Out With a Bang! Last Casual Friday

And here we are - I'm done. It feels weird being out of work.

For my last casual Friday, I went over-the-top dressy - 'cause that's the way I roll. To be really outrageous for me, I should have worn pyjama bottoms!

I have never worn this skirt to work:
I have worn it twice before: once for Christmas and most recently for Daisy's birthday party. It's a challenge to wear; I can't take very large steps because the hem (above the bubble trim) is so narrow and it has no stretch, and (warning, TMI) when I go to bathroom, I have to actually unzip and pull it down.

Other than that...jeez, I guess I should wear it more! It's a beautiful skirt. Check out how good it makes my butt look:

Ha! Inigo looks absolutely terrified, doesn't he? He's listening to the beeping of the timer on the camera.

On the top half, I'm wearing this denim jacket (last seen back in January!), a brown silky blouse and Grandma W's pin:

I'm going out for lunch today with my manager, Joanne, and out for dinner/martinis tonight with my former boss at Fairweather, Tammy. Lovely! Now that's the way to end things.

I also sent out "farewell" emails to all of my favourite coworkers, contacts and clients to thank them for being so awesome - I got dozens of responses, and spent a good half hour being quietly teary at my desk. Then I did the tour of the building, saying goodbye to all the people I've known. There's nothing like tearing up in front of your colleagues (I'm such a sap, I cry at everything).

And now...off to drink!

Jacket (Bisou Bisou, consignment), blouse (Mexx), cami (Esprit), skirt (Kensie), shoes (Guess), pin (Grandma W), earrings (gift from L).

Out With a Bang! - A Whole Lotta Frosting

Okay, have to make this quick as we have to eat dinner and go to our Strata AGM. The joy.

I was happy with this outfit. After all the cake and frosting discussion (and strangely, I am not craving cake AT ALL) yesterday, I resurrected this "cake" dress:
Can you believe I haven't worn this in a year? What's wrong with me? Clearly, I am deranged.

I enjoyed playing with layers with this - button-down shirts (this one was first worn here), once my sworn enemy, are now a staple for layering under my sweater dresses (and are good for showing off L's cufflink collection).

I felt too exposed in the middle (and lumpy) from the shirt, so I added the bustier over it (last seen for Hallowe'en - look out, costume pictures), and my bigass belt. I love the striped tights with the plaid.

Iced it all with the shiny shoes, two necklaces and the cufflinks:

This just didn't look right to me without all that blingy goodness.

The stuff:

The shoes were last worn in May with my groovy London dress (here). They are up high in my closet and I totally forgot about them!

The shiny stuff:

I've worn that pair of necklaces together for years.

The cufflinks are from the 50s-70s and feature hematite (known as "Alaska black diamond" back in the day, I believe).

They are stamped "Senator" which was by Sherman:

Nice.

Dress (Vero Moda), shirt (Ann Taylor, thrifted), bustier (Le Chateau, consignment), tights (Filodoro), shoes (BCBGirls), necklaces (Plum and Jacob), earrings (Aldo Accessories), cufflinks (Senator by Sherman, vintage).

Out With a Bang! - Soaked in Yellow

Two days to go...today was my colleague Nick's last day. I worked with him for nearly five years - what a sweetie. I'm going to miss him. He's the creator of the ode to the infamous Yellow Boots, as first seen here.

Of course, I had to wear them today:
This is the second wearing of my brocade shirt (first seen here) and about the kazillionth time with the boots (seen here with links to the other wearings). I haven't worn the skirt in ages because the seam was coming undone in the back and it took me about a year to get around to hand-stitching it back up.

The skirt is "cake" (aka: a neutral basic), and the shirt and boots are "frosting" (aka: punchy accent or special pieces) - I love those terms for it! Steph explains more about that in her awesome post yesterday.

My tights (like my shirt) are bright red, not pink like they look here. Unfortunately, they popped a hole right that I could feel getting bigger and bigger all day. Buh-bye!

The stuff:

Man, I love yellow and red together. Yum!

The baubles:

My cuff that I got almost two years ago (for $3, regular $38.99 - score!) - it's a beautiful thick acrylic and it's nice and small, since most bracelets are huge on me.

Special Extra Bonus! I'm soaked!

I literally had just walked in the door and taken my picture (I took the above pics 10 minutes later). I'm dripping wet. Ah, winter on the West coast. Ya gotta love it.

Shirt (Le Chateau, consignment), skirt (Kensie), boots (Aldo, consignment), earrings (The Cobbler), cuff (thrifted).

Out With a Bang! - Colour Explosion

Today's outfit is a little more conservative than the other outfits this week (yes, I planned them all on Sunday), due to going to a WW at Work registration today at noon. I get my first little group of victims in the new year! I mean, clients, yes, that's what I meant.

However, I am proud that this outfit contains NO neutrals:
All remixed stuff: this skirt is my "mystery" skirt - I got it thrifted in Seattle in autumn 2009, and the only tag is a leaf symbol (previously worn here and here). It's a wool and silk (I can tell by the feel) tweed.

This top has only been worn once (here) because I find the shape challenging. I'm very used to clothes that work with my figure (I'm hourglass) and have a defined waist, so this dropped waist always prompts a few "hmmmm"s when I'm planning around it.

It's a silk blend, so nice and warm. I was very pleased at my solution for what to wear under it. I wanted to bring out the yellow of the flowers in the skirt, but I don't have a yellow cami in that colour, plus just a cami feels a little too bare and open on its own with this. So I layered this tie cardigan (worn here and here) underneath and safety-pinned the ends in the small of my back. Voila! I'm so clever.

Here's a look at the top:

I like the little blue sequins on the sweater.

No pic of the shoes, but they are these ones. I did my photos this morning before work. I walked to work, but didn't want to carry my knapsack, so I wore my clothes with runners - how 80s!

Sweater (The Limited, thrifted), yellow cardi (BCBG Max Azria, consignment), camisole (Smart Set), skirt (unknown brand, thrifted), shoes (Feet First, thrifted), necklace/earrings (Lavishy).

Out With a Bang! - Sky-High Red Heels

Well! This is my last week of work, and frankly, I have nothing to do. I played Free Cell for two hours this afternoon. Nothing like getting paid for doing nothing. Ha!

I decided that this week will be a theme week: Out With a Bang! I am going to wear a bunch of my most outrageous stuff...'cause when or where am I going to wear some of these things again?

Like these shoes:
Not exactly appropriate in most offices!

This is the second wear of the $3 polka dot top (first worn here, when I formally got notice that my job was over), the fourth wear of this $7 striped skirt (previously seen here), and also the fourth wear of the shoes (seen here).

I like the mix of the two black and white patterns. I also felt very "out there" with my semi-sheer black tights and these open shoes!

Inigo was not so impressed:

He's more like, "Feed me!"

The stuff:

Man, I love those heels!

I wore my classic black and white baubles:

A black rose for a (sort-of) black week.

Top (Majora, thrifted), camisole (Mexx), skirt (Linda Allard for Ellen Tracy, thrifted), shoes (Carvalo), bracelet (Le Chateau), earrings (Plum).