Casual Friday - Jungle & Denim

White jacket (Jacob), jungle print wrap t-shirt (Jacob), jeans (Esprit), white and brown wedge shoes (Aerosoles), leather studded belt, wood earrings & bracelet, straw and leather bag.
Ooh, I look all awake. I must have taken this picture in the morning. A shot with the outerwear and bag:
And a shot post-haircut. We are "going big" and emphasizing the natural curl I have in my hair. I'm sure there's curl somewhere since when my hair grows out, wonky bits go every which way.
Friday was a crappy day. And I have been painting our bathroom for what feels like all weekend. I'm exhausted.

A Meditation on Brown - Ruffles and Tweed

Red bolero jacket (Vero Moda), cream sleeveless ruffled front bow blouse (Vero Moda), brown tweed skirt (Kenzie), brown peeptoe oxfords (Unlisted), faux Gucci eelskin bracelet (gift), gold ethnic earrings.
The cream blouse is the new item. I'd been looking for a cream top with ruffles or lace detailing at the neck (following the Victorian trend), but couldn't find the right top. Spotted this, by one of my favourite brands, Vero Moda, on sale at the Bay last Friday and snapped it up. Of course, gotta love the bow at the back of the neck:
My featured brown today is the tweed skirt. This is a wool/linen blend and the tweed has little flecks of orange, red, blue, green and yellow in it, so it pairs well with pretty much any colour.

I love these shoes, although L thinks they look weird because of the way the wedge curves in (my footprint in these is really odd looking):
I forgot I owned the bracelet! Mom and Dad bought this for me in Italy about oh...20 years ago. Wow, it's really been that long. Of course, it's not really Gucci (the Gs are going the wrong way), but it is actually eelskin and it's 24K gold plated (at least, that's what it says inside).

And Now For Something Completely Different...What I Wore to Beck

Frayed tweed wool jacket with detachable hoodie (Oxmo), black cami (InWear), black sleeveless t-shirt (Jacob), green cords (Esprit), checkered Vans, silver triple hoop earrings. Yee haw! We're off to see Beck in concert tonight, so naturally, this calls for a change of clothes. Must be: comfortable, suit the artist (ie. not Judas Priest), and be walkable since it's only a 20 minute walk to the venue.


This jacket is one of my favourite purchases of the last couple of years. The hoodie and sweatshirt-looking front zip out so you can wear just the tweed part. Love it! And check out the pretty detailing on the back:
Birds! In beads!

A Meditation on Brown: With Pattern and Black

Black shrug (Debut), patterned sleeveless blouse (I.N.C.), brown pants (Mac & Jac), red peeptoe platforms (Le Chateau), gold hoop earrings, hammered gold cuff.
Featured items: the new shrug and the brown pants.

I do love a shrug - they are indispensable (especially in black) for wearing with sleeveless shirts, blouses and sweaters for work, as well as strappy dresses for evening, when you don't want to wear a strapless bra or show your shoulders (not appropriate in the workplace most of the time). I had a black shrug a few years ago, but it was given away when I lost weight as it was too big.

The brown pants are a beautiful fit - they are a nice crepe weave with some stretch to them. They do hang a bit low, though, so I'm going to have to wear a belt with them. They replace my old brown pants that were a purchase prior to losing the last 10 pounds - gave 'em to Ruth.

I adore this blouse - it is an extravagant purchase for me, being pure silk and not washable, but I watched until it went on final clearance at the Bay & managed to snag it (the last one was in my size! Woo!) for around $26. Regular price was $78, I think. Considering I have to dry clean it (boo, hiss) every few wears, I'm not paying full price.

A Meditation on Brown - Brown, Lace and Turquoise

Turquoise jacket (consignment, Gap), brown satin blouse (Esprit), cream cami (Vero Moda), brown lace pencil skirt (Planet), Cruise Ship Shoes (Franco Sarto), leopard belt (Plum), gold filigree earrings).
As you know, I love brown and turquoise together - it has to be one of the best colour combinations out there. So, as I was matching up stuff for brown-based outfits, of course, I pulled my new favourite jacket into this ensemble. The brown satin blouse is the new purchase. I always get cold at work (even in the summer), so I wore the jacket for most of the day, but I had a contingency plan in case I got warm:
Voila! Transformed into another outfit, just by untucking and belting the blouse! I resisted doing the leopard pumps with this - grrr, it was hard! But I thought the Cruise Ship Shoes worked better, since the light tan picked up that same colour in the belt and the stitching on the jacket.

A Meditation on Brown: Casual Monday - With Turquoise and Red

Brown/turquoise/red pattern blouse (Mexx), denim pencil skirt (Smart Set), brown belt with shiny gold buckle (Plum), turquoise shoes (Jeffrey Campbell), red bead bracelet, gold disc earrings.

I'm doing brown as a theme this week, exploring some of the many ways it works in my wardrobe (okay, I bought a lot of stuff with brown in it during my shopping trip, so I'm showing it off). I've always been a fan of this nice rich, chocolately brown, and it lends itself well as a neutral.

Today: with turquoise and red, one of my very favourite combinations.
I fell in love with this blouse (the tailoring on it is fab), not even realizing that it's the exact same pattern as my white patterned Mexx skirt that I bought months ago! Check it out: http://sheilaephemera.blogspot.com/2008/08/consignment-week-deja-vu-but-with.html
It looks totally different with a brown background!

A close-up of the accessories:
I know the pink leather interior of the shoes clashes something awful, but they are just so fantastic. Repeating the red bead bracelet from Friday.

Casual Friday - Shopping Clothes

Black and white blouse (consignment), pale grey pants (The Gap), black jacket (Simply Manakin), black kitten heels (Kenneth Cole Reaction), red-orange wood rose earrings, red bead bracelet, blue bag.
Elaine and I planned a shopping trip last night after work, so I had to factor that in to what I wore yesterday. Must be able to walk in the shoes, must be able to slip the clothes on and off easily. Accessories must not get in the way when trying stuff on, and must not snag on the clothes.
I felt nice and comfy in this all day. I quite like these pants, even though the light colour tends to make me feel that my thighs look large.

We had a great shopping trip. Elaine got a grey wool cropped jacket, a cropped green jacket and a great cream and black dress (don't take it back!). Some great sales on. I got a new pair of brown trousers to replace my Plum ones, which are too big, a brown satin blouse, a brown/turquoise/orange patterned blouse, a cream ruffle-front blouse, a black shrug, and a blue satin turquoise dress.

I will be planning all my outfits this week to show off my new purchases. I'm trying to stock up on basics, getting ready for fall.

Prim and Proper - The Bum Skirt and the Betty Rubble Bracelet

White shirt (Plum), blue/green/white silk & cotton skirt (consignment, Club Monaco), leather 2-buckle belt (Jacob), black kitten heels (Wild Diva), green stone and bead bracelet (handmade gift), silver hoop earrings.
I usually don't do the white cotton shirt - I just am not a fan of it on me. I realize lots of women swear by it, but I just don't find it all that exciting. However, there are times when it comes in darned handy, like when you have a skirt that goes with NOTHING.

I absolutely love this skirt. I got it at my favourite consignment store about a year ago - it was brand new, still had the tags on it, only $26. For Club Monaco?? Crazy! Regular price was over a hundred bucks. The pattern and colours are lovely, but nearly impossible to match, so I tend to wear this with either black or white or both.

I actually refer to this as the "bum skirt" because I accidently flashed one of my co-workers last summer when a gust of wind pouffed the skirt up and exposed my bum. Why you should re-think wearing a thong with a full skirt...

Close-up of the belt and bracelet.

My friend Greg's ex-wife made the bracelet for me. I'm not really sure why, since we weren't friends (I liked her, don't get me wrong, but we didn't hang out or anything). I think of it as my Betty Rubble bracelet.

Am I the only one who names my clothes and accessories?

Casual Wednesday - Denim and Purple

Long grey jacket (Ricki's), purple ruffle front blouse (Esprit), jeans (Esprit), purple shoes (Bronx), black/silver bracelet and earrings.

Do I look tired? I am tired.
Not a lot of effort in the outfit. I wanted to wear this blouse, which is sleeveless, so I needed a jacket. Due to the ruffly-front nature of the blouse, I chose this jacket. Then the jeans, and of course, being the matchy-matchy chick I am, gotta do the purple shoes. Ta dah!

I love these shoes. These are my Ruth shoes, since we have the same ones. Nice texture on the jacket and good buttons - pretty good quality for Ricki's.

Note to self: go to bed earlier than 1am on a weeknight.

Blue and Yellow Silk

Blue silk sweater (I.N.C.), yellow patterned silk skirt (Kenzie), crystal chain belt, crystal dangle earrings, silver flats (Nicole).

Man, my hair is just sucking royally lately - I hate this growning out stage. I'm getting it cut next Friday - I hope Lucy can save me from Dorothy Hamill hell.

I just felt like wearing this skirt today - it's such a luscious shade of buttery yellow and I love the pattern and bling. Close up of the pattern, along with the belt:
Brown, two shades of turquoise, that nice Easter egg purple and little sequins & crystals. Gorgeous. And I have the only one like it, since it's a sample and they never made any more. Wee!

Ruth, thanks for all the comments - I'm still trying to find them all. Damn this blog for not telling me what post the comments belong to.

Black and Fuscia - A Small Continuation of Consignment Week

Tie-front black cardigan (Vero Moda), multi-coloured patterned blouse (consignment), black shadow-stripe pencil skirt (InWear), black sling backs (Naturalizer), silver bracelet & earrings (Fossil).
This blouse is from the consignment shop of last weekend - I'd put together outfits for all of the things I got and made a total of 6 outfits, so this one's the leftover. I was going to do it with a grey pencil skirt, but I'm feeling iffy about that particular skirt right now, so went with the black one instead.

Special Occasion - Art Gallery

Aqua dress (Kersh), silver shoes (Nicole), yellow pattent clutch (Expressions), silk mult-coloured scarf (The Bay), silver hoops necklace & crystal studs earrings.Elaine and I did the art gallery today - a showing of some of Andy Warhol's stuff, from his early works to the pop stuff like the Marilyns. Pretty cool.

It's pretty warm out today and I wanted to dress appropriate to the Pop Art theme. Love the comfort of this dress.

I dyed my hair this morning, but I'm just hating the style right now, so am doing whatever I can to just make it do something. This scarf has hot pink, yellow, aqua and some other colours & I like the way it looks with the dress.

Fun!