Casual Friday With Black Suede Maxi, and Two Verdicts

Happy weekend, my friends! I started my Friday off with a bang and wore this ginormous black suede skirt again.

My preference these days for Casual Fridays is to just deploy one piece of denim and then go a little funky with the rest of the outfit.

My denim is this great Part Two vest that I wore three times in the August 2012 capsule (recap here), worn over this micro-leopard blouse, which I wore twice during June 2012 all-neutral capsule (recap here).

I love the "lock and load" properties of a fitted vest.

Back to the skirt. I previously wore it here last weekend (2nd outfit).

Black Suede Maxi Skirt (Danier Leather): Outfit #2

Black Suede Maxi Skirt (Danier Leather)
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The booties are my taupe studded suede ones that I wore four times in the September 2012 capsule (recap here).

September was a tough capsule for me, and I noted in the recap that I was on the fence with these booties, that maybe this rocker look was something I was over.

Nah, I think I just had not-the-greatest outfits for them. It's much harder to work a fun pair of shoes like these in a restricted capsule than when I can pick and choose from most of my wardrobe. They were great to wear yesterday, although my feet were a little sore by the end of the day.

Outerwear:

My buttah-soft jacket, plus purple gloves and a furry scarf.

The stuff:

Such rockin' booties! I liked the double-stacked cuffs.

Coat/gloves (Danier Leather), scarf/skirt (Danier Leather, thrifted), blouse (Express, consignment), vest (Part Two, consignment), booties (Libby Edelman), studded cuff (vintage), steel cuff (thrifted), leather choker (locally-made).

And now it's Verdict time! The voting is in on two items!

First up: the pink velvet blazer by Nougat London:

I wore it here, here and here. And the votes are:

• Like it: 128
• Lose it: 49

The Like its have it by a large margin. And my verdict is: Like it. Keeping it and putting it into rotation.

Although pink is not to everyone's taste (many of you are quite anti-pink), it's got everything I love in a jacket: fit, colour, texture (yay for velvet!), and something unique about it. How often do you find a pink velvet blazer that fits just right? I don't have the same issues with the ruching at the bust seam as some did - since I'm the one wearing it, I can tell the fit better than a picture sometimes.

And next up was the very contentious Holy Ship! dress:

I wore it here, here and here. The votes are:

• Like it: 91
• Lose it: 50

And my verdict is: Like it. But man, people were very divided on this.

However, having said that I'm keeping it, one of the most difficult issues I had with this dress is that it's not a winter dress. It's a thinner cotton and is unlined - it's meant for warm weather wear. Having to winterize it was tricky - not all the layering I tried to do really worked all that well. Outfit fail!

A note about the fit: a few people noted that they thought it was too big by a couple sizes, but I can barely fit it over my boobs, and it's just right in the waist and shoulder. It's just a simple cut, like most of Smoking Lily's dresses, and it's a stiffer fabric. It's also not a super-fitted dress, like I usually wear. Although this isn't a classic "Sheila" dress, I do really love the colour, the uniqueness of it, and the ship print, and I'm looking forward to wearing this in the summertime with some cute sandals.

Hope you're having a fabulous weekend! Don't forget to vote for your favourite overall capsule here - results will be revealed tomorrow.

Third Ships, Plus Grey and Reds

Off to the gym shortly! 

This is the third wear of the Holy Ship! dress:

Heh, this is probably the most crazyass of all my ship dress outfits, by a long shot. I do enjoy pushing the envelope a little.

The jacket is my Camden Market (London, England) purchase which I wore twice in the December 2012 capsule (recap here). I'm pretty sure I've never worn it belted before, and I really liked how it looked.

The red peeking out is a vintage full-length slip that I often wear as a layering piece. My reds are not quite all matching today, but I'm cool with that.

No close-up of the fabulous boots today, but they are the Baroques Velazquez by Fluevog that L got me for our anniversary last year. I wore them 4 times in the December 2012 capsule (recap here). Our annual Fluevog pilgrimage is coming up in March - I wonder what we'll buy each other this year?

Last chance to air your thoughts on the dress - I'll be revealing my verdicts on it and the pink velvet jacket on the weekend. I previously wore the dress here and here.

Holy Ship! Dress (Smoking Lily): Outfit #3

Holy Ship! Dress (Smoking Lily)
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Jacket (illegible label, Camden Market), dress (Smoking Lily), vintage slip (consigment), boots (Baroque Velazquez, Fluevogs), obi (locally made).

Second Ships and First Black Suede Maxi (and More Chicken Hair)

Ah, what a fun weekend! I hope you're all doing well - anyone watching the Oscars tonight? I'm glued to the TV as soon as the red carpet starts! I'll try to get the Favourite Outfit post up tonight.

Yesterday, I headed downtown to meet up with my Winesday gals for brunch. I took this as an opportunity to wear the Holy Ship! dress again.

It was rather bright and sunny!

I stopped in at Smoking Lily's The Milkman's Daughter (their shop that isn't teeny-weeny) to pick up a gift certificate for our dear friend Cat (happy b-day soon!), and the gal working there told me that yes, indeed, this dress is a sample, one-of-a-kind, and they won't be using this ship screen design again because it smudges and is too complicated. I love being exclusive.

Today, I'm layering my sheer navy blouse under the dress, with a leather belt at the waist, my Babycakes Minis (yes, I'm wearing socks with them!) and a brown/brass necklace from my mom. I wore the blouse twice in the April 2012 capsule (recap here). Of course, I last wore the boots on Friday here.

I last wore the dress here.

Holy Ship! Dress (Smoking Lily): Outfit #2

Holy Ship! Dress (Smoking Lily)
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We hung out for a few hours, then our men and another couple came and a few hours stretched into nearly six! Woo!

Although it was sunny, I still bundled up a bit:

I love this denim raincoat - it was a Jacob purchase way way back, probably in 2007. The scarf is a recent Smoking Lily piece, as is the gold anatomical heart on my lapel.

Remembering all my hassles with slips/.linings/unlined dresses from last time I wore the Holy Ship! I just did a plain slip and bare legs, and wore a purse that sits higher.

Vizzini approved!

Coat (Jacob), dress/scarf/pin (Smoking Lily), boots (Babycakes Minis, Fluevog), belt (Plum), necklace (gift from Mom).

On my way downtown, I stopped by the Women in Need thrift store to see if something that I'd spotted a couple of weeks ago was still there. It was.

Those are vintage red wool culottes, baby!

Check it out:

Wide, swooshy legs of pleat-y goodness!

And they are a rather good brand.

Real Escada! Made in Western Germany. They are amazing quality.

And not a bad price:

Yes. $9.50. But it's even better - WIN had an extra 25% off on vintage, so including tax, these were under $8.00.

They are too small on me, but this week they will be sent to a very worth recipient, Lynne of The Good Will Hunting Paralegal. I hear she's been looking for a pair of culottes (so cutting edge, all the cool kids will be wearing them soon), and she's a dear.

I also stopped in at a Very Expensive consignment store and this somehow leapt into my hands:

It's bright orange, Italian leather and made in Canada by Danier Leather. It was $198.00 which is pretty pricey, however, I know that this would have been over $500.00 new (it's the same leather as my red coat, which was $799.00 full price). Anyway, I love it!

Today, L and I slept in a bit, then I walked to town and did some Oscar food grocery shopping. Elaine's coming over, so we're having all the favourites: chocolate truffles, fruit, meat, cheese, veggies, some health salty-crunchies, and hummous and salsa. Dee-lish!

I'm debuting my black suede Danier Leather maxi skirt today!

My minimalist make-up weekend face (also sleepy)

After all my blathering about "I don't do that casual look anymore" I decided to push myself to wear this in a fun weekend style.

A thin olive layering tee (I live in these around the house), with my Smoking Lily crow top which I wore six times in the March 2012 capsule (recap here). The top hasn't been languishing in my wardrobe all this time, though - I wear it like this with jeans on a regular basis at home.

I'm wearing my funky Airwalk sneaks that I got a clothing swap with coworkers back here in May 2012.

But back to the skirt. It's deliciously swooshy and look, pockets!

In fact, this skirt is so....maxi, that I can do this:

Wee! I thrifted this skirt at the WIN Boutique here in January 2012 for $29.50. Not exactly a thrift price, but it's for a good cause. Plus, I'm pretty sure this skirt sold new for more than $30.

Black Suede Maxi Skirt (Danier Leather): Outfit #1

Black Suede Maxi Skirt (Danier Leather)
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I had to wear the orange jacket:

And yes, I have done my "chicken hair" again. Hee. I like it! It's fun and I like playing with it on the weekend.

I added my red gloves and bag, and my green scarf and I felt very visible!

Hola!

So I'm linking up to Patti's "Visible Monday" on Not Dead Yet Style. Rock on, my friends!

Jacket (Danier Leather, consignment), top/scarf (Smoking Lily), long-sleeved tee (Plum), skirt (Danier Leather, thrifted), bag (Danier Leather), gloves (Parkhurst), shoes (Airwalk, swapped).

Holy Ship! Round One

I had major minor annoyances all day, but first, the dress.

Holy ship! Yes, that is what I've dubbed this dress, and Holy ship! it shall be. This is of course, my Smoking Lily ship dress that I purchased a few weeks ago (here) for $65.00. Considering it is handmade here in Victoria, and it's a sample, I am happy with my purchase, ethics-wise.

And...round 1! Shout out to Patti over at Not Dead Yet Style for trying out the Like it/Lose it on a dress! It really works!

Holy Ship! Dress (Smoking Lily)

Holy Ship! Dress (Smoking Lily)
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However, as noted, I had malfunctions all freakin' day. I note that Megan the Fashionable Bureaucrat also had tights issues today, so there must be something in the air (although I'm on the west coast and she's on the east). First, blew the toes in both both feet in these nude fishnets. Argle-bargle, that makes me furious! Both toes! Massive holes!

While I felt that happening (while walking to work), my slip (a lovely vintage navy blue one) decided it wanted to be at my waist. The blue netting underskirt also wanted to go up there. I kept waiting to get to a light so that I could do some adjusting, but wouldn't ya know it, I hit every green light all the way to work. Why does that never happen when I really want it to?

Once the two layering pieces had ensconced themselves around my midsection, the dress (which is cotton), adhered to my tights and decided to work its way up to my hoo-ha. Crotch-tacular! Didn't help that the bottom button of my coat was open, allowing all the office workers of downtown a view of me desperately trying to hold my dress in place while not spilling coffee down the front of myself.

Naturally, all the layers behaved once I didn't have my bag and coat on.

On the way home, I stopped to get a bottle of wine. No Interac. Arg. Back downtown to another beer and wine store (no, we can't buy beer and wine in the grocery store or 7Eleven here), only to find they were also only able to take cash. I fumed and breathed deeply and headed home. No danged wine. And of course, the dress, slip and underskirt all headed north. Fortunately, L is a kind and generous husband and is going to go buy some wine for tonight, or I'd be a raging basket case (well, more than I already am, heh).

But let's get back to the clothing.

I see a gold bug on the belt!

The underskirt is by Noa Noa and I've had it for a few years. The belt is also by Smoking Lily and I found it in a consignment store for $25.00 a couple of years ago.

The stuff:

The shoes were featured in April 2012's capsule (recap here), where I wore them 4 times. I liked how the purple toned with the mustard of the dress and played off the blues. I repeated the gold moth from the belt in the gold cicada earrings. Although the belt is black, the shoes are purple and the ships/underskirt are navy, they all perceive as dark and worked as neutrals to balance all that mustard.

Dress (Smoking Lily), underskirt (Noa Noa), shoes (Pearl Hart Bellevues, Fluevogs), belt (Smoking Lily, consignment), leather cuff (made in LA, bought local), earrings (Erica Weiner).