this pale blue. I guess someone has leased it. I hope it's a new diner-style restaurant, as we had to wait nearly an hour to get into the Ruby. We west-coasters do love our brunch! 

Unfortunately, Kim and Spence had to leave to deal with a child-related issue (all is good) right after brunch, so it was just me/Ali and Chris/L for the post-food shopping. Ali and I shopped till we dropped! Here is my gal showing off some of her clothing purchases. 

I found this red cotton-blend sweater top at Vintage After Death, and she spotted the swooshy jersey skirt on her own at the same shop. She loved the outfit so much, she cut had them cut the tags off and she wore it for the rest of the afternoon. 

She also kept on these wonderful Fly London ankle-strap shoes that I spotted at Duke & Duchess. 

The entire outfit was well under $100. Aren't the shoes adorable? 

We popped into Fluevog (of course), did a tour at Flavour Upstairs (tried on lots, but nothing rang our bells), skipped Vintage After Death (too big of a line-up to get in), then went through Fan Tan Alley to Heart's Content. 

We both bought sexy tights by Leg Avenue, and I found this awesome black and white hat. My tights were $23.00, and the hat was also $23.00. Ally also bought an ice pink bob-cut wig (wigs are fun!).

My hat is made of woven paper and has a ribbon inside to tighten up the band slightly. I love the black bow trim on it. I wore it all day after I bought it.

We had a good look around in Duke & Duchess where Ali found her red shoes. I pulled out this amazing dress on the half-price rack. 

It's labeled as purple, but it's actually olive green, cobalt blue and bright pink. It does look purple there, doesn't it? 

But here are the actual colours. That's a woven textile, and it's very thick. I'm 100% sure it is real wool, as it has that scratchy texture. 

There is a nice wrap collar (stitched down so it doesn't flop around), and it's fully lined in purple acetate (most likely), including the sleeves.

It has bra strap holders, made by hand. What a lovely detail! 

I strongly suspect that this is a homemade garment.

It has seam-binding tape (you don't see that very often on mass-produced garments), and the seams of the woven wool fabric are serged (so the owner owned a serging sewing machine). 

The seams of the lining are pinked (cut with pinking shears). My mom still has her pinking shears from the 60s (possibly earlier!) - I remember being fascinated by them.

There is an absolutely useless cord-style belt. I think this dress was made from a pattern and included the belt. 

I won't be wearing the belt with it - I might create a loopy floral type of clip out of it, which I can attach to a coat (wouldn't this dress look amazing with the Fuzzy Flamingo!?) or to a hat (my blue fedora?). 

The zipper is plastic, which places this in the 1960s, as the plastic zip appeared after 1963.

The three punched-out hearts mean this was half price, so $23.00. What a bargain! This dress fits me like a glove - I look like Joan from Mad Men in it - and I can't wait to wear it...but it will be in the fall when the weather is colder! 

From Duke & Duchess, we walked a few blocks further out of town to visit Verve consignment, where Ally found an amazing grey/silver/white fitted sheath dress that looked amazing on her (off the clearance rack too!). 

As we headed back towards our meet-up place, we checked to see if the line-up had disappeared at Vintage After Death and we were in luck. 

I spotted this belt on the end of a rack. 

It's real leather and I have been looking for a grey/black/white snakeskin printed belt (to go with my shoes here). 

It was $22.00 which felt a bit pricey. I like that it's made in Canada. 

Following a tip from Ally, I found links for looking up the CA# and/or RN# to help date manufactured garments from Canada (here) and the US (here). Linking 'cause I love, of course! Dating vintage clothing can be challenging! 

How amazing - this belt is from Fairweather, and the date issued is Sept 25, 1997! It was likely sold in stores the following year/1998, which was the year before I started working there. That's so awesome! I would have guessed it was from the 80s (I remember this style being popular then) without that resource, so I have to thank Ally for that! 

I like Vintage After Death's sale section. They sell "curated vintage" so it's kind of like an Etsy store of vintage, with only good stuff in it. I find their regular prices a little on the high side, generally. 

I fell in love with this amazing cotton dress - there is no content tag, but I'm confident that it is 100% cotton. The pattern is black, white and dark brown in a "tiki"-inspired graphic print, and it has a high, mandarin-style collar, with a front waist-to-neck row of buttons/fabric loops. The buttons are a dome shape, covered in the same fabric. No zipper or pockets.

The tag says, "Malia Honolulu" and "Wash Tumble Dry Only." There's an excellent article here about the history of this brand, which was owned and run by Bill and Mary Foster out of a commercial bowling alley(!) in Honolulu, Hawaii from 1960 to the late 80s, when they transitioned to making uniforms. Their textiles were mass-printed in Japan and were known for not being overtly Hawaiian (with hibiscus and palm fronds, eg.). Great history of Hawaiian fashion, including an interview section with Mary Foster, here. 

My label shows a lot of wear, as do the inner seams (I did quite a "haircut" trim of all the loose threads), so it's been washed frequently. The hem is machine-sewn and is a bit uneven - I think it was quickly hemmed by a previous owner due to it being too long.

It's likely that the size/fabric content tag was a stiff papery material, and was either torn out or disintegrated over time. As there is a tag with washing instructions, this tells us it's after 1971. I would guess this is from the early 70s, based on the print (Malia started doing more simple prints like this in the mid-to-late 60s), and the tag.

"Honolulu coming thru" trumpets the store price tag, and the original price of $35.00. 

I'm not sure what the "as is" damage is - I've turned the dress inside out and inspected all of it thoroughly and can't find a spot, tear or rip, so maybe it was just the general wear and tear from its age - but this was only $17.00. Feels like a score! I spotted black and white printed Malia dresses online for the $75-80 and up range. 

We met up at Canoe Club Brew Pub on the water afterwards. Thanks to Ron for his awesome pictures! 

Vero's head, then Nick, Yvonne, Caro (hands over her face!), and Justin. 

I took a few of our table once Ali and I arrived. Yvonne and Randall were right behind us.

Yvonne (wearing one of my old dresses!), Nick and Caro. 

Ali and Vero (wearing a pair of my old genie pants!).

And below, Cat and Yvonne. 

We had gloriously hot and sunny weather. Nothing like the previous weekend, though - this was firmly in the mid-20s. 

We tend to divide up on gender lines - this is the guys' table. 

L, Justin, Chris and Randall. 

Ross and Cat - we're getting ready to walk home with them. 

Ross' shirt was a gorgeous vintage one. 

Caro and I strolled over to the waterfront to look around. A seaplane came in for a landing over our heads (see it?), and the Johnson Street bridge is that oddly-shaped thing in the middle. 

You can see the little harbour ferries with their Canada flags on the right. 

Ronnie and Ross! 

These pics by Ron - look at that fabric on Ross' shirt. I'm mesmerized! It's from Bali.

Ross, Justin and Randall. 

Many drinks were consumed! 

Casey stopped in to say hi, and to bring a mosquito-repellant device as a gift to Chris and Ali (they had some citronella burning on Friday and it was very stinky).

Ali in her red, Casey, Caro, Cat, Yvonne, Vero, and me in my new hat. 

I took a bunch of pics of Vizzini in the early morning, before we headed off to town for brunch. 

"Not more pictures, Woman!"

He looks fat there, but he's all bunched up. 

My presence required further inspection. Down he comes! 

"I sense you're going out again! I need cuddles!"

I can accommodate! 

"I sit here now."

He can't sit still, though - he rolls around, writhing and rubbing. 

"I see you..."

I love his little white back feet. 

More rolling around. He looks completely blissed out.

"Just stay here with me all day."

Then he had to flip over to the other side. 

"I'm completely happy."

Even with your ear tucked under your head?

"Fixed it."

After shedding all over me, and rolling around until he started to look bitey, I had to oust him from my lap. 

"I will hold this chair for you until you get home."

And I'm sure he slept there for a while. We were greeted by yowls of rage for his late(r) feeding time when we got home at 7pm-ish. 

Well, there you have it, my friends! Another weekend in the bag, filled with the wonderful presence of our loved ones, the Family We Choose. So grateful that things are starting to "normalize" here. 

How was your weekend?