Blush and Lace Flashback; Mom Zoom; New Mustard

I spent Tuesday in a bit of a brain-fog - happily, it marked two weeks since my second jab, so I'm Double-V Vaccinated and (relatively) safe. I still felt lethargic and "blerg" in general, which I put down to menopause, general COVID Fatigue and lack of outfit inspiration. 

I did a leisurely 2-hour Zoom call in the morning with my dear friend Elaine, in Hamilton, Ontario - so good to catch up with her. I showered (a victory, some days!), but didn't dress up for the call. I just didn't have the mental energy for it all. Instead, after our chat, I spent over an hour in my closet, building outfits, trying things on, moving things to the giveaway pile. I ended up with over a dozen outfits, and although I might not wear them all, the mental exercise and self-care was sorely needed. 

Today's/Wednesday's work outfit came out of my closet play-time, and features a colour I don't wear often: blush. 

Both the tiered skirt and the jacket are a very pale peachy-beige shade, not one I usually gravitate to. 

• Jacket - Marc Jacobs, thrifted; first worn here in August 2020 with my Big Boss Lady red trousers
• Top - VanessaVirginia, consignment; last seen here in June with afternoon tea pajamas
• Skirt - Sandra Angelozzi, thrifted; last worn here in July 2020 (Flashback there)
• Shoes - Aldo, thrifted; last seen here in June with this top! 

We'll be doing a brief Flashback on this red lace top shortly, but first, the blush items. 

"What's that? The cat should go in the hall? I agree!"

The jacket and the skirt have both been unworn so far this spring/summer season - they require some serious contemplation as to whether I will keep them, since I don't reach for either. 

I do like that the jacket has all kinds of useful colours in it: chartreuse, aqua, red, pink and black. Aside from the obvious choice of red (that's the dominant colour to me), I haven't been inspired to pair this with much. 

With the jacket off. I bought this lace top for layering under things - I have a drawer full of small, soft tees, blouses and plain tops that I use for layering. 

When I need a layer, I rummage in the drawer. I don't fold soft tops, since I like the rooting-around aspect of a deep drawer full of goodies. Treasure! 

The red "bookends" of shoes and lace top are the standouts, I think you'll agree. I also have another blush item on: a layering cami underneath (and I'm wearing my beige cotton underlovelies too).

"Woman, you are so dense."

The skirt is the same blush shade as the background of the jacket, and is really close to my actual skin-tone. 

Masked up - although I'm personally safe, my office and building still require masks. I only saw three coworkers all day though. 

I often hesitate over removing skirts from my closet because it's SO hard to find interesting ones in second-hand stores. I've liked the outfits I've done with this one (you can revisit the Flashback in the "last worn here" link above), and I plan on keeping it - how many times do you find a tiered ruffled silk skirt like this?? It's a good neutral bottom, an interesting style (somehow these ruffles are okay with me!), and although the colour is on the blah side, it works with a lot of different tones.

• Mask - Lazy Susan's

Sunnies on! We're having another heatwave this week with temps in the low to mid-30s. SO HOT. 

I like the jacket done up with the bits of red lace peeking out; however, it is going to the giveaway pile. It doesn't inspire me. 

The stuff:

I was going to wear red heels, but the heatwave put me off them. 

Matchy bling: 

Mixing metals all over the place! 

• Necklace - thrifted
• Earrings - Mangos
• Leather/steel cuff - Rimanchik
• Copper/enamel cuff - Matisse by Renoir, vintage 60s, vintage expo
• Turquoise/silver ring - local
• Big turquoise ring - Karen's
• Turquoise/copper brooch - thrifted

Happy and feeling less brain-foggy from my outfit-building, I enjoyed another Zoom call in the afternoon on Tuesday with Mom, who showed off her new top and her new haircut.

I LOVE this pixie cut on you, Mom! It really suits your face. 

I know, it's so short in the back, right? I love touching freshly "mown" hair when it's really short. 

The top is a great colour on Mom. I can't pull off mint green. 

Thank goodness ONE of us was stylish! 

Flashback: VanessaVirginia Red Lace Top

Back in the "olden days," I used to do my grocery shop on Sundays, often followed by a thrift or consignment shop afterwards. This was one of my trips to My Sister's Closet (sadly now closed), back in October 2018, here, where I found this top for $16.98. 

It's actually a deep reddish-pink, edged in bright orangey-red, but the overall look is red lace. It's by VanessaVirginia, which is an Anthropologie brand - this top retailed for $98.00 originally.

I wore it right away, layering it under my pink blazer in November 2018.

I have everything except the grey wool trousers still (they were so boring). I now have awesome pinstriped wool pants that are much more exciting (Always Be Upgrading!). 

You can't see much of the top here, hiding beneath this embroidered faux leather jacket, but it's layered under my "Buffy" black leather dress for a shopping trip in March 2019. 

I wore this top under the same dress more recently, below.

I discovered this combination in June 2019 - another future repeat! 

I let go of the shoes this past year - that slappy slipper style is not my jam. 

Currently, I'm consciously letting go of clothes that are difficult to style, even designer names like this Dries Van Noten "genie" skirt, seen here in August 2019. 

I like that the top has a nice scalloped edge - it looks good hanging out over a waistband. 

See? This is what I wore above, under that embroidered jacket. 

This was a very elf-like outfit (I had a green leather trenchcoat over this look) from December 2019. 

And I somehow missed wearing this top for all of 2020! Oh, 2020, such a year. 

This is the last time I wore it, in June 2021, featuring a repeat of the pajama jacket and my Big Boss Lady pink pants. 

Mathy stuff: I actually thought I'd worn this a lot more than I have, but I'm at 7 outfits including today's. That brings us to a very respectable $2.43 per wear. 

Until I find a better red soft layering top, this is the one! What's your favourite look? 

I had to stop at the pet store for another box of kitty treats (a Bad Thing to run out of!), and popped into Rich Rags to see if Gloria had anything interesting. 

I found this fabulously swooshy mustard skirt! It looks horrendous here, due to a kazillion wrinkles. 

I gave it a quick steam, which smoothed it out nicely and allowed me to really look at the construction. 

The ties are attached to the sides of the waist - no pockets! - and the ruffled at the hem is bias-cut for extra swoosh and is lined. 

The pattern is pale blush flowers with bits of black. 

I doubt I would wear blush with this, though. Those are really difficult colours to mix in an outfit! I'll likely wear black and/or white with it. 

The previous owner didn't even take the tag fully off, although oddly, there's no content/care tag. I discovered it's 100% rayon by digging around online.

I wonder if she even wore it? The sizing is wonky: a US size 8 is a medium, not a large. 

It's by Faithfull the Brand, and well, that's cool - the company was founded by an Australian and a Norwegian, two women who met in Bali, Indonesia, and created this company (about them here, link 'cause I love). They seem like a pretty ethical brand.

I paid $35.00 for my skirt, and a similar one on their site is US $209.00! This is called the Botany print, and Anthropologie carried it. I got a bargain!