LHR: Reindeer Games

Last week I wanted to give my new gold shoes a test drive before the busy holiday season where they’ll surely be worn many times.

As usual,  I imagined a completely different outfit (one that involved jeans)  but in the end, I managed an incredibly  matchy-matchy, not so slimming red and gray comfy number. I’m sure you all imagined these babies with a slinky dress, but I guess it shows that these shoes can play all types of games.

Speaking of games, here’s a shot of the Reindeer necklace given to me by T for Christmas a few years ago.

Reindeer Necklace

Colour Co-ordinated Christmas Wrapping

What was that matchy-matchy outfit?
Shoes: Kurt Geiger from the website (deal. deal. deal)
Trousers: Culottes (what do you call them? That’s what my Mom used to call them), bought with YYZ about 5 years ago in Toronto one Christmas break, also worn in my first post
Shirt: Red, short-sleeved blouse, (i cut out the label)
Cardigan: Gray, New Scotland, bought at DSUK
Necklace: Present from T
Wrapping: Oxfam (these gifts are for our Mothers)
Earrings: I can’t remember what I was wearing; I’m sure they were gold knowing the matchy-matchy theme

PS. No longer does the camera angle work to disguise the chocolate, chips and cheese diet I’ve been enjoying. Luckily there is a new year and resolutions time around the corner.

PSS Sadly, this is the extent of my Christmas decorations as we’re not here this year.

YYZ: Winter Wonderland

Dreaming up holiday lesson plans for my Media classes this morning, I have run across this.
The latter part of the video makes me ache to live in NYC or Paris or London– places where beauty in the built environment and craftsmanship of all kinds are valued and are a part of one’s daily experience.  You don’t have to look hard to find beauty in these places.
In these places it is okay de rigueur to have fancy, unapologetically over-the-top Christmas displays.
(In sharp contrast, take a look at the Christmas –oops! Sorry– I mean Holiday— “decorations” on Yonge Street. It is, frankly, embarassing and more than a little depressing. Believe me, in person it’s like being on the set of Tron. Not in a good way.)

Anyway, on a happier note, the Christmas windows at Bergdorf’s are called A Compendium of Curiosities this year and contain nods to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the mind-bending visuals of M.C. Escher, among others. Not to mention some fabulous gowns. The gowns!

Oh, to be in New York at Christmastime!

This one is amazing-- it's all made from PAPER!

For me, this one is all about the cape. Okay-- and the dress.

No fashion here, but I couldn't resist.

YYZ: A Snow-Blue Winter’s Day

The blue in the post title is due to the cold– with wind chill on Friday, it was -23 degrees Celsius when I left the house. In my open-toed shabooties.
I figured I’d just be popping from house to car, from car to school–how cold could my toes get, right?

On the way to work, the gas light came on in my car.

And so I found myself in a duel with a self-serve gas pump, in my open-toed shabooties, in -23 degree cold with a brisk wind. I finally did get the wretched thing to work, but not before my fingers and toes had turned a disturbing shade of blue…As had the air around me, given the choice words I muttered throughout the ordeal.

Given LHR’s accurate assessment of this dress as being a tad too short for work, I layered it over a pair of skinny trousers today. I think this strategy sorta dampens the effect of the dress, but it does make it more work-appropriate.

Dress-worn-as-a-Tunic, Turtleneck, Skinny Trousers, Necklace: H&M
Shoes: Winners
Bracelet: Gift from my mum

Gordon helps out...

LHR: Homecoming

On November 22nd, J arrived back in London after almost 7 weeks in the US. I was so excited for his return that I wanted to make a big deal of it. So, I planned a dinner party with J’s Aunt, his cousin and his girlfriend. As you know, I’m not a born-chef and don’t really love cooking but I wanted to have a little celebration in his honour. The dinner was a success and my almond-lemon cupcakes were a perfect end to the evening.

As this is a clothing blog, I guess I should share what I wore. It was a cosy, comfortable and rather black outfit. Luckily, our home is quite colourful.

What I wore:
Top: Black & White Knit Cowl Neck Sweater – bought last year at DSUK
Bottoms: Black leggings
Jacket: Leather and Cotton Short-sleeved Jacket by  – bought this year at DSUK
Boots: Black Patent Boots

YYZ: “P” is for “Preppy”

Just a quickie today– if I am to have any kind of Christmas holiday at all, there are about 30 hours of marking to be done in the evenings and on the Saturday and Sunday before the 18th, so I don’t really have time to even pretend to write anything interesting.

Wait-- how is that any different from any other day?

Today’s outfit is sort of the sartorial version of my mindset: no time for fun! Get dressed and get out the door!

Wore flats– got tons of comments about how rare that is for me. Also about how short I really am.
(I work with people who think I am 5′7″ or 5′8″–even BMad, who has known me since the days when I wore either Cons [daily wear] or army boots [dressed up to go out]  and who sees me in the summer, when I rarely wear heels, consistently expresses surprise at how hobbit-like I really am every time I wear flats. It might have something to do with the fact that, in our sock-feet, I come up to BMad’s elbow…)

Cardi & Skirt: Jacob
Lace-trimmed Cami: Smart Set
Silk Scarf: vintage, thrifted
Tights: 9 West
Shoes: Theory

LHR: Saturday Silliness

On Saturday, J and I had an amazing day in our adopted London-Town. We started the morning at our favourite cafe – Tina, We Salute You. Then we headed off on a day that would take in Hidden Art, a trip to the Flower Gallery where we saw the amazing  exhibit (I wrote about it on my other blog), then finally down to Shoreditch Town Hall where I was sucked in to the East London Design Show (which I will write about in more detail on my other blog). Suffice it to say, I could have bought YYZ about 10,000 gifts. It was all so exciting.Then after some early evening drinks at a Shoreditch Bar, we headed to Koko to watch a DJ friend who was opening there.  Yes, it was a full day/night. I still can’t believe that I didn’t change for the evening but I was too tired. I’m glad I didn’t as it was more rough and tumble than crisp and clean. however, the venue was amazingly red in an old theatre in Camden. Sweet!

So what did I wear for breakfast, art gallery hopping, design show shopping, cocktail sipping and a gig-going day? It was a silly mish-mash little outfit but somehow it just transitioned or maybe I just didn’t care. I think it was the latter.

My new Tina Button given to me by Danny.

The Eagle Pin

The Mish-Mash Unveiled

What the hell was I wearing? (what wasn’t I wearing?)
Shoes: Converse High Tops
Tights: Racing Stripes Red & Gray
Skirt: Jean Pencil Skirt by Uniqlo
Shirt: Drama Queen Tee – thanks to J
Jacket: Jean Jacket by Mango
Brooch: Eagle – no idea where I got this baby
Hat: Gray felt tam bought at Columbia Road Market (waiting for embellishment)
Button: *Tina, We Salute You * Button (thanks to Danny)

PS Felt I had to post as I’m losing my status as partial blog owner given the inequality of posts. Im trying for 1-2 a week. That’s 1! Phew.

YYZ: The First Snow Of The Year

I heard this silly title song yesterday on the radio– played in anticipation of what has turned out to be mostly the first SLUSH of the year. Still, I love the lyric about all the dogs on the street going crazy, “even all the old ones that are usually lazy” because it reminds me of The World’s Best Dog EVER, our dear departed Gabriella, and her total, unbridled joy in frolicking in the snow.

The greyness of this outfit (remember my promise to wear more colour? Total fail, as my students would say…) serendipitously reflects the weather outside.

Dress: (I told you you’d be seeing a lot of it!) Costa Blanca
Turtleneck: Promod
Tights: Anthropologie
Shoes: Tahari
Necklace: my ribbon, pendant from Sirens

Note to self: start tailoring sleeves to be more appropriate length. In all the shots where I have on long sleeves, I look like I am wearing my father’s shirts… One more drawback to being hobbity in proportion, I suppose.

YYZ: You Think You Know Fashion…

Fashion’s a Stranger.

Truer words were never spoken.

This morning when I woke up, I still had NO IDEA what I was going to wear today. Not my usual approach. I eventually mentally cobbled together an outfit that would be dull but comfy and, since I had a back-up post of Monday’s outfit all scheduled for the day, I would not need to worry about photographing or posting the boring look.

I put on the dress I had planned to wear. Horrors! The dry cleaners had pressed the neckline in some bizarre, stretched-out, possibly unfixable way. It was certainly not fixable in the limited amount of time I had before I’d have to leave for work. Worse yet, the wire hanger from the cleaners had stretched horrible, gigantic poke-y shapes in each shoulder: closet camels!  I have yet to have time to really feel distressed about this (frankly) VERY upsetting situation; I am ignoring it for the time being since I can’t sort it out until later in the week.

Back to getting dressed: I had NO PLAN B! And I was already late-ish, meaning that whatever hastily-assembled Plan B I did dream up, it had to be quick and there could be no second-guessing.  I feel like a prize twit in this mixed up, is-it-summer-or-is-it-winter tribute to teenybopperdom, but I had no time to gather my dignity in a do-over, so here I am:

Turtleneck: H&M
Dress & Belt: Sirens
Boots: Paralelo by GVD,  Winners
Bracelet: Vintage
Earrings: Gift from LHR

Posing with a kitten.

The thing is, I quite like all the different pieces of this outfit; I just don’t really like them together. In fact, the whole thing looks not too terribly bad in the photos– it just didn’t feel all that great in person.

For the record: I got lots of compliments on this outfit, but I wonder if they were just the sort of thing people blurt out when they realize that they cannot control the impulse to comment and only just barely manage to save themselves from speaking the truth at the last second….?

I must say, though, as I look at the photos, I like the whole thing much better than I did while I was actually wearing it.  Maybe I will wear it again some day….

YYZ: Blue Monday. Again.

Staff meeting day = it’s a loooooong one. Comfort is key on these days, so I knew when I was dreaming up an outfit for today that low shoes were a must. The forecast also (accurately) called for flurries, so trousers would also be a good idea. These two criteria narrowed the field considerably, as I don’t have any work-approved trousers hemmed to go with low shoes other than these ones.  I felt sorta blah, so I went with some gigantic earrings to add some personality to a fairly dull look.

Meh.

I swear these trousers were NOT wrinkled-- it must be the way I'm standing.

Cardi: Anonymous Clothing Co.
Cami: Smart Set
Belt: Jessica Simpson
Trousers: no idea; got ‘em in Montreal many moons ago on a long weekend with LHR, J and M
Shoes: Le Chateau (not that you can see them)
Earrings: H&M
Silver Cuffs: gifts from Mum and my MIL

YYZ: Moon River

OH. MY. GOD.

This is just cruel. Just plain, old-fashioned cruel.

Not that any of it would fit me, but I could at least go and drool and sob like a baby….