Super Stripes and A Fluevog A Day - Inez Sexton

Super Stripes week continues!
Today's striped item is this new-to-me jacket I got this weekend:

I took all my leftover clothes from my closet clean-out and giveaway to my last consignment store - and I got $175 in credit! Everything that's left is going to charity. This jacket was marked down to $18, which I think is a good deal. I love the colour and the subtle stripe that the corduroy adds, as well as the stand-up collar. I do love a good collar on a jacket - it really makes it.

I'm doing all subtle shades of blues and greys to go with the Fluevog of the Day:

Yup, those are pretty darned sweet. They are the Bellevues family and this style is called "Inez Sexton". I bought these at a local store - good thing, as the two Fluevog stores we visited in Vancouver had almost nothing on sale, only new Spring stuff. This style is discontinued, but you still might find some out there.

They were incredibly comfortable today, considering I had to go do my WW meeting in the middle of my work day (lugging around my suitcase of files and my massive scale is a feat!). The leather is so soft and the heel is not overly high. They do fit quite narrow - these were a size 9.5 and I had lots of room in the toe, although they fit very snug over the arch.

To Terri who asked, I've never bought anything online, much less Fluevogs. I prefer the tactile shopping experience. However, as The Waves noted, "Luckily you can also call any Fluevog store to ask for advice when ordering online. The sales assistants are always incredibly helpful and friendly!" I would definitely agree with that!

A shot of the jacket with the accessories:

The big silver buttons are awesome.

Another look at my lovely boots:

They are sort of a grey-blue and the heels have a bit of a turquoise tint to them. They came with both grey and blue laces. The lattice-work leather is a deep blue.

The soles:
It says, "Bellevue. Keep pushing West and beyond your imagination."

The stuff:

I just love that stripe. I also like how the feather earrings go so well with my Grandma's brooch.

The jacket didn't have a label, but I did find this on the inside lining:

Bonspiel! I did a search and got a whole lot of of curling (the sport) results. I did find an Etsy vendor who does funky stuff, and emailed her to see if this is one of her pieces. Edit: Hi, Ellen! I don't actually talk about my city just for privacy, but your jacket didn't make it far (Fort Street!). The jacket is called the "Leia" - love it!

On my foray to the consignment store on Sunday, I also found this trench coat:

I was immediately attracted to the thick, luxurious fabric. Then I saw the Burberry label:

Strangely, the label is sewn in upside-down. I spent about an hour online looking for "How to tell if a Burberry coat is authentic" and although I now feel terribly informed about Burberry, I don't know for sure if this is a real Burberry or not.

The lining is beautiful cotton/poly, very thick. The underside of the collar is plaid, and the plaid on the lining is lined up to the top centre of the neck (shown above). The plaid itself looks right.

Here's a better look at the label:

The font seems to be correct.

The content tag is on the inside right (when wearing) seam, thus:

Again, correct font, with serifs on the "R"s and everything.

The back of the content tag:

That's Burberry's wholsale address in NYC, and the fabric content is in a few languages. Again, that all seems right.

There was also this little tag in the left (when wearing) pocket:

I think that's the size: 10R. I don't know what the other numbers/letters mean.

Every single button on it (and all the buttons are sewn on tightly and have reinforcing buttons on the inside) says "Burberry" in the same font (serifs and everything):

The flap on the front breast side unbuttons so that the coat can be done up to the neck. There is also a large "hook and eye" right at the neck.

I looked at all the seams. There are no loose ends. This is the back of the slit in the back:

Everything seems to be sewn with care (and see how nicely the plaid lines up? not sloppy at all).

The buckle is made of leather:

What do you think? Is it real or just a good fake? It all seems fine except for that label sewn in upside-down (and it doesn't look like it's been replaced - the stitches are tiny and very precisely done). Maybe that's a manufacturer's error? That would be a pretty big error!

If it's real, it's worth several hundred dollars. If it's fake, I didn't pay much:

Yup, it was $89 and then marked down to $60. And I used my credit...so it was FREE. Score! So even if it's not authentic it's still cool.

Edit: thanks to Jody of Couture Allure for this link about upside-down labels.

Coat (Burberry, consignment), jacket (Bonspiel!, consignment), skirt (Plum), shoes (Bellevue, Inez Sexton, Fluevogs), bracelet (St. Paul's Cathedral gift shop), earrings (made locally), pin (vintage 60s, Pastelli, Grandma J).

Super Stripes and A Fluevog A Day - Sumatra Coffee

And the week begins!
Today, my stripes are on my pin-striped shirt (hard to see in the pictures, but please take my word for it):

The vest is new-to-me; I got it on consignment for $13. It's 100% cotton, but it's a really smooth, almost shiny finish. It still had the extra button in its plastic bag attached to the label, so it's never been worn.

This is my second wear of my suede skirt too (last seen here). I felt a little overdressed for work, but whatever.

Today's Fluevog of the Day are my Coffee "Sumatra" shoes:

I've worn these lots since I got them (last time here, scroll down). This style is no longer being made - Fluevog brings out new styles twice a year and discontinues most of the older styles, but you can often find similar ones in the same family (here are examples - they all have the same last, heel and toe shape). There are still shoes in the Coffee family available (check them out here). I tried on the Macchiato (it was okay, but I wasn't in love with it), and the Breva and Restretto were a little too plain for my taste.

For those of you who asked, new styles are usually cheaper to buy online from the Fluevog website, although they are still really expensive (usually $99 - over $300, with most of the shoes being in the $200 range). BUT, I have often found their shoes, especially discontinued styles, marked down quite low in other stores - and lots of boutiques carry a very small amount of what a full Fluevog store does (check it out - scroll down - even Iceland has a store that sells them!)

Be aware that Fluevogs are extremely erratic in sizing from family to family, and it really helps to try them on. I have bought all the way from an 8.5 to a 10. If you check out the comments on the shoe styles in the same family (for example, in the Macchiato you'd probably want to order a half-size larger), it can give you a better idea of how the shoe's sizing runs. These ones that I wore today are a size 10, and I usually wear a 9 or 9.5.

I also find that some styles look amazing on the website and are a little blah in person - and some styles that I wouldn't look twice at online are fantastic once you put them on your foot.

But enough jibba-jabba! Feast your eyes:

I really love those shoes - they are one of my favourite pairs - so perfect for Day 1.

The sparkly stuff:

A vintage necklace - can't remember where I got it, but I've had it for a few years - a very old gold ring with a banged-up red stone, and my square ladies wooden ring.

Shirt (Mexx, consignment), vest (Jacob, consignment), skirt (Danier, thrifted), shoes (Fluevog, Coffee "Sumatra"), necklace (vintage), ring (vintage), wood ring (consignment).

Flogging My Blog in Fluevog

Another crazy weekend! This coming week is our wedding anniversary, and is our custom most years, L and I go over to Vancouver to visit friends, do a little shopping and hit the Fluevog stores.

My outfit was purely for function:
The top is new-to-me - picked it up on consignment for $18. It's comfy soft cotton and is a small leopard print. The boots are my old standbys (easy to get on and off for shoe shopping) and the tights were essential for warmth and for trying on shoes as well.

I did wear my yellow leather jacket, fingerless gloves and a scarf with this for walking around (we did a LOT of walking), but was in a hurry to leave the house, so no pictures of the outerwear.

Top (Jones New York, consignment), skirt (InWear, consignment), boots (Aldo, consignment), belt (gift from Ruth).

Inigo did not want us to go:

Maybe he thinks if he looks cute enough we'll stay home?

Last time we went to Vancouver, for our friend's surprise 40th birthday, we took a helicopter. This time, we did the cheaper route:

A seaplane! Most people take the ferry as it's relatively cheap and you can drive your car onto it, but it's actually a huge time suck - we always end up having take an afternoon off work and stay an extra night so that we can get a decent amount of time in Van. Factoring in all the costs vs. the time, this actually worked out cheaper!

We left bright and early Saturday morning:

Goodbye, home! I sat on the wing (the plane only holds 10 people or so at a time), so that's what that is in the corner of the shot.

Looking south, we flew by many small islands:

See the line of mountains on the horizon line? That's Washington State.

This rocky island has a house on it:

I wonder if someone lives way out there.

On this island, I saw a house with a tennis court:

I scanned the water for a pod of orcas, but no luck.

We did see lots of ferries, of course:

The ferry takes an hour and thirty-five minutes and it's still over half an hour drive on each end to get to the city. The seaplane (and helicopter) only takes 35 minutes, harbour to harbour.

We also saw lots of log booms being towed by tugs:

That's a real West coast sight. The logs are felled further north on the coast, then brought down south for processing and shipping off worldwide.

Soon, the Vancouver harbour came into view:

I see Canada Place - it's the building with the white sails. And there's our float plane docks!

This morning, we went for breakfast and then headed back down for our flight home:

The moutains on the North Shore are so beautiful.

On the way back, my view was of the Canadian islands (the ones to the south are belong to the US):

Another ferry making its way from Vancouver.

And here we are, back home:

The big white mountain in the far background is Mount Baker, in the US.

But let's get back to...Fluevog:

That's their design studio - John Fluevog works there!

I was utterly charmed by the cool interior - the store is basically a glassed-in space between two heritage buildings (that were built during the Gold Rush era/late 1890s).

Check out the windows on the wall. That's of course a picture of John...but I can't keep my eyes off the shoes!

They were laid out so precisely, grouped by style, on the ground floor. The staircase on the left leads up to the design studio on the mezzanine:

That's our wonderful Fluevogologist (seriously, that's his title, I have his business card) Wes, who helped L and I try on and decide on shoes. Shout out to him, and to the two ladies we met (I hope you got the green boots - they were fabulous). I gave them all my blog business card, and laughed to L that I was flogging my blog in Fluevog.

A shot of the coloured glass panels in the ceiling:

The light streaming in made it look darker than it actually is. It's a huge open space with amazing natural light. What an inspirational environment to design in!

I bought L a pair, and he bought me two. I will be rolling those (and a couple of other pairs from two other stores in Vancouver) out over the next two weeks. Yes, two weeks - we must savour the Fluevogs and not overdo our ecstasy. I will be doing "A Fluevog A Day" so that you can see every one of my 10 pairs. I am a dedicated Fluevogophile!

But I will show you L's two pairs...just as a taste.

The first pair is from the Imperials family, the "Marquis":

They are a very dark navy blue. Dig the red lining. Such a fabulous shoe!

It has the Imperials logo on the toe:

A crown entwined with "JF" and lots of scrolly bits.

I love that Fluevog soles have detail too:

So cool.

The second pair he got was the Tokyo "Kobe":

I love the very long pointy toe (very punk) and the Angel (a long-time Fluevog motif) buckle on the strap.

Of course, the bottoms are special too:

"Tokyo" with John's signature.

Please note that I did not get any compensation from Fluevog, discounts on shoes or anything other than great service - I link because I love.

In addition to doing "A Fluevog A Day"....

I have all my outfits planned for the next two weeks - I'm exhausted!

Happy Friday! Plaid Casual

My new company does jeans day, so I wanted to ease them into Casual Friday, Sheila Style:
Plaid dress (first seen here), skinny jeans and my good ol' black boots.

The fabric on this dress is so thin it layers easily over my pants.

I did my rocker cuff and my crazy black chainlink necklace for some pizzazz.

Today, I also debuted my new messenger bag:

I had to wrap up the ends of the strap with some hockey tape so it didn't flap around, but isn't that front panel amazing? The design is called "tattoo" - the bag itself is by Licence 71195 and was on for half price at $29.50.

Gotta dash! Have a great weekend!

Dress (Kensie), jeans (Jackpot, swap from Caro), boots (Aldo, consignment), earrings (Aldo Accessories), necklace (Club Monaco), cuff (vintage).

St. Patty's Day Greens

I love having a holiday that begets dressing up right when starting a new job. It's my excuse to break out a little. Today, it was colour mixing and a touch of bigass: This is a new-to-me Talbot's shirt - it's 100% cotton and wrinkles if I even look at it, but I love the slightly olive tone to it and the tux details on the front. It was $10.50 thrifted.

I just now realized that the skirt is also a Talbot's item - I've had it for about 3 years and just love it (last seen here).

A close-up of the top half:

The collar of the shirt is actually mandarin - I folded it down to make a V to show off the (doubled up) necklace).

My bigass-ery is the rose and the shoes (naturally).

The stuff: You can see a bit more of the ribbon trim on the tux front of the shirt there. This is the second wear of the shoes (last seen here).

Close-up of the bling:

I did a mix of copper, orange and green. And isn't that a realistic-looking fabric rose?

Blouse (Talbot's, thrifted), vest (Vero Moda), skirt (Talbot's, consignment), shoes (Marc Fisher), rose (Roberta's Hats), necklace and earrings (Plum), jade ring (vintage, Mom's).

I miss being able to leisurely browse all your blogs - thank you so much for continuing to read and comment! - but I am back to minimal non-work computer time. And tonight, I have to dash off to Book Club.

I changed, since I'm walking there:

Of course, green boots are required!

Sweater (Max Studio), cami (Smart Set), jeans (Jackpot, swap from Caro), boots (Pegabo), same jewelry as above.