Feb 20th - Outfit #18 - Capsule Day 1 - Teal and Purple

Day 1 of the Capsule Challenge is here! And this is what I wore:

 The Desigual coat (last worn here on Day 1 of the February 12 For 12 challenge), the turquoise sweater (last seen here), the old workhorse, the plum skirt (here) and the Fly London shoes (here).

My purple belt is one of the my 5 allowed accessories:

And the bigass black chain necklace completes it.

Oh, I nearly forgot - check out Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style!

Coat (Desigual), sweater (Kersh), skirt and belt (Plum), shoes (Fly London), necklace (Club Monaco).

Challenge Within a Challenge - My 10-Item Capsule Wardrobe

I've been doing the Wardrobe Challenges put on by Jane at The Small Fabric of My Life since 2008 - by my count, this is the 5th Capsule Wardrobe Challenge. 

The rules:

• Between Feb 20th and Feb 24th you need to choose 10 items from your wardrobe including skirts, dresses, tops, knitwear, and shoes to mix and match.
• You can add five accessories such as scarves, but hosiery, jewellery and underwear is not included.
• Outerwear is not included as it is still very cold.

This is the first time that jewelry hasn't been limited to being one of the five accessories, so I'm pretty excited about that! 

I had a hard time picking out 10 clothing and shoe choices from my small 30-item February wardrobe, so my mix may not be as creative as it has been in years past, but we'll see if I can come up with some more interesting ways to wear these 10 items. I'm always up for a challenge!

Without further ado...my items are:

1. The Desigual coat.

  

2. The leather shirt

3. The turquoise sweater

4. The Burberry white shirt

5. The brown wool sweater

6. The purple skirt

7. The black asymmetrical skirt

8. The cropped jeans

9. and 10. The Fly London green shoes and the leopard flats

Accessories (limited to 5). 1. Purple belt, and 2. Leopard scarf.

I've only selected two accessories so far - I might add things as the week goes on to make five total.

So, what do you think? Could you make five outfits out of this assortment?

If you're interested, check out my capsules of previousWardrobe Challenges here (scroll down to "Wardrobe Challenges and Theme Weeks").

Feb 19th - Outfit #17 - Out for a Stroll

I didn't intend to go out today, but since I had to get groceries anyway, I thought I'd have a longer stroll and go down to the plaza where one of my favourite consignment shops was. 

I ran into Leslie aka Hostess of the Humble Bungalow having a browse there - such a small town! I ended up with a vintage scarf purchased from another store but no clothes this time. Maybe this challenge is helping me restrain myself! 

A casual look for this blazer, making this its third wear. My cropped jeans make their fifth appearance, and the blue tee gets worn for the second time.

No one saw me in the outfit without the jacket buttoned up, but this is what it looked like.

The boots were great for walking - I've given them quite a beating over the two years I've had them, and they are due for a polish. This is their fourth wear this month.

It started out clear with patches of sun - it felt like spring!

Unfortunately that didn't last and I was pretty chilly for the walk home.

Blazer (David Findlay, thrifted), tee (H&M, thrifted), jeans (Jackpot, swap from Caro), boots (Miz Mooz), bag (License), scarf (Danier leather), gloves (Club Monaco).

However, signs of spring were everywhere, from bunches of snowdrops...

To crocuses blooming.

You can see a few tulip and daffodil buds pushing up. Those are the next flowers we'll see in abundance.

One of the things I love about Victoria is the lovely heritage houses. This house actually has "Heritage" status.

I like the little balcony up on the roof.

The semi-Tudor look of this house appeals to me: 

This type of manicured garden is pretty popular; I prefer more overgrown ones.

These two kitties checked me out as I walked past their driveway:

The grey one looks quite cranky, doesn't he?

My absolute favourite in the spring is the plum and cherry blossoms:

Another week or two, some sunny days, and the first round of them will be in full glory.

Spring is on the way!

Hope you are having a fun weekend!

Feb 17th & 18th - Outfits #15 & 16 - Casual Friday (and a Hockey Game) and Lunch Out

Another week over! I keeping with my informal policy of not being very casual on Casual Friday, I gussied myself up.

My second wearing of a vest over jacket - I really liked the look of it again. I am looking forward to trying this out with more of my snugger blazers.

This is the second appearance of the denim blazer (last seen here), and also the second time 'round for the leather vest (first worn here).

I definitely felt like I gave bottoms short shrift this month; next month, there will be more than only 6! Although I like this skirt, I think I will probably consign it after this month. It gets very wrinkly, especially after sitting. This is its second wear in February.

I wore a vintage half-slip under this, along with tights, and striped knee socks.

Why, you ask? Because my company had a social club event last night: Victoria Royals hockey - and hockey arenas are cold! It was lots of fun, and the Royals won.

The stuff:

I absolutely love these booties, and I've learned that I don't have to match them to everything I'm wearing. They are awesome enough to stand on their own! This is only the second wear for these as well (last seen here, a couple of weeks ago).

Vest (Cabi, thrifted), jacket (Bisou Bisou, consignment), skirt (Sandwich, consignment), belt (Club Monaco), boots (Bellevues Libby Smith, Fluevog), earrings (Plum).

Today, even though I really didn't want to, I got up early and went to my WW meeting. *sigh* I'm up, over my goal weight. It wasn't really a surprise; I have been overindulging lately. I've set myself the challenge to lose 7 lbs, maintain it for two weeks in a row...and then I can book my next tattoo!

Anyway, today was very rainy, which made it even harder to get out of bed.

I really liked how this outfit turned out. Hurray for red legs! We met up with Nick and Chris and Alison for lunch, then L and I did some errands. The rest of the weekend is going to be nice and quiet. Ah....

This is my second wear of this cardigan (last seen here), the red sweater (here) and the third wear of the grey velvet skirt (just worn on Wednesday).

The top picture shows the reds much better.

My Cydwoqs are getting the most wear of nearly everything in my capsule - this is the fourth wear (worn with the skirt here).

A shot of my outerwear:

I match the cats' red mousie.

I love this trenchcoat. It's a classic.

Cardigan (Kersh, consignment), sweater (Reitman's, thrifted), skirt (Club Monaco), shoes (Cydwoq), chainmail necklace (locally made), watch necklace (Plum). Outerwear: trenchcoat (Jacob), scarf (Danier Leather, thrifted), gloves (Parkhurst), umbrella (Cheeky), bag (Licence).

Feb 16th - Outfit #14 - Peacock Poop and Dad's Birthday

Today is my Dad's birthday. He would have been 70 this year - he was 55 when he died. For his birthday most years, we would always meet up after work and go for dinner at a pub, then go to an action movie. He would get Bridge Mix and I got popcorn. He was so embarrassing - he talked to the screen! "Oh, look out!" Hee, I remember "Cliffhanger" and "Judge Dredd." I always like to watch a trashy action movie around his birthday to remember that.

I had to plan my outfit around the new streak in my hair, right? 

My lovely dark green and brown blazer with the copper thread gets a second wearing, my asymmetrical black skirt gets worn for the third time this month, and the very fly Fly Londons are back, last seen at Outfit #1!

This time I wore the blazer done up:

It has the best shape - it was a pleasure to wear.

I had a long sleeved layering tee underneath (a green one, in case it peeked out a bit), and a vintage full slip for warmth and non-tight creep. Speaking of tights, these actually had a huge hole on the calf that I didn't notice until I got to work. Dang!

The stuff:

The necklace is reversible; it has a silver bird on a blue turquoise background on the other side.

My hair went over well at work today. The women liked it quite a lot; the men mostly either ignored it or made a joke of it.

"Hey, what's that you've got in your hair?"

"Oh, a bird got me on the way to work. A peacock," I said. Har dee har har.

*****

I've had a couple of people ask me how the challenge is going. Well...it's challenging! I will be doing a month-end summary and analyze how things went, and will have a vote for the favourite outfit.

Anyway, I have all these thoughts about it on a short and long-term basis. Should I be planning what month to wear what? What about a colour theme? More shoes? Less shoes? Should I purge now at the end of winter or wait till next year? What if I don't wear all the Smoking Lily I bought this month until next month? I usually wear all my new clothes right away - won't that be weird? Will I lose readers because I don't have as many "new outfits"? Will people complain? What Fluevogs should I buy in March in Vancouver? What am I going to wear out of the 30 items in this capsule wardrobe for next week's 10 item capsule wardrobe??

Jacket (David Findlay, thrifted), skirt (Morena, consignment), shoes (Fly London), bird ring/earrings/necklace (Lavishy), sun ring (Nine West).


Vizzini was blocking me from leaving the den this morning:

He's a little blurry because he never stops moving.

He sits so funny, like a kangaroo.

Feb 15th - Outfit #13 - Shades of Grey (and a Streak of Turquoise)

Putting this jacket into the challenge limited the bottoms I could do it with; only the purple brocade skirt, the black skirt and this grey skirt actually work with it. I do have more than one black skirt (I have several), so I can wear it with other things, but it's not exactly a wardrobe staple. I might wear it one more time this month, I'm thinking.

It was frigid out this morning - I'm surprised you can't see my breath in that picture! Everything was rimed with frost.

I liked how the paler grey of the skirt brought out the lighter grey in the brocade of the jacket.

They are actually a closer match than the pictures make them seem; the skirt is so shiny that it picks up hints of other colours around me.

The stuff:

Well, there isn't any stuff. I wore a pair of white gold earrings and that's it.

I am seriously in love with these Cydwoqs. They are so comfortable!

This is a late blog entry. I am starving as I had a long hair appointment tonight. I had a little something put in my hair:

Wee! I love the turquoise against the red. I can't wait to show it off at work tomorrow.

Jacket (Naughty), skirt (Club Monaco), shoes (Cywoq).

Feb 14th - Outfit #12 - Red and Caramel - Valentine's Day

Happy V-Day! I hope you are all spending time with someone you love (even if that someone is you). 

I had to wear some red for Valentine's Day:

My red jacket, the painty blouse and this caramel skirt which I am rapidly getting tired of (last seen here). I basically wore this whole outfit except for the skirt here.

I liked the curvy silhouette:

But it wasn't all that comfortable for running around in. I wish either the top or the bottom half of the outfit was looser.

Vizzini inspects my shoes:

I do adore the shoes, though. And you can't go wrong with a rose, even if it's just a zipper rose.

Jacket (French Connection, thrifted), blouse (The Limited, thrifted), skirt (Precis Petite, thrifted), shoes (I [heart] Billy), belt (Plum), rose (Victoria & Albert Museum gift shop).

Feb 13th - Outfit #11 - Purple Mix and the Octo-Coat

Another week is upon us! And that means more outfits from my itty-bitty capsule wardrobe.

Today, I mixed up a bunch of non-matching things:

This is the second wear of my leather shirt, the third wear of the purple brocade skirt, the third wear of the taupe tank and the second wear of the boots.

With all the Smoking Lily stuff I picked up on the weekend (and can't wear yet, arg!), I had it on my mind, so I dug out this cool obi belt:

I've worn it many, many times, last time here as a hat-band for my steampunk outfit.

I don't know if this outfit totally works; maybe the skirt is too poufy, but oh well. Live and learn.

I do get to wear my crème de la crème Smoking Lily find:

Behold, the Octo-Coat! This double-breasted coat is made of thick denim-weight cotton which is fleece on the inside for extra cosiness. It also has a hood, but no pose with that, as I look like Emperor Palpatine with the hood up.

I love that the back of it is nicely tailored to dip in at a woman's waist:

I am completely enamoured of it. Swoon! It was on sale for $168.00, regular $240.00. I was told by the lady in the store that they only made about a dozen of these in all. Sweet. It's called the Pippa coat, and here's their blog entry about it.

You can't see it very well in the pictures above, but look what it has all over it:

Rar! He's giving you a very nasty look. Octopi are native to this area of the West Coast (if you ever go scuba-diving around here, you'd probably see some). They are very smart creatures - I hope wearing them will grant me special cognitive powers!

The stuff:

I wore my Grandma J's vintage 80s necklace to pull in the grey and gold bits of the obi.

Shirt (Danier Leather, thrifted), tank sweater (Ellen Tracey, swap from Caro), skirt (Plum), tights (Miss Sixty), obi (Smoking Lily, consignment), boots (Miz Mooz), necklace (Anne Klein, vintage 80s, Grandma J's), coat (Smoking Lily).

Feb 11th - Wild Card Outfit - Festivus Party!

As I noted in my original rules for the 30 For 30 For 12 Challenge, I'm allowed one "Wild Card" outfit per month, for special events (or maybe if I'm just dying to wear something else!?). Last night was our "F**k Valentine's, it's Festivus" party, and I really wanted to wear this new-to-me dress that I got a few weeks ago:

Isn't the print wild? I love the painty floral look of it. The cut is also extremely flattering to the midsection!

I also wanted to wear my lovely Tierre Joline hat again:

I ended up taking my shoes off after a couple hours, and the hat as well (it was making my head hot).

The dress was $34 on consignment.

Not bad for Lauren by Ralph Lauren.

I liked this detail about it:

No bra strap slippage! Awesome!

Dress (Lauren by Ralph Lauren, consignment), hat (Tierre Joline), shoes (Me Too), bangle (thrifted), earrings/ring (Lavishy).