Welcome back, my friends, and what a weekend it's been! There have been outfits, yes, of course, but more importantly - we had a party! Because my actual birthday always lands near a holiday long weekend, I usually push my party back a couple of weeks so that more people can come.
"Hello? Please come to my Space-Hallowe'en-Birthday Party!"
That's a sneak peek at my costume - the theme was "Space" - and we'll have more pics of my, L's and everyone else's creativity in a bit, AND another video of all of my decorating.
But first, let's cast our minds back to Friday, when I wore this black and white look.
And all of a sudden, autumn and its ensuing darkness is upon us. Hooray - crappy stair pictures.
- Top - Armani Exchange, thrifted; purchased here for $19.95
- Dress - InWear; last worn here in March with awesome blue boots
- Boots - United Nude, consignment; first worn here in September with a red dress
- Cape (below) - Arola by Pirkko Maki, thrifted; first seen here (3rd outfit) in September for Winesday
I built the outfit around this new-to-me sleeveless Armani Exchange sleeveless top.
I'm not going to wear it as is (too bare), so I turned my thoughts to layering.
This Dalmatian spotted dress did the trick perfectly.
Even the neckline lined up.
I had many fans of this look, both at work and out "in the wild."
Everyone liked the neon orange stripes up the sides.
Outerwear - it rained after work (hooray, we need it!), and I got quite soaked on the way home.
It was still warm, though, so I enjoyed the feeling of the fresh rain.
Accoutrements:
I carried a tote bag with my boots in it. This thin purse worked well under the cape.
- Purse - Rebecca Minkoff, consignment
- Scarf - Metrowear, San Francisco, 2006
- Gloves - vintage, thrifted
- Mask - by Mom
The stuff:
I had a lot of oohs and ahhs over these boots. They are so cool. I hauled them out to show the staff at Roberta's Hats.
Black and white bling:
Big chunky stuff!
- Necklace - vintage mall, gift from L
- Silver/onyx ring - Toccara, vintage fair
- Crystal ring - Uffizi Gallery gift shop, Florence, Italy
- Black and white cuff - vintage fair
- Silver earrings - Brenda Schoenfeld, 1992, vintage mall
- Black and white bangles - consignment
The necklace is made of giant real crystals - it weighs a ton. I was glad to get it off!
After work, I popped into Fluevog to pick up my gift card from Mom (thanks, Mom!!), and stopped in at Roberta's Hats (link
here, 'cause I love and I buy all my fingerless gloves there, and have been shopping there since the 80s).
Yay, they just got new stock in (fingered gloves as well), so I picked up this pair of blue gloves for $21.00. They're by Parkhurst and are made in Canada.
L and I had a quiet night on Friday, playing boardgames and enjoying some time together, then were up for brunch on Saturday morning.
Digging into my closet for more spooky, autumnal things - this sweater always gets worn this time of year.
- Leather jacket (without lining) - Boss by Hugo boss, consignment; last worn here in January with my bark skirt
- Sweater - Jean-Paul Gaultier, vintage 90s, consignment; last seen here in October 2021 with my brown cord coords
- Goldenrod skirt - handmade, thrifted; last worn here (5th outfit, way down) in March 2021 with oversized plaid
- Boots - Clarks; last seen here in April with space pants
We were back to sunshine, but it was distinctly cooler out.
Leather weather! This unlined leather jacket was plenty. It has a separate lining that's meant to be worn with it, but I am not a fan.
Without the jacket - I wore it like this while we were in the Ruby.
I adore this spooky sweater. It has an angel (like a graveyard statue), a spider, a ribcage and other assorted odd things on it.
I wore my goldenrod yellow skirt to go with the hems/cuffs/neckline of the sweater.
We picked up some items for the party, then did a massive grocery shop for party food.
Masked up.
And a matchy purse.
Incognito.
I ended up tying my scarf to the purse - didn't need it.
Accoutrements:
More fingerless glove action.
- Purse - Ted Lapidus, vintage 90s, vintage fair
- Scarf - Pierre Cardin, vintage 70s, thrifted
- Gloves - Parkhurst
- Mask - by Mom
The stuff:
I kept these boots out over the summer in case I needed them, but they weren't worn very much.
- Bracelet - Robert Larin, vintage 70s, vintage mall, gift from L
- Bangle - vintage, Lazy Susan's
- Snake ring - BC Museum gift shop, 1986
- Wooden ring - Dots
- Silver/amber earrings - vintage 1920s, vintage mall, gift from L
- Amber/silver necklace - vintage mall, gift from L
I spent the entire afternoon, prepping food, blowing up balloons (about 50) and putting up party decorations. I won't keep you in suspense:
Go HERE to view a 3-minute video of me giving a tour of our party area!
I took a few pictures while our dinner was cooking, while we still had some light.
The living room area.
The dance/photo area.
I love the purple lights and the silver shimmer curtain, although when not in use, they have to be tied up out of the way of "someone" who likes to chew on these things (and I'm not talking about L!).
A party food area.
I ransacked the Dollar Store last week and bought up everything "Space-y" I could find: silver tablecloth, the silver spiderwebs, balloons and the shimmer curtains.
Our bar.
L's props are awaiting his costume.
The deck is inviting.
As you can see, my collection of solar lights has grown.
I love hanging out here and getting away from people when the party becomes a bit much.
And without further ado, here's my costume. I'm an android.
I like pulling my costumes from my closet - the only things I bought were the silver shimmer powder for my make-up and some glittery false eyelashes.
- Dress - French Connection, vintage 00s, thrifted; purchased here for $19.50
- Shoes - Modern Living Slant, Fluevog; last worn here in June with pink and blue
- Boots (not shown) - Original Sabado, Fluevog; last seen here a couple of weeks ago
I also bought a pair of liquid silver leggings for matchy arms and legs, but they looked HORRENDOUS on, so I quickly swapped to these sparkly sheer blue tights I'd picked up a Dots ages ago for $1.99.
Note the sparkly copper seam up the back.
The dress was a dream to wear and everyone loved it. I felt awesome in this outfit.
The stuff:
The shoes lasted about 4 hours, and then I switched to my chunky black knee-high boots for the evening. My feet were still sore on Sunday!
Silver bling:
I took the gloves off around 1am so I could dig into the cheese and chocolate!
- Gloves - Dents, vintage expo
- Earrings - vintage fair
- Wig (not shown) - Heart's Content
Here's a look at my inspiration for my make-up; it took about 20 minutes to do.
I searched online for "Robot make-up" and grabbed these three images and printed them. I did the eyebrows of the upper right image, and used the others to help me get lines and shading right.
I'm really glad I used those images as guides, as they didn't follow any of my wrinkle lines, so I felt good in this.
A bathroom selfie. You can see my upper and lower lashes have false eyelashes.
The silver make-up is a shimmer powder that I put on with my fingers - it only came off with soap and water, but didn't rub off over the night.
I drew all the lines and shaded with a Rimmel black eyeliner pencil. That's it!
L's costume was as Galileo. I spent some time making him a book prop, and we already had the telescope.
The hat is mine, from our trip to Scotland back in 1996. The blouse is mine as well (Nanette Lepore, thrifted, last seen
here in September under a jumpsuit), as is the floor-length vintage Indian vest (Phool, vintage 90s, consignment; last worn
here in March).
I also found a ton of Galileo quotes, printed them and rolled them up into scrolls. L doled them out from one of his pockets. His other pocket had scrolls for the first clue in his scavenger hunt (which included facts about Galileo, and led people around the house to find the subsequent clues, ending in a bowl full of Rockets candy). A few of our guests did the hunt and enjoyed it.
And...speaking of guests, here are our fabulous friends, all done up in their Space-themed ensembles.
I know!! I gasped when I saw Rosanna's outfit. She made this from curtains from Value Village, and some pearl Christmas garland.
She stuck pearls all over her actual glasses - one at a time! - so that she could see. Her very long hair is pinned up ("How many bobby-pins, Roseanna?" "A shit-ton, a metric shit-ton.")
She is a Pantone colour, "Cosmic Clam Chowder" - completely invented by her! - which she declared as the "colour of the universe". She made the tag too, and even designed the key-hole element on it (she's a graphic designer, it's her jam).
Her partner Greg came as Spock.
Live long and prosper!
He was joined by Tony and Alison, who came as Captain Kirk and his medical officer...covered in Tribbles! Tony is speaking...like...William...Shatner...here. Love Alison's wig!!
Alison's pointing out her medical bag, all customized by her for her costume. You can also see some of my party spread there, as Vizzini skedaddled as soon as our door-buzzer went off.
All of our Star Trek folks together!
Momma Tribble is on Alison's arm - she made all of them.
More homemade accessories!
Accessories make the costume.
Chris and Ali were next to arrive. Chris showed me this picture on his phone of him using his finger to buzz our front door.
They were in a couple-costume...
...as Leela and Professor Farnsworth from the TV show Futurama (IMDB link
here).
Leela is a one-eyed, purple-haired spaceship driver, and Professor Farnsworth is the ancient and kooky scientist.
Caro showed up as "Space Tiger".
That's my old dress that she rescued from a giveaway pile. She looked so fabulous.
Ross and Cat.
Ross' mask really freaked people out - it's like some sort of space serial killer (that's also a wig he's wearing). This is what he normally looks like,
here.
He wanted to do a selfie with me.
Very well, I oblige!
Vero, with Arnold and Greg/Rosanna's friend Dave, who was visiting from Ireland.
Arnold is an old friend from many decades back that we've reconnected with over the pandemic (so good to see you, honey), and we apparently met Dave at several parties back in the 90s, which not so shockingly, I don't recall!
Vero solo.
"I'm a space babe," she declared. You sure are, Vero!
Her husband Justin.
"Hello, my name is Space Beard."
Some people are not so much into dressing up, so a vague theme like "Space" allows them to play with it.
Space Beard is very sparkly!
Nick played with the theme as well - he was in that kind of "Head Space", ha ha, get it?
He made his "I'm Always In Space" tee (sparkly silver writing that he did himself). Karen would be proud.
Ha ha!
"Danger! Black hole!" Oh yes, very proud!
At the end of the night (3am), only me, L and Nick were left, and we discovered...
...that both of them did themed socks - L is wearing his solar system socks, and Nick's have astronauts on them.
Much love to my wonderful Winesday Women for this tiger card.
Yvonne was sick and couldn't make it - missed you, honey! Thank you all for the Fluevog gift card - I sense a shopping trip in my future!
Alison (of Alison and Tony), gave me this fabulous glitter card that she bought in New York for me! It's my new motto: "Too glam to give a f**king damn!"
Along with the purple baby Tribble. I found the other four Tribbles in the house the next morning...uh-oh, I hope they aren't multiplying!
A lovely wine-bag from Arnold, a card, and a gift certificate to Spinnakers.
I plan to buy their handmade chocolates.
Rosanna gave me this cool book.
"The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows," by John Koenig. Awesome!
Posing with my Space Phone.
It's for you!
I hope you enjoyed our fun weekend adventures! Thank you so much for dropping by!
If I could find this exact shirt in the same colour/metallic but NOT velvet, I would buy it. 
My coworker Ngoc admired it. "Do you want it?" I asked, "It causes Velvet Rage - don't say I didn't warn you!" I hope it works out better for her! 
Only a few days left to wear all my spooky things, but I plan to keep on wearing them - it's not like I'm going to be ticketed for wearing skulls or anatomical hearts after Hallowe'en.
It doesn't have a full brand label, but I know it's Welsh, and I know this pattern is called Eclipse. 
I got soaked on the way home and it's drying out now, redolent of that nice wet wool smell. 
I should have worn a toque! It was sunny this morning - I should really pay better attention to the actual forecast. 
My shoes had many fans. These have been a good purchase. 
"I like your necklace," said coworker Ron. "Yup, I've got balls," I cackled.
