Paillettes, the new alternative energy

"Fill 'er up!" glug glug glug (sound of drinking)

"Aaaah, much better."

That's an actual photo below. Just this sliver of light hitting the alley just right. You should see my elevator when I climb aboard in this jacket. It's like a mega mini disco partay. Woo hoo! Going to get frozen corn! But those moves are nothing compared to when I go buy broccoli.

It was stellar day for photos. Rain? Sun? Rain? Sun? The sky couldn't make up its mind, so I happily chased shadows and light in this alley with my tripod.

I adore these vintage palazzo pants, fully lined, with an aligned pattern at the front as well - I love those details. I bought them a couple of years ago for a song because they needed some TLC. So glad to do it! And I finally took them in. The paillette jacket, a favourite, is from My Sister's Closet.

The elevator may be Bee Gees but these photos remind me of that song: "Blinded by the light, racked up like a douche, like a roller in the night." Heh. It was written by Bruce Springsteen, but below is the Manfred Mann version, 1975, which I prefer.

Of course I had to wear my big blue sunglasses as well. Guaranteed if you wear paillettes you're going to have a great day. Well, kind of a guarantee. I'm going to look for paillette pants now, although they'd crunch when I sit down, or a paillette trench coat. How cool would that be?! Silver. Paillette go-go boots! No paillette underwear though. Just no.

If I could do that kick with rollerskates, I'd think I have real talent. 

I'm not much more than a paillette top half and a paisley palazzo'ed bottom half. That's the way, uh hunh, uh hunh, I like it, uh hunh, uh hunh. You don't know how lucky you are that you can't hear me!

Now I've got a full tank, I'm ready to rumble!!! Just don't touch my threads. Or my hair. Or my sunglasses. Or my body. Or my brownie. Okay, maybe not rumble. How about let's just hang out?  

In other news, I was in Refinery29, talking about style rules; my bit is here. You know how I feel about those, don't you? It's so cool that they asked me, along with six other women. It's funny reading my answers in that context. It's like there's a little megaphone attached to the end of my pen. I can't help myself. Hahaha!!  

And I was in ELLE (Brazil), InStyle (Greece), WhoWhatWear, and Metro.style (Philippines). These are a few since January - I don't keep up very well. And thank you SO MUCH for all your cheering of my Montecristo piece. 

I also met up with Sheila and L in Vancouver this week. We had a blast! Make sure you go to Sheila's blog, Sheila Ephemera, for her Big Ass Weekend Roundup. It's going to be a good one. (She has included photos of this paillette jacket on our meetup day too.) She's been blogging for ten years now. Huge congratulations on that!

L also has a blog, Creative Maelstrom, which has been going strong since 2009. Like Sheila, he is a gifted writer, but his specialty is CD reviews.

That's Sheila and L below, always super styling. I took this photo at Fluevog shoe emporium. They should be gifted shoes for life for their support of the brand. 

I'm linking up with Patti for Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style and Catherine at Not Dressed as Lamb for #iwillwearwhatilike. 

Until next time. Dress up (well, only if you want to of course) and be fabulous (not an order because I already know you're fabulous). 

Where angels go, trouble follows

I was feeling particularly Scottish, punk, rebel boarding-school girl, so this is what I wore.

This outfit also makes me think of the 1968 movie Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows, in which Stella Stevens, a young nun with gumption, and Rosalind Russel, Mother Superior, drive a busload of giggling high-school girls from St. Francis Academy to an inter-faith rally in faraway California. It was 1968, remember? This movie, which I saw on TV later, was the first time I thought nuns could be groovy.

So I've got on the "code" kilt, well below the knee, vintage (both the knees and the kilt), from Marks & Spencer. Plus, I bought it at a church, the West Vancouver United Church Flea Market. Probably the kilt/church combo made me think of that movie. The ultra-high-top runners (with rear zip, whew!) are from My Sister's Closet and the faux fur jacket is from Community Thrift.

I always liked Stella Stevens. She was in another zany TV movie called Call Her Mom, 1972. She played the housemother for a bunch of fun-loving boys at a frat house. Oh yes, highly plausible. I was very young when I saw it, but the movie inspired me to start writing my first screenplay. Hahaha. I wish I still had it! I drew Stella's face on the cover.

Another reason I loved Where Angels Go was the theme song. And I found it on YouTube!! It's a bit Gidget, but hey. It's by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. But I can picture myself bopping around home in my bib-front, two-tone purple bell bottoms and red striped top at the time.

A little sass below.

And below, what I wore today, and I wasn't even cold! My legs kept throwing off the camera's white balance. That's an expression of bliss, imagining that I have some brownies and a couple of C-notes in my lunchbag handbag. What more could a gal want?

I just noticed today that Montecristo Magazine has posted me on their Instagram account HERE. Hurray!! I'm happy how well that piece, Defying Ageist Fashion Rules: Styleactivism, has gone. You can read my post about it here. I would love to do more articles/photos like this.

Canada definitely needs more women over 50 in ALL MEDIA. Everyone needs more representation of women over 50!

I used a binoculars prop to gaze into my future. All I saw was my tripod, really badly out of focus. Heh. But I was still feeling like a beacon of positive energy having survived a dizzyingly (great word) busy couple of months.

Below is a detailed picture of the inner workings of my brain. I am very fond of this piece. It's just over 4 feet square.

That's all from here. Stay groovy!!

Of course I'll link up to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style and Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike at Not Dressed as Lamb.

Breaking the ice. Danger!

I'm going to pictures this week. Yeah, like the headline says, I'm breaking the ice! Action shot.

You may have seen other photos from this shoot earlier on my Instagram. They were taken by my artist friend Elizabeth Zvonar. You can read about her at Wiki HERE, her website, and Daniel Faria Gallery, which is located in Toronto. AND she's on Instagram. Whew.

I'm wearing my upholstery-fabric pants, so wondrous, with my spirography-turtleneck top, both of which coordinate nicely with my dotted wheelie cart and trailer-park-motif lunchbag handbag. Graffiti camouflage wear. My beast coat is trying to escape from the wheelie cart. And it's growling.

And look! It's Turnip Head with Princess Kitty. We're exploring an old tunnel. I was wearing my deluxe burgundy pants from Oska, my mustardy-muppet coat, a longish ombre blue/cream T, and a favourite scarf from the brand HADES. Plus my red beret, because, duh, nobody goes tunnel-exploring without one, or without sunglasses, vintage ones.

Still in that cartoony frame of mind, I went through my photos - and also because I didn't have anything new yet to debut, heh - and found my JLo workout velour onepiece that I painted my alternate body on, which took FOREVER with layers and layers of acrylic paint to get it just right. I'm happy with it now.

And I tried to add a little bad-assery, good-assery, mediocre-assery to the onepiece with this faux-leather biker jacket, which, after being stored in a space bag, is now flaking apart! The bag cautions, no fur, no feathers, but nothing about fake leather. Grrr. That company owes me big-time now, at least $5 !!!! That's okay - I can actually work with this flaking mess - I have a couple of ideas. I bought both of these pieces at My Sister's Closet.

That's it for now. I just did this little prairie-dogging pop-up post for a quick look around before going underground again. BUSY!!!!!

May you all be well and merry and well-fed and hydrated - including your skin.

I'm linking up to Patti at Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style and Catherine at #iwillwearwhatilike at Not Dressed as Lamb.

My Montecristo magazine debut

I'm feeling so professional. I'm in a magazine, my favourite Canadian magazine! Montecristo. It's quite a rush. Yeah, I was in some big-name global mags (see my press), but this is a home magazine, which makes it special. Not just photos but an essay I wrote called Defying Ageist Fashion Rules: Styleactivism. It's their online version, but I don't care - this is only the first step. 

So quick, sign me up for kite-surfing, a pie-eating contest, ice-climbing, waterfall kayaking (not making that up), and wing-walking while I'm on this high. Actually, the wing-walking has always appealed to me in theory.

I owe photographer Katrin Braga, who took these photos, for this opportunity. She invited me to join her photographic project and then asked if I would contribute an essay. Of course! A native of Iceland, she excels at taking photos of women in the wind - that's just my own observation. Her IG is here.

Katrin was the first professional photographer I worked with a few years back when fashion designer Claire Cormeau asked me to model her designs. I wrote about it in a post called My Day as a 50+ Supermodel. We've been in touch with each other ever since then. She also dropped my name to talent scouts at a casting agency, which led to a few highly interesting TV commercial auditions, here, here, and here. They were all followed by some regrettable thrift shopping.

Of course I was terrified by each new adventure.

But now? Pffft. No more rigor-mortis-face if you point a camera at me. Well, unless it's the look I'm going for. I have to say that it's a bit disturbing, this new-found comfort, but it seems to be part of the natural evolution of playing in this medium. One is bound to become more at ease after years of posing.

In fact, I created two highly-sophisticated guides to posing, which I previously posted on Bag'n'B, here and here. They have definitely been instrumental in my professional career as a poser.

The awesome coat is from Shelley of Forest City Fashionista. It's in high rotation this winter. The glitter tights were retail because I love them, and the vintage over-the-knee boots are from My Sister's Closet eco-thrift boutique, which supports Battered Women's Shelter Services. O made all the rings I am wearing, and I DIY'ed the praying-mantis pendant. (Some spell it preying, which I thought was correct, but no! I was shocked!)

The light in Katrin's studio that day was amazing.

Above I'm wearing black jeans and a men's dress shirt from MSC, a thrifted men's belt, and a deluxe Maison Martin Margiela blazer that Sandra of @standard.deviations bought me at a Sally Ann. So good. The tie is a gift from a friend.

I had a great time with Katrin on this shoot in her studio. Writing the essay was a challenge because I have a bazillion things to say about style rules. If you've already seen this news on my IG, thanks for bearing with this post. And thank you for your incredible support.

Feel free to Facebook, Twitter, Honk, and Toot this article. Heck, yell it out in the supermarket too if that feels right. Hahaha. I want to do this again. I'm becoming a MONSTER!!! Hahaha.

Of course I'm going to link up with Patti at her Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style, and Catherine at her #iwillwearwhatilike at Not Dressed as Lamb.

Have an amazing week, friends, full of positive surprises.

PS: Claire is now a clothing designer at MEC (Mountain Equipment Coop), which is a consumers' cooperative retail chain that sells outdoor-life clothing/sporting goods to its members (I'm a member). I'm thrilled that she is able to put her design talent to work in their line of clothing. They are so lucky to have her.