Tuesday, August 28, 2012

neutral territory jumper dress and jacket




the look:

shirt -old gap
tie - old uo
jumper dress and jacket - olio organics
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

i wanted to wear a neutral outfit today. funny how i considered this outfit to be a neutral outfit. (p.s. i know that my wardrobe has become boring of late, i.e., that i have been wearing basically the same thing day in day out. but how liberating this boredom is for me!)

Monday, August 27, 2012

oatmeal dhoti pants




the look:

top - old gap
cardi - jacob
dhoti pants - lululemon
cap - old
boots - old jcrew

the tale:

for some reason, i thought that this past weekend presented the last opportunity this summer to wear white. that thinking probably had something to do with the fact that last weekend was the last weekend before the labour day weekend and that mystical rule of not wearing white after labour day. so i wore oatmeal on the weekend -- and a smidgen of white.

oatmeal jumper dress and black jacket





the look:

shirt - uo
tie - old gap
jumper dress - old, from a local arts and crafts import shop
jacket - kaliyana
cap - old
shoes - john fluevog

the tale:

it isn't so much that i am tired of summer. it's that i am tired of the heat and humidity of this summer. i always want a summer that is just hot enough, but not hotter than that, and a summer with zero humidity. for about a week, ending last wednesday, it was that kind of summer, for the first time this summer. i was happy. then, it got hotter and the humidity set in. the summer that has been the bulk of this summer. and it is persisting. i am less happy. but as my favourite saying of late goes: it is what it is. and i am giving myself lots of distractions to deal with my less than happy state. for example, i feel some exciting shopping coming up. i just learned of the wearable arts show, which takes place at the end of september. how did i not know about this (distraction) before? another example: trying on one of my favourite pullovers (the split back black one) with this outfit (sans jacket, of course). yet another example: wearing all varieties of swordfish footwear -- by far my all-time favourite fluevogs since i was inducted into the fluevog cult many, many moons ago -- i still remember the reaction of the unknown guy who, as i stepped off the subway, caught sight of my first pair of swordfish shoes and remarked, "hey, cool shoes!"

Friday, August 24, 2012

post apocalypse dress





the look:

dress - lululemon
cropped trousers - rick owens lilies
cardi - rick owens drkshdw
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

someone asked me to describe what this look is. i replied that i thought of it as being post-apocalyptic (taking my cue from the matrix). it seemed an appropriate look for the mood that i was in today. what mood might that be? the mood to purge my wardrobe.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

a pinch of chartreuse plaid shirt





the look:

shirt - uo
dress - old, from a local arts and crafts import shop
jacket - kaliyana
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

earlier in the week, i told someone that i would be wearing a colourful outfit today: a chartreuse jumper dress, a green and blue plaid shirt and a striped chartreuse and turquoise jacket. i kind of laid low all day today, because, as you can see (or, rather, as you can't see), the only chartreuse in what i wore today might be found in the plaid shirt (and that would be stretching it ... it is probably yellow that is in the shirt not chartreuse ... and very little of it at that ... and not even perceptible in a photo). i didn't want to be called on my statement ... of wearing chartreuse today. i honestly tried to wear some bits of that colourful outfit. but i think that i am still recovering from the migraine that hit me earlier in the week. (remember: colourful outfits hurt.) i still want subdued, non-painful, outfits.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

a little bit western shirt



the look:

shirt - uo
jumper dress - kaliyana
tie and jacket - old gap
cap - old
shoes - john fluevog

the tale:

when i wake up with a migraine, i can't put on an outfit that has any colour in it (unless it is so dark as to almost be indistinguishable from black -- dark navy, for example). even though i don't spend any day looking (directly or indirectly) at the outfit that i happen to be wearing that day, in my mind, i have this idea that, if i wear colour on a day when i have a migraine, the brightness of the outfit will hurt me. this morning, i woke up with a migraine, and all i wanted was to drape myself in soothing black clothing. i put aside all planned outfits (all involved colour) and pulled out this long, black jumper dress. instantly i put it on, i felt its calming effects.

Monday, August 20, 2012

whispers tunic






the look:

shirt and tie - old gap
tunic, short skirt and jacket - olio organics
long skirt - from a local arts and crafts import shop (#2)
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

here i am wearing some new clothes that i got over the weekend. now there are two things that i must do. the first of these is to clean out my closets. the second, to give shopping a bit of a break.

Friday, August 17, 2012

friday's dress


the look:

tshirt and cardi - old gap
jumper dress - old lands end
cap - old
boots - old, from an army surplus store

the tale:

it seems fitting (ha ha -- sorry, i couldn't resist) that i end this work week of wearing "my" uniform by wearing a piece of clothing -- the jumper dress, of course -- that may very well be a "true" uniform (or part of a "true" uniform). i have been wearing some combination of plaid skirt or jumper dress, tshirt and heavy cardi for many, many years. (saying this makes me think that i should give it up -- you know, the "age thing" kicking in -- but i just can't. at least not yet.) wearing this outfit is, for me, like wearing jeans and a tshirt is for most other people. uber comfort. so how can i give it up?

Thursday, August 16, 2012

blue boots








the look:

shirt - uo
jumper dress - old, from a local arts and crafts import shop
jacket - kaliyana
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

you know that game that you sometimes played as a kid (or maybe even as a teenager or young adult or maybe even still play)? the one where you say a word and the next person you are playing the game with says a word that begins with the last letter of the word that you said ... and so on and so forth ... until you tire of the game? i feel like i have been playing a solitaire wardrobe version of that game for the past three days. i take a piece of an outfit from day one (say a jacket) and build an outfit around it for day two. then i take a different piece of the outfit from day two (not the jacket but say the jumper dress) and build an outfit around it for day three. fun stuff! and completely unconscious (until today)! (p.s. note the blue boots? they are the ones that, a couple of days ago, i told you to be on the lookout for.)

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

a little rusty jumper dress









the look:

shirt - uo
tie - old h&m
jumper dress - old, from a local arts and crafts import shop
jacket - anthropologie
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

i bought something from h&m today. it has been some months since i made a purchase from h&m. as i inserted my credit card into the pin pad and watched (and participated in) the approval of my purchase, i imagined the credit card gremlins waking up and grinning at my return: "you're baaaack"! yes, i'm back. but it's going to be different this time around. (i also bought something from zara today. and it has also been some months since i made a purchase from zara. but i didn't feel any gremlin moments there.)

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

shades of brown (plaid) shirt









the look:

shirt - uo
tie - old h&m
jacket - anthropologie
jumper dress - from a local arts and crafts import shop
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

i almost, almost, left the house without a tie this morning. but i didn't. phew. if you look closely at yesterday's outfit, you will note that it didn't include a tie. (yes, i know, "tie" isn't listed in the description of "the look". so, you are wondering, why would you have to look closely at the outfit to realize that it didn't include a tie? good question! i don't suppose it would help if i said i don't always list items that are included in my outfit if the items aren't visible. no? okay, i give.)  anyways ... getting back to the discussion at hand ... i didn't wear a tie yesterday because i didn't think that it would be visible and, thinking that, i let laziness take over. why bother with a tie if it can't be seen? lame excuse? you are right. it is what it is. but i wore a tie today!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

it's not easy being green monk strap ankle boots





the look:

blouse - old urban renewal (uo)
tie - uo
jumper dress - old, from a local arts and crafts import shop
cardi - old anthropologie
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

sometimes the attraction of particular footwear is the colour of the footwear. for example, what attracted me to these new monk strap ankle boots was their green colour. (the boots come in black and red/wine, but the green ones were the first ones to call out to me, followed by the black ones. the red/wine ones didn't speak to me at all.) the moment i got the green boots a new appreciation for green clothing flooded me. so easy to forget about wearing only black clothing in the presence of such lovely green footwear. i wore this outfit this past thursday.