Wrapped Up in Wool

I nearly said, "Happy Monday", but of course, it is Tuesday. Happy...Day...my friends! We are experiencing a cold snap, with temps of 1-3 degrees during the day (feels like -4, thank you, Weather Network), dipping down to -7 overnight. Dang, that's cold. 

I ended up wrapping myself in more extensive layers than I'd originally planned. 

• Jacket - Simon Chang, thrifted; purchased here for $13.48
• Dress - Romeo Gigli, vintage 90s, consignment; last worn and Flashbacked here in February 2021
• Sweater - Intimate, vintage 60s, thrifted; last seen here in November 2021 with orange plaid
• Shoes - Big Presence Desmond, Fluevog; last worn here in January to brighten up some greys
• Coat (below) - L'Atiste, consignment, Vancouver; last seen here earlier this month

Instead of wearing the new-to-me/just thrifted cobalt blue sleeveless sweater/top under this grey dress, I swapped it out for a long-sleeved vintage wool mock-neck in the same shade of cobalt blue (I have 3 cobalt sweaters!). I couldn't face bare arms under all this! 

This is the first time I've layered a piece OVER this grey wool dress, and since I had to get an outfit in with this new-to-me jacket right away... The jacket is loose in the body (due to being not my actual size), but I loved how my bigass blue belt cinched everything in. 

I have on three layers of wool here and it's very snuggly and comforting, without being too hot. Wool is the best! 

All this colour makes me happy. My tights are navy blue, which help the conversation of the bright shoes and the slate grey dress. 

Here's the dress on its own - re-belted, of course. I took the jacket off (then put it back on) a couple of times, as my inner furnace fluctuated. 

I'm a massive fan of this Real Designer dress - note the extra-long sleeves, which are part of Romeo Gigli's aesthetic in the late 80s/early 90s. While the rest of the designers of the time (Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, etc.) were piling on the shoulder pads, Mr. Gigli was making garments with really long arms. 

I often wonder if one of his workers at the time - a young man named Lee McQueen, aka Alexander McQueen, you might have heard of him - did the pattern-cutting on this dress. How cool would that be? 

McQueen was a pattern cutter for Gigli in the early 90s, and I just found the most wonderful blog post by Carmen Artigas who worked with Lee at Romeo Gigli - she found a letter from Lee to her, and it's filled with mentions of their time together cutting patterns. Check it out here, link 'cause I love, of course. If you go to the bottom of her post, you can read the letter and see pictures (there's one of Lee in the workroom, and I'm definitely wishing the grey thing on the rack was my dress!).

The dress has a really wide neckline (it likes to go all Flashdance on me), so I usually wear another top under it to hide my bra straps and/or keep me warm. 

Masked up. I shall put my jacket back on now! 

Emily, the receptionist for our building's property management company, oohed and ahhed over my outfit today. Yay, another fashion-y person in the building. 

Outerwear - if it had not been so freakin' cold, I would have worn my new poncho with this. 

I didn't have a lot of choice in coats due to my three layers of clothing, so I chose this oversized thin coat. After work, I carried a couple of heavy bags of groceries so I was plenty warm by the time I got home. 

Accoutrements: 

I nicked this scarf from L's stash in the morning - I don't have a red-based wooly scarf. This one is a vintage wool button-up scarf (with pockets!) that I bought for L on consignment a couple of years ago.

• Scarf - Scardigan by Mr. Ease, consignment
• Beret - Parkhurst, consignment
• Gloves - Echo, consignment
• Mask - Lazy Susan's

The stuff: 

Bright blue appealed to me this morning - I'd planned on boots, but when I got dressed, these are what I wanted to wear. 

Bold bling: 

Just a few pieces - the bracelet was pointless as it was swamped with my sleeves.

• Belt - Rohesia Belt, Fluevog; last worn here in January
• Earrings - thrifted
• Dome ring - Kenneth J. Lane, consignment, Powell River
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes
• Bracelet - vintage 80s (mine, recovered via thrift)