Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Funky Friday in Boss Lady Pink; Rifflandia Double Duster; Saturday Embroidered Brunch and Fringed Festival

Welcome back, Gentle Readers! I hope you had as much fun as I did this past weekend! I wore a lot of funky outfits, so let's get right to it, shall we? L and I did two days of the Rifflandia Festival (link here), plus my Friday work outfit and a Saturday brunch. I even managed a wee shop in there! 

All links 'cause I love, as always. 

I took the afternoon off work on Friday - I got myself into a fest-y mood with this new-to-me duster.

I love mixes of pinks, blues and purples, so this was the perfect time to squeeze in a wearing of my Boss Lady pink pants this season. 

• Duster - Aratta Silent Journey, consignment; purchased here for $89.99
• Trousers - H&M, consignment, Vancouver; last seen here in March for a Mom-Day Adventure
• Trout shoes - Miista; last worn here in June with pink and indigo velour

Yeah, I look tired. I was! Mornings are hard...

I buttoned the top half of the duster, with the waist to hem buttons left undone. 

And I posed with my hand in my pocket any time I showed it off to one of my colleagues. 

Coworker Kristina gasped during a Teams meeting. "Sorry, my wonderful colleague just swanned past me in the most amazing duster!" 

I gave her a twirl.

I know! That peacock is so magnificent. 

A shame to cover it up with my new-to-me pink leather backpack. 

Giving my classic smirk here, ha ha. 

• Leather backpack - Ash, consignment; purchased here for $50.00

I stopped on the way home and picked up fizzy drinks and snacks for later in the evening when we arrived home all abuzz from that evening's Rifflandia. 

I was pleased at how much it held. Winner! 

The stuff: 

I walked to and from work in my Trout shoes - coincidentally, my coworker Frank (who named them after the car paint colour) was in the office today. He remembered them! 

Sparkly bling: 

I layered the necklace under the duster's collar. There are two permanent "gemstone" buttons on the duster - not part of my bling.

• Belt - Lady Foot Locker, vintage, thrifted
• Necklace - J. Crew, consignment
• Earrings - vintage 90s, consignment
• Fulvia Ring - Wendy Brandes
• Gold/amethyst ring - Frances Jewelers, c. 1965, Dad's
• Crystal cuff - Swarovski, consignment, gift from L
• Hearts bracelet - Juicy Couture, vintage, consignment
• Steel/stone bracelet - Maltese, vintage 70s, vintage mall

When I got home, I redid my make-up and flat-ironed my hair, and changed up my duster outfit. 

Too sunny in the regular stair area! Instead, I am holding up this wall. 

• Duster - as above
• Vinyl skirt - Vero Moda, consignment, Vancouver; first worn here in April for a Mom-Day Adventure (the Swan Attack one!)
• Boots - Original Samedi, Fluevog; last seen here (3rd outfit) with a denim suit for Greg's birthday party in August

I changed into my shoulder-pads-included camisole (not tracking it, bought it here yesterday for $5.95), which gave the duster some needed shoulder structure. 

I added a bunch of sparkly brooches down the velvet front panel. You can never have too much bling! 

My vinyl skirt has pockets, as well as the duster, so I have spots to stash my glasses, drink tickets and camera. 

I played with the pinks and purples with the skirt, plus burgundy lace tights to match the cuffs. 

Again with the peacock. 

My duster got a lot of love from the crowd. I enjoyed telling people, "I wore this duster to work!"

Incognito till the sun goes down. 

Oops, hiding my little silver purse in this pic - my scarf is hanging off one side of it. It got very cold by the time the last act came around and I tied the scarf around my neck. 

As well as pushing the envelope sartorially, I like to do a little extra with my make-up. I am a fan of Netflix's "Glow Up" make-up show and got inspired to do a lined lip. 

On a recent episode, a challenge was a black-lined lip with gloss in the middle. 

I lined my lips with navy blue and added pink gloss. It bled slightly and turned the edges purple, which was not a bad thing. 

How I feel about big crowds. F#@! I always wear my Swear rings in crowds. 

The stuff: 

While these are comfy boots, my feet were very tired after standing for close to 6 hours, and walking to and from the venue. 

• Purse - Zara, consignment
• Silk scarf - Fluevog

Festive bling

We ran into a lot of friends, coworkers, former colleagues and acquaintances (new and old) over Friday and Saturday, and many of them enjoyed checking out all of my bits. 

• Stone/silver bracelet - Salt Spring Island, gift from L
• Blue rhinestone brooch - vintage 60s, vintage fair
• Bee pin - gift from Megan Mae
• Bug brooch - vintage fair
• Earrings - Dolls Kill, consignment
• Crystal cuff - Swarovski, consignment, gift from L
• Swear rings - Wendy Brandes
• Silver/amethyst ring - vintage mall
• Kyanite/silver ring - consignment

Vizzini got fed early, as we headed down to catch a couple of early acts. 

"You have your priorities straight, Woman."

L and I - we always make a cool couple. 

He's in a vintage jacket (thrifted), a Monty's tee (an old strip club from Victoria many years ago), a consignment belt covered in rhinestones, zippered Balmain jeans, and a rocking pair of Fluevog cowboy boots, with silver heels and studs. 

Rock on, my love. 

We both had tons of comments on our outfits all weekend, from "You look amazing!" to "Great 'fits!"

On our way to the venue, we walked down our favourite "cat street". 

Aw, neighbourhood king Midnight Star has passed on. He was a lovely kitty. 

We arrived at Royal Athletic Park (henceforth, RAP), which I last visited here in May 2016 to watch an Ultimate Frisbee game with some of my former Ulti pals. 

There wasn't much of a crowd at just before 4pm. After a bag search and producing ID ("I'm probably older than your mom"), we strolled right in. 

It's my first time here for any kind of festival. 

We had the Main Stage (with two big video screens), seen here on the left. 

We checked out the end of The Poor Choices, a local band (link here). I love that local bands are part of Rifflandia, not just imported acts. 

We were both thankful for the mostly grass field (that dusty dirt bit is the baseball diamond - RAP is home of the Victoria HarbourCats baseball team). 

We scoped out the layout - food trucks lined up on one side, drink tickets/drink booth and VIP on the other - and headed over to the Rifftop Stage at the opposite/right end of the field to watch the next band, U.S. Girls.

RAP is in the middle of a residential neighbourhood with a few businesses nearby on Cook Street (the WIN Boutique is a block away). 

Looking at the overhang stadium seating - port-a-loos were inside there, and we sat in the bleachers while eating our yummy food truck dinners both nights.

The nice thing about this venue is that many people just sat on the grass. You could see both stages from the centre of the field, and unless you were up close to the stage, there was minimal crowding.

I waited for L to get his drink tickets and looked for our pals. 

We ran into tons of people we knew. 

Here's Nick! 

Nick is a "get in the crowd and dance " concert-goer, so we basically didn't see much of him. 

Gorgeous Joanne was hanging out by the merch area. 

Love the red lippy! 

U.S. Girls (link here) were on! 

The sun was blaring at them, so the lead singer wore a hoodie over her head. 

Hey, it's Casey and Linda! 

Taking a picture of Linda...who's taking a pic of Casey and L. 

Casey is the only person I know who wears a suit and tie to a festival. 

Peace out, man, you look dapper as hell. 

Linda, my dear Winesday Woman! 

We ran into her off and on both days. 

Sad for U.S. Girls, the power cut out midway through their set. 

When it came back on, the mix was really off - I felt bad for them. 

Time for the next set, Sports Team! (link here)

I recognized a couple of songs from the radio - I really enjoyed their set, and was able to stand quite close. 

There's my guy! 

This was around 5pm - the bands switched seamlessly from stage to stage, with only a few minutes of down-time between sets. It was very well organized overall. 

Cat and Ross were there both days.

We're all looking dubiously at Lemmy's tiny denim shorts, Cat - it's not just you! 

I was excited about Suicidal Tendencies - back in my thrash metal days (the late 80s/early 90s) I remember a lot of people I knew were into them. 

However, they were rather loud and just okay. We avoided the mosh pit - I haven't been in one of those in decades! 

We took advantage of the lull to grab teriyaki chicken from the Teriyaki Boys' truck  (link here), and sat in the stands while Marc Rebillet performed. 

He reminded us very much of Frank Zappa if Frank did a lot of electronic looping/sampling. Link here. Again, not to our taste, but he was entertaining.

The sun was starting to go down as we found a small group of our people and staked out a spot on the field with a good view of the Main Stage. Looking over at the tents, food trucks and the bleachers. 

We didn't check out Two Feet - another band that was not really our cup of tea. 

We were there for the King of Punk - Iggy Pop! 

Link here.

I let my camera be possessed again (set it to "creative shots") during the evening sets. 

Iggy lit up on the left. He played his hits - "The Passenger" and "Lust for Life" but also some deep cuts, like "The Endless Sea",  and "Search and Destroy" and "Death Trip" from the Stooges days. 

Iggy is looking every bit of his 76 years - his skin is leathery, and he's pretty twisted from scoliosis. I liked his little round "Buddha belly."

Real Iggy on the left - our best view was the screens. 

There were over 8,000 people there, breaking more festival records for Victoria. 

During some songs, there were images of the younger Iggy on the screen behind the band. 

The crowd was totally revved up. 

He played solid for over an hour! 

It was a great show, up there with Run the Jewels from the previous weekend. 

Definitely the best show of the day.

Everyone streamed out of RAP just after 10pm. 

We crashed on the couch when we got home, but roused ourselves to play a board game to let the concert high fade away. 

You can read the local paper's review of Friday's shows here. I was disappointed that there wasn't a ton of merch at this weekend's shows. 

But I'm very happy with my Iggy tour tee. 

Made in the USA! 

Nice! 

I got up early on Saturday and added some more purple to my hair (Pulp Riot - it fades out after a week or so). 

And got ready for brunch at John's Place with L and Nick. 

• Coat - Paparazzi, thrifted, Vancouver; last worn here in February with wings and cashmere
• Top - Beechers Brook, vintage 90s, thrifted; last seen here in July with velvet and roses
• Jeans - Articles of Society, thrifted; last worn here in August with my Very 80s Blazer
• Sandals - Geox, thrifted; last seen here in August when Mom and I published her book

Shockingly, I haven't worn this embroidered denim coat in months! 

It's the lack of pockets, I swear. I look severely annoyed here - I just need more coffee before I'm safe to be in public. 

There, that's a begrudging smile. 

This was a comfy outfit for brunch, followed by our weekly grocery shop. 

The coat always has many admirers. 

My feet were very thankful for the easy shoes. 

Incognito. 

We came straight home and got ready for another afternoon/evening of festivities. 

The stuff: 

So glad to wear comfy shoes! 

Badass bling: 

I was still channeling my inner punk. 

• Purse - Club Monaco, thrifted
• Belt - gift from Ruth
• Leather cuff - Guess, thrifted
• Studded cuff - vintage 90s
• Granite/silver ring - Raul Caballero, Oui Jewelry
• Silver/crystal ring - Soul Flower
• Silver chain ring - Mexican, consignment
• Earrings - thrifted

The line for brunch at John's Place is always less than 10 minutes (a big reason we switched up from the Ruby), so I had limited time to scope out the next-door Beacon Avenue Thrift Shop. 

I found a Le Chateau shirt for L for $9.50 (they retailed for $75+), and this sparkly vest for me. 

I like the drapey fronts - the back is also completely sequined. 

Oh, nice, made in Israel! 

The entire vest is lined in that nice t-shirt knit in viscose. 

It's by Ronen Chen, not a cheap brand! 

A plain top by them is $130+, so a fully-sequined vest would have been around $200 or more. Bargain! 

I also found a bunch of vintage sci fi paperbacks for 25 cents each: Robert A. Heinlein's "Time for the Stars" (one of his young adult novels), Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Falcons of Narabedla", and Andre Norton's "Daybreak-2250 A.D."

These sell for $10 each in vintage stores! I'm looking forward to reading them. 

Time to get ready for Saturday festing. 

Woo! Bright! 

• Top - Christian Audigier, consignment, Powell River; purchased here for $10.00
• Denim skirt - Zara, thrifted; last worn here (3rd outfit) in May for a Party in the Park with these same boots, tights and coat
• Boots - Slacker Vagabond, Fluevog; last seen here in August on a Funky Friday
• Coat (below) - Prosper & Devine, vintage mall; last worn here (3rd outfit) in May

I'm kind of kicking myself now - there was another identical, new-with-tags top like this that I didn't buy. I remind myself - you can't buy everything, Sheila! 

This was the perfect day for wearing this top - it was hot and sunny until sunset, and it was good coverage. 

I layered a camisole under it, as it likes to hang off my shoulder (I had sunblock on). 

I LOVED wafting the fringe back and forth as I danced.

Same purse as the morning. 

I'm incognito - definitely not the same person who wore that duster the day before! Who was that?

As you can see, I did my lips blue with one of my eyeshadow crayons (Rimmel waterproof). It stayed put really well, no feathering. 

I needed a coat for the evening - I learned my lesson from Friday night. 

This pink suede one is massively fringed. 

Rock on! 

Are you ready to fest with me again? 

Woo, let's go! 

The stuff: 

The purse and boots match perfectly! These boots were wonderful, but again, 6+ hours of walking and standing - it's a lot. 

Festy bling: 

I finally cut my Super-pass ribbon off! I got ID'd even though I didn't drink any booze. Also, I'm older than your mom. 

• Earrings - vintage fair
• Fulvia Ring - Wendy Brandes
• Swear rings - Wendy Brandes

A shout-out to local photographer Kayla (who shoots with actual film!) who asked if she could take pics of L and I ("I'm obsessed!") - she also took hand-shots of my Swear rings. 

L and I rushed down early in the afternoon to see Lindsay Bryan (link here), a local musician. 

She's from Fernwood - that's our 'hood! She was excellent. 

L's colourful outfit. 

He's wearing a Kangol hat (close to 20 years old) with a Miami Dolphins pin covering the logo; a shirt with Aztec gods and roses (consignment), a pair of Banana Republic khakis (consignment) and Fluevog runners (I have the same ones in red and black). He also had a light blue blazer for later in the evening. 

Lindsay was only the 3rd act of the day, so we had plenty of space. 

Why yes, I would love to sit on this nice soft grass and chill out in the sun! 

When she finished, we scoped out that day's merch, bought our drink tickets and...

...went home! 

It's only a 15-minute walk back to our place, where our little kitty was rolling around looking cute. 

"Now, stay home with me!"

We rested for a bit, got our coats, and fed our little monster, then walked back to RAP. 

The cat street yielded this gorgeous kitty. 

No petting, just saying hello. 

And back we are! 

We'd missed Preston Pablo, Mallrat, and were just in time to see a bit of lovelytheband (link here). I didn't realize I knew a few of their singles - I've heard them on the radio too. 

I was very excited to see Mavis Staples (link here), civil rights activist and one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time (by Rolling Stone magazine). 

We were blown away by her - she is a Crone Icon at 84 years old, and she was incredible. "Her cackle game is solid," I remarked to L - she laughed a lot during the set, and often sat and sipped tea (her mug said, "Mavis' Mug") while her band played. My favourite show of Saturday! 

The gorgeous Linda was there again. 

Pose with me, baby! Her robe had Frida Kahlo on the back. 

We had been looking forward to Matt Maeson (link here), yet another artist whose songs are on the local radio station. I did stop by the Zone 98.5's booth to say hi and thank them for all their great work. 

But Matt wasn't that engaging live, so we got in line at the Teriyaki Boys food truck again. 

We ended up having a great chat with the lead singer of 90s local thrash metal band Meatlocker Seven (link here), who I remembered from my early days. He knew my ex well and thought I looked vaguely familiar. That was over 30 years back - heck, my memories of last week are fuzzy, never mind three decades ago!

Rock on, L! Post-dinner, lipstick redone, coats on.

We weren't that taken with Chet Faker, but I took a pic of the Main Stage anyway.

As you can see, the clouds had rolled in, and a very cold wind was coming off the water. Brrr! We went from temps of 24 down to less than 10 degrees in less than an hour. I felt bad for the youngs in their bikinis. 

We wandered around, got restocked on drinks, hoped that more merch would have arrived (nope), and then it was time for the act I was really stoked for - Salt-N-Pepa! (link here)

They played all the hits: "Shoop", "What a Man", "Push It", "Let's Talk About Sex" and "It's None of Your Business." 

We were far, far back - it was another huge crowd of 8K+. 

You can just see the actual people onstage on the left. 

Midway through their 70-minute set, both Salt-N-Pepa left the stage for over 15 minutes and DJ Shadow (no sign of Spinderella) played regular music. It really interrupted the flow of the show - it was rather jarring to switch over to 80s-00s hits. Thumbs down!

I did like that they played old footage from their 90s heyday on the backing screen, but this was a pretty disappointing show overall. You can check out the local paper's review of Saturday's festivities here. 

We were home by 9:30pm, ready to chill out and unwind. Many thanks to my dear friends for helping me navigate the crowds (I felt pretty confident by the end of the weekend), and especially to my love, L, who is always there for me, my rock. 

May our shadows always be long! 

Well, I'm now off to enjoy an afternoon/evening of football while I recover from two days of dancing, standing and being in massive crowds. I hope you all had fabulous weekends! Thanks so much for stopping by!