Reader Request: L'Wren Scott Blouse, Triple Pinstripe With a New NAS; Bonus: Closet/Office Re-Org

Happy March Equinox, my friends! I have some extra bonus content for you today - I did some re-org'ing in our office/closet room on the weekend.

But first, here's today's Reader Request, which comes from Ann of Polyester Princess (here, link 'cause I love!). She requested a repeat wearing of this lovely red ruffled blouse. 

You can enjoy a Flashback of it here from March 2021 - I've worn it 3 times since then, so I'm now at 80 cents per wear over my 10 outfits.

• Vest - Maison Scotch, Bohemian Chique, 2010, thrifted; last seen here in September 2022 with twisted cowgirl
• Blouse - L'Wren Scott, "A Tropical Conversation" FW 2011, thrifted; last worn here in January with denim leopard
• Trousers - Red Valentino, consignment; last seen here in September 2022 with boss plaid
• Not-A-Skirt (NAS) - Derek Lam 10 Crosby, thrifted; purchased here for $34.47
• Shoes - Pilgrim Truths, Fluevog; last worn here on a snow day in December 2022
• Coat (below) - Danier Leather; last seen here in January

I let it be the star of the outfit, since it's such a lovely piece - those ruffles are fun to play with, as you can bend them this way and that.

Great suggestion, Ann! Thank you! I hope you approve of the outfit. 

The rest of my ensemble consists of three pieces of pinstriped wool. 

The vest, the trousers, and my new Not A Skirt (NAS). 

"I like it, but I don't get it," said colleague Glenn when I showed it to him. He was impressed that a phone would fit in the pockets.

The slight A-line shape of the NAS worked well over the wide-legged trousers. This was a pretty safe outfit for the first attempt at it, but I would do this combo again.

Outerwear - did not get any of the anticipated rain. 

I didn't mind the bit of the NAS sticking out below the coat. 

Accoutrements: 

I didn't require the gloves on the way home - spring is in the air! Thank you, Equinox! 

The stuff: 

I touched up the toes of my shoes with a red felt pen today - they're getting a bit scuffed. 

Red and copper bling:

With my rearranging on the weekend - which we'll get to shortly - I freed up space in my jewelry boxes, and re-discovered this speckled enamel bracelet and earring set that I bought in Portland, Oregon back in the fall of 2019.

• Belt - Emmanuel, vintage 80s, thrifted
• Speckled enamel copper earrings/bracelet - vintage 50s, Portland vintage shop
• Copper/red enamel bracelet - Matisse by Renoir, vintage 50s, vintage expo
• Copper ring - vintage, consignment
• Klimt ring - consignment
• Shiny copper rings - Glee
• Mink rose - consignment

I also re-found this wee mink rose brooch, which I wore on the vest. 

Ready for some creative organizing pictures? I have two of these white shelves that L and I used for displaying our painted figures (enjoy some very early blog posts featuring some of the miniatures I painted here). 

Well, we are on a semi-permanent hiatus from that hobby, so I packed up all the figs during the pandemic, but didn't know what to do with my shelves, so they've been languishing and getting dusty under the computer desk. 

The corner beside my closet - I moved the green picture to make room for the white shelving above.

I also hung up the paper-cut silhouettes of my brother and I that I got from Mom a month or so ago. My steamer goes in this corner, so I look at these pics often. 

This particular wooden shelf has been with me for close to 50 years - it was made by my Uncle Jack (not a blood uncle, one of those family-friend uncles). My brother also got one, in a vertical configuration. 

I moved my sunglasses and spectacle collection to this shelf, along with a few odds and ends. 

Let's take a look. I don't know about you, but I love looking through people's things. 

I put some tissue into those two top purses so they would stand up. I don't use them often, but I love to look at them. 

My Wendy Brandes ring-boxes and bag, which used to live in my closet, where they would fall on the floor and disappear. 

My Smoking Lily "Geek" leather pouch, and an assortment of single earrings, and ear-cuffs (which I forgot I had!), plus my S brooch. 

On the side is an old cigarette tin that my dear Caro recently gave me. On top of that are two very old lipsticks: the tan one is No. 17 by Boots (from 1985) and the blue one is an Avon from the 70s (swiped from Mom in the mid-80s). Both are great shades of red and take me right back to that time when I smell them.

The balsa wood contraption is a made-by-L-in-secret miniature of my tall lingerie chest - this is what L took to Powell River for the Christmas he gave me the full-sized chest. I treasure this more than the big one. 

A wooden box under two of my perfumes. 

The grass perfume is from Anthropologie in Seattle c. 2001, and the Grey Flannel by Geoffrey Beene was bought by me for my Dad one birthday or Father's Day in the mid-80s. I asked for it back after he died. 

You might have noticed shenanigans on the sides of the flanking bookcases. 

The big spiky iron things (thrifted here for $3.94, 5.95 and 6.95) had to be integrated into my plan. I hoped I'd be able to hand multiple things on them (like scarves, belts or necklaces), but they are snag-monsters, so only 1-2 items per spiky. In this case, a ball scarf made from rabbit fur (must be kept away from Vizzini) and an old purse I've had for nearly 30 years. 

On the other side, I hung my cigar-box purse. 

Since I'm not really wearing masks anymore, I didn't need my ginormous box of them taking up valuable real estate on my tabletop. I pulled out a selection of colours (I always have a matchy one on me) and cut down a paper bag for them. 

On the other side is the left bookshelf, which is one of L's shoe storage areas. I also store my favourite fashion-y books here. 

This area was the dumping zone for Stuff I Need To Deal With. I cleaned it all up and made some executive decisions, like packing away all of L's hundreds of mixed CDs (MANday, gifts for people, party mixes) into shoe-boxes. He generously allowed me to keep the CD shelf for my own use. 

This is the other white shelf, which was made for me by Joyce, my former Christmas store boss Joanne's girlfriend back in the late 90s. 

I also moved this wee seascape (painted locally - I've had it for about 13 years) above the shelf, and hung up the biggest spiky. 

Vizzini was not having any of this hammer-pounding and as soon as I pulled out the stepladder, he fled for the sanctuary of the bedroom. 

"I wasn't scared at all. Stop spreading lies, Woman!"

He slept under my robe for a few hours, then came out to visit when I was finished futzing around. 

"Just looking for tasty things to chew on."

A closer look! I decided to display my very first pair of Fluevogs, the Listen Up Harlow, from 2006 (Flashback of all the ways I've worn them here). They're flanking my c. 1986 bottle of Salvador Dali perfume.

My two beaded Birks vintage belts are below them, along with my two pairs of leather driving gloves. These are things I forget about because I don't see them. I might want to wear these! 

I later added a pushpin and hung up my solid copper belt (Renoir, vintage 1950s). 

It's been hanging off my closet mirror for years, and often falls and clatters into the boxes of belts. I don't want it to get dented.

The flowers are mostly pulled from my closet, where I'd stored them on a ribbon running down the front of one of the shelves. That was feeling very cluttered around my shoe area.

I had the genius idea to put all my "coat brooches" out where I could see them. They take up a lot of room in my jewelry boxes, and this way, I can peruse them and remember to put a brooch on my coat. 

I put this bottle of Shi perfume (c. 2001) on one side. 

The big white flower has a pin and a clip. 

My small collection of fur brooches. I like having them all together now. 

Below that, more bigass brooches, and my three belt buckles. 

A bottle of Tribu perfume by Benetton - it's from the mid-90s. I love my perfumes, but I don't wear them anymore. 

Another rose brooch. The silver things are shoe/dress clips and are very old. I bought them at a burlesque show many years ago. 

And here we are, a nice grouping. 

Complete with Vizzini's food and water dish. 

I hung a very heavy All Saints necklace from the spiky, and gently put a snake hair clip on it (also forgotten about!). 

I used pushpins to hang the two purses. The gold/green one on the left is from the 1920s (thrifted, not yet used!); the black one is from Fairweather c. 2001, purchased with my employee discount then.

Two more purses on top of the shelf. These are two that I love, but they don't display well. 

I put my Fluevog scarf on the top shelf, and added my ties (leather and silk) and bowtie. 

Outerwear-ish fancy silk velvet scarves on the next three shelves. I also forgot about my me-crocheted gold collar that I made! 

I folded my Smoking Lily scarves with my two Alexander McQueen scarves. 

Did two small purse displays with matching scarves. The rust sequined purse is from Plum, c. 2010; the blue/cream snakeskin is from the 1940s/50s (thrifted).

The shoe box on the bottom is full of my spring-summer jewelry. I'm leery of all of L's fringed scarves on top of that, but Vizzini hasn't really shown any interest in eating them (yet). 

You might have noticed what I pinned onto the sides of the shelves.

My dressy for-looks-not-warmth gloves! I snugged them together with a bulldog clip, which hangs from the pushpin. 

I cleared most of the top of my purse/shoe shelf that's on the opposite wall, and moved a few things on top of the lingerie chest. This will all get cleaned up and re-done when I do my closet swap-over. I tend to pile crap on here.

I might let L have this top shelf for his shoes, as he's running out of space in his closet/shoe shelf.  Oh and yes, that is a real black bear head. Rar!

As I had pulled out my bulkier and fancier scarves, I had way more room in my scarf boxes. 

I roughly divided them up into browns/oranges, reds, and colours. They won't stay like this for long - I like to rummage in there and mess 'em all up. 

Many of my things were relocated from the top of the lingerie chest, including this original painting by my dear Caro's mom, Hazel. 

It's called "Perfect Pink Shoes" - and it deserved to be seen more. It also covers the thermostat really well. I moved the portrait of me and Inigo kitty (original by Megan Mae) from 2012-ish? up higher. 

Mister Vizzini, do you approve? 

"Go away, eating."

And then I was done! I treated myself to a good bout of closet time, working to create outfits based on your requests, Gentle Readers. 

"I'm supervising."

You can see a few of them there - I'm enjoying hearing what you want to see me wear!

Some info for Kathryn and the Ancients about leaving comments - thank you to Vix for passing this along! I'm so glad you're all out there and reading! 

• I am not moderating comments unless the post is more than 14 days long, and I do allow Anonymous comments - you don't need any kind of account to comment, although if you're logged into a Google profile, it will show your avatar/picture and link back to you. I'm trying to make it easy on y'all! 
• Try clearing your browsing history (go to the three little dots near the upper right X when in Google > History > Clear Browsing Data to start fresh. This can take a while if you haven't done it recently, and it will require you to re-log in to any sites you were auto-logged into. PS. most of us need to do this more often, to clear out cookies and other tracking nasties, FYI.
• Look for a little eye with a slash through it in the menu bar on the upper right - if you right click on that you can allow cookies from this site (any cookies here are from Google which owns Blogger). 
• I don't have anything running on my blog that would mess with comments - no ads or pop-ups - so...it could be your computer/laptop or device. 
• Edited to add this tip from Vix: Bloggers, check your Spam folders for errant comments. Go to Comments > drop-down menu at the top > select Spam. I find very old (10+ years) comments in there, recent comments from regulars, and even my own replies there!