Lacroix Dress Flashback, Guest Star, and a Present Under the Tree

 Happy Friday! It's been a quiet couple of days here, with L and I mostly watching football (yesterday) and Netflix (recommendation: Derry Girls), and playing board games. 

I really needed to get groceries today, so I headed downtown only to find the police arresting someone outside the store for refusing to wear a mask and threatening the staff. Unfortunately (unrelated to the arrest), the store wasn't doing deliveries today, so I caught a cab home with my groceries after. 

• Dress - Desigual by Christian Lacroix, thrifted; last seen here for my birthday week in October 2019
• Boots - Matisse, consignment; last worn here in November
• Leather coat (below) - Danier Leather, consignment; last seen here (4th outfit) in February

I easily would have worn this dress before now - it's a regular work and/or weekend shopping dress - but with fewer days at work, and choosing to shop less, it's taken me a little longer to get around to it. 

Although it doesn't have any pockets, it's firmly in the "jammy dress" category. One and done! 

We'll have a Flashback on it shortly. How many different ways can you wear a dress like this? We shall see!

The dress is a Desigual piece and shockingly, the back of it is not solid black. 

That's a constant beef I have with that company (and any other designers who do that) - I hate when the back of a patterned garment is solid. We're seen on all sides! Carry that pattern around, please! 

Masked up - I went with this leopard one from Lazy Susan's. 

I was out for less than an hour. 

Outerwear. Oh, yes, I re-purpled my hair in the shower this morning (it'll fade - it's not permanent colour). 

My lovely thermal insulated leather coat gets its first outing. It was a good find last year.

I'm also wearing a new pair of olive green fleece-lined tights (I bought everything Dots had). 

By the time I got to town, I was already overheated, and unzipped the jacket and shoved my gloves in my purse. 

• Gloves - Parkhurst

The stuff: 

I took my boots off when I got home and switched to slippers, but I'm leaving the rest on all day/evening. Poor L usually is subjected to my much more casual "around the house" clothes when we hang out, so he deserves a nice outfit for a change. 

Weighty bling:

The belt is leather and chain mesh, with massive brass decorations over a sisal-type of material. It weight a ton. 

• Belt - Sand Castle, thrifted
• Amber ring - c. 1996
• Feather ring - Fossil, thrifted
• Earrings - thrifted

Before we get to the Flashback, I have a special guest star - Ally of Shybiker! 

We had a Zoom video visit today and chatted for over an hour! So great to see you again, honey! Let's do it again soon! 

Flashback: Christian Lacroix for Desigual Dress

I found this dress at the big WIN (Women in Need) store in January 2016, so it's nearly 5 years old in my closet.

I spotted the amazing pattern immediately in the slew of black dresses. What is this interesting creature? 

I adore the abstract floral/honeycomb design, most of which is just printed on the dress. However, it also has some nice embroidery detail on the front mid-chestal region section. 

Outlined yellow leaves and the red leaves directly below them are embroidered and beaded. The areas that are near them and look beaded actually aren't - they are just an optical illusion. You can also see the stripes of sparkly gold thread that run through the entire garment.

My original picture of the label and price tag are rather fuzzy, but I knew that face from previous research. Lacroix left haute couture in 2009 and has been collaborating with Desigual since 2011. 

At $24.00, this seemed a bit pricey at the time, but now feels  like a bargain. Funny how you get used to dresses being $9-10 in thrift stores and higher prices feel outrageous. I'm so out of touch with retail pricing, don't even get me started on the sticker-shock I have in actual stores! 

This dress is from 2013 or slightly before (I found this post here from Vancouver's Angel Boutique - hey, it's supposed to have a beaded belt! - link 'cause I love) and it likely would have been around $150-200+ new. 

I wore it right away in January 2016, pairing it with my lovely caramel boots. 

I nearly wore those yellow sparkly tights today! I still have them, and that tooled leather belt too. 

I think I'm wearing a gold belt here in March 2016, but "someone" is blocking the shot. 

"I'm more important than your belt, Woman. Also, your earrings look tasty." 

Ooh, I'm all Legs McGee there! Those shoes were Flashbacked here. 

I basically just pick out colours from the pattern for my tight/belt/shoes, as I did again here in April 2016. Same tights as above. Wow, my hair is short there! 

I can tell I'm going shopping because I'm not wearing a belt to cover the elastic waist. It's a great piece for shopping because it just pulls on over my head. Boots Flashback here. 

Same tights again in November 2016 - I have actually never worn this bare-legged as it just feels too short to expose my thighs in.

Hello, L! We are going out for brunch, and I'm totally going shopping after (no belt, walking shoes). I don't have those shoes anymore, but they were awesome for many years - I do remember I only paid $2.00 for them, and they were Italian-made leather. 

I really grooved on those rust-coloured tights for a long time (and I just checked: I still have them!). 

This is a work outfit (you can tell by the belt and my "profesh" hair) from November 2017. After my initial flurry of outfits in my first year, I relegated it to fall/winter only. Why? The tights thing and the more autumnal colour palette. 

Here's another work outfit in March 2018, and it's the first time I layered a jacket over it. 

"Who are we talking to again?"

I am wearing nylons there. The dark bottle green jacket was passed along to Caro. 

A rear view from October 2018. 

Nothing exciting to see - just brown tights and cowboy boots. I'm going shopping.

I tried a different colour of tights in December 2018 - the pattern has tons of colours in it, but I tend to default to rust, brown, and yellow. 

I don't think the wine colour quite works. Those boots got a Flashback here. 

That didn't stop me from wearing the same tights again in February 2019 for some Weight Watchers in-person training (I really don't miss that!). 

I added my matching leather obi and my dark red walking boots - L and I went for lunch after. 

And here's the last time I wore it, to work in October 2019 during my birthday week, when I wore all my most favourite things. 

The shoes are browny-burgundy, and again, I'm wearing nylons. 

Mathy stuff: Today's outfit marks the 11th time I've worn it, bringing me to $2.18 per wear. Excellent! And it still has oodles of potential. 

What would you wear with it? I'm intrigued by finding out it originally came with a beaded turquoise-patterned belt, but I'm not sure how blue or turquoise would go with it.

And now, I will leave you with this present I discovered under one of the trees yesterday. I hadn't even plugged the tree in yet (I do it once it gets dark out). 

"What? Where's the present? Is it for me?"

Vizzini has mostly been good about the lit trees so far, although he's experimentally tried chewing on the branches to see if he gets a reaction from me (no, but I've gently shoved him away, and have also distracted him with a brush). 

"Oh, I get it. I'M the present. What a rip-off."

I'm a little nervous - L and I will be unpacking all the ornaments Saturday after brunch, and there are some very tasty tempting things that I'm sure he will want to bite. Wish us luck! I'll have loads of pics from the final decorating surge for your bigass Sunday wrap-up, so please pop by later on this weekend to check it all out. 

Take care, my friends! 

Turquoise and Silver Space Boots; Lighting the Trees

Hello, my friends! A very Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US - we'll be watching football and eating homemade chili and raising a glass to the south of the border. Today was my Friday - I'm now off work till Monday.

I built this outfit around the boots - a nice solid to show them off is what I wanted, and this gorgeous dress called to me. 

• Dress - Calvin Klein, thrifted; first worn here in March with brocade boots and snakes
• Boots - Teleport, purchased here for $75.00
• Coat (below) - L'Atiste, consignment, Vancouver; last seen here a week ago

I know the colour is confusing - it looks very aqua in the stair picture, but more cerulean in the indoor shots. It is more of a turquoise, so just combine the two shades in your head. 

My coworker Camille loved it - so nice to see another fashionable person! 

Just silver boots with a blue dress would be too boring for me, and with the shoes having that open tongue, the outfit was just crying for some funky tights.

I briefly considered grey before my eye alit on these floral beauties. They even have a bit of aqua in them. 

Masked up - this is a very matchy one from Lazy Susan's. 

I had a Zoom call with Mom yesterday and she has some pink ones ready for me - exciting! 

Speaking of pink...

This is one of my "sets" of winter accessories - it's very useful to have all matchy pieces. 

• Cashmere beret - Club Monaco, thrifted
• Fur scarf - thrifted
• Leather gloves - consignment

The stuff: 

My coworker Keith immediately dubbed these Space Boots, but I was singing "Silver Bells Boots" to myself all day. 

Floral bling: 

The necklace matched the tights so well!

• Necklace - thrifted
• Silver/amethyst ring - vintage mall
• Amber ring - c. 1996
• Earrings - Plum

Christmas Stuff: Trees, Garland, Lights and Some Odds and Ends

Yesterday, I got to work on getting the Christmas trees, garlands and lights up, and I unpacked a few things that I came across. 

This is my main full-size tree, a 7.5' slender (as we said in the business). I like a skinnier tree so that it doesn't take up as much room. 

I also found a 9' section of garland already decorated with lights, along with a mini 2' tree with some coloured lights. 

I considered re-lighting the garland, but by the time I got to it, I had none of my new lights left. I did re-light the tree. 

I discovered that I already had some LED lights, so I set my old lights aside. 

I store them looped up and wrapped around themselves, like the extension cords behind them. They never tangle. 

This is my smaller tree, which replaces one I previously had that I sold when I got the bigger tree. I used to do just this tree for a while. 

This one is only 10 years old; the tall one is around 25 years old. 

No pictures of Vizzini, as he made himself scarce during all of this. I worked on it for about 6 hours. 

I had planned on putting that long green garland on the floor up on the curtain valance - I did that once when we moved in, but I'd had to staple-gun the garland up then and I didn't want to do that again. 

Woo, these new LED white lights are BRIGHT. 

We don't need any lamps on at this end of the living room!

I've secured the tree with some strong wire, which is wrapped around this middle section of wall and outside to the deck and back. Just because I have visions of Vizzini launching himself at the tree! 

Our doors don't properly seal - I want to replace them, but they are a building envelope thing, so we have to wait for our Strata to have the budget to do it. However, it does mean I can close and lock the deck doors, and the wire doesn't get in the way. 

I ended up lighting the green garland with some older coloured LED lights that I found, and wrapping it around the TV shelf. 

I anchored it at the top under the turntable and the centre channel speaker. I had the Food Network on all day while I worked on this, watching Christmas baking competition shows. I don't do any Christmas baking, but I like watching other people do it. 

This is a good spot for the tree - I'm happy with it. 

I feel so merry! So sparkly! 

I decided that the tree's plain white lights were a little overwhelming so I added a few strings of deep blue overtop of the white. 

It'll get the decorations on it this weekend, probably. 

I made a display area on top of this bookcase. There's the mini tree re-lit. 

I laid that garland along the gap between the shelf and the wall (it's out from the wall a bit due to the outlet back there). 

The small tree is all lit. 

This is usually my Star Wars/Star Trek tree, but I'm not sure if I'll do that this year. 

I found these four little tins with the houses inside. the trees, the people and the clear acrylic snowman are stored with them. 

The houses are actually ornaments for hanging, but I like them as their own wee village. We have Mrs. Claus' Bakery, the Teddy Bear Factory, the North Pole Mercantile and the Wish Processing Department. 

Many of my items are things that were broken or not quite right, and instead of marking them down (we didn't do a sale area), my boss would often say, "Take it home."

Which is how I acquired these two music boxes on either side of the mystery nutcracker. 

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with this one, though. There are two elves that circle the snoozing Santa in his Workshop Office, and the the fellow on the floor scrubs back and forth. 

I do not know where this mystery nutcracker came from - he must have been a gift at some point, and I just shoved him into the closet. 

He's missing a nose! 

This music box is actually hilariously broken. The music plays at a sped-up tempo, and the Santa and reindeer whirl around the rooftops at breakneck speed! 

The two pairs of elves race around the tree and snowman. It lasts for about 3 seconds, until the music box winds down. 

I bought these Santas from my store - they are all by the same porcelain artist, Jacqueline Pickard. 

She bought the moulds, poured the porcelain, fired them, and painted them. The left one was $35.00, the middle one was $49.95, and the angels sold for $24.95. How do I still remember that???

The Santa in the middle is my favourite - this was the first one she made, and she never painted them as elaborate again. The angel was a gift from her. 

They are all marked with her initials, JP, and say the same thing on the bottom: Limited Edition, Hand Painted, Victoria, B.C. 

Oh, found another! 

This fellow was a very good seller - she did him with various coloured coats, gloves and bells. He sold for $29.95. 

I also found one of her tags - I used to give one out with every ornament or figure of hers we sold (we carried a big assortment of her pieces). 

I do remember that back in the early 90s, it  bothered me that "Jacquelines" needed an apostrophe! 

The 90s were a time when folk art décor reigned supreme. I didn't get too heavily into it, but it did wind its way into my brain, so I have some rather cutesy things like this folk Santa getting his sleigh pulled by a cow, a pig, a sheep and a chicken. 

It's carved wood, and the chicken still makes me smile. 

I love this resin figurine of a polar bear. 

His staff has a heart-shaped wreath, and I love his coat, scarf and hat. 

He's so jolly. 

He's by Polar Kins and is called "Love Warms the Coldest Day" (so sappy) - and 1995 is probably when I bought him. I think he was around $24.95.

This is a blast from the past! 

A Santa and a snowman jamming out on their Flying V guitars! 

My ex-boyfriend had a Flying V guitar - I probably bought this when we were together (1989-1995).

Heh, I get a kick out of the detail on the back. 

They are by Stone Avenue. 

Most of my "good" decorations are still stored in their original boxes. 

This one still has the price tag of $13.95 on it, and a note, "Hold for Sheila." I maintained a bag of stuff and bought them all on layaway - I got a 30% discount on regular items. 

I wrote all the price tags by hand for the shop (an onerous and finger-mangling job!), including this one, for many years until we got a price gun that made instant tags (I was so happy!). 

I adore this Christmas hippo. 

I love animals and have a ton of animal ornaments. We carried a bunch in this line - there was a festive zebra, a giraffe, an elephant, a lion...I can't remember them all. 

That face! She's by Nanco Christmas Animals and the artist is Tom Rubel (I found his resume here!).

These figures are by House of Hatten - they were very expensive and we carried a big variety. They are hollow resin, although they look like real wood, and many of them broke in shipping (always annoying). 

They're again on the folksy side, but I find beauty in their ugliness. 

I recall that the standing figure was over $40, the jointed elf puppet was $24.95, the Santa tree was $19.95 and the hanging bear was $13.95. 

This was a freebie nutcracker - he has some condition issues. 

Missing a foot!

Some paint cracking on his arm, marks on the back of his lever. 

And the paint on top of his hat is crackled - he was probably in a sunny window at the store. 

He is German, though - German Democratic Republic, so he is pre-1990. 

Nutcrackers from Germany were expensive - he would have been around $59.95 back then. 

My pile of sparkly bits of ribbon garlands - these will go on the pictures in the living room and dining room. 

A paper box on the right hold my curling ribbon for presents. I won't be doing that with Vizzini around - he's been known to eat ribbon. 

The grey box is wood, and it was painted for me by my former high school best friend Lynette. 

I keep my spare light bulbs in here, plus bits of things that might come in handy, like ornament hooks. 

She was a really good artist - she painted all of this. 

It's from 1989...

She and Jim got married the following year, I think (I was a bridesmaid - check out the picture here). The box was originally filled with handmade truffles. We lost touch once she moved away and had kids, sadly. 

I found our viewing glasses! 

When you put them on and look at fairy lights, they make shapes around the lights. 

See? This one does snowflakes.

Here's the smaller tree with the star-shaped pair.

Ooh, isn't it pretty? 

I'll be back in a few days - thanks so much for dropping by!