I'm not Atomic Blonde; I'm Atomic Grey

I wore this lightweight snuggly-soft Yuzhe Studios coat on my inspiration walk today, inside-out because I was in the mood for the lighter grey colour of the inside. The pockets stick out like little hip wings, and we know how flattering a look that is. And I wore my man shoes and other stuff. 

On my way home, a young woman breathlessly ran up behind me, seeking my attention. I thought:

Why, look! A fan eager to prostrate herself at my feet after my recent media triumph. And so it begins - celebrity is mine! Bwahaha! Soon I'll need to buy a hideaway in a dormant volcano and hire a team of minions.

I slowed, put on my humble face, and smiled at her with benevolence.

Then she said in a breathless confidential voice:

Excuse me, but I think you have put your coat on inside-out.

[sound of vinyl record scratching] 

"Wrong line!" was scribbled in my thought bubble.

I said, "Oh, thank you for telling me. Actually, I know it's inside-out, but I prefer it like this today." Then I thought we'd exchange laughs. But no. She said, "Oh, okay. Sorry, I'm sorry," and power-walked away, red face blazing. I felt bad. How could she have known?

Perhaps the next time I wear this inside-out I need to affix a little label on the back that says, "This inside-out is right-side-out today," to spare awkward feelings all around.

And yesterday I wore this: Jacqueline Conoir suit jacket, altered with additional repositioned buttons, Anne Klein crepe wool, lined palazzo pants courtesy of Dross Into Gold, black glitter booties, and -

The Device 

scratch-built by my partner O 

(his art is here, Etsy here).

As for the glasses, Charlise Theron wore aviator sunglassses in her role as a British spy in the period action movie Atomic Blonde, so when Nordstrom wardrobe handed me these glasses on set, BAM, I was -

No longer mere Mel - 

I was Atomic Grey! 

I decided to recreate that badass state of mind with this outfit.

There's the Yuzhe Studios coat again, right-side-out. They sent it to me a couple of years ago.

Speaking of atomic, time now to switch gears for a little spacy tripping with this psychedelic vintage '70s outfit that Suzanne, suzannecarillo.com, gave me when I was in Toronto. I almost fainted with surprise and delight. 

The outfit is seductively soft, velveteen I believe. The unstructured midi-length jacket has lapels, slits up both sides, and a single hook/eye closure at the waist. The front is meant to overlap for a fitted silhouette, but I preferred it a bit looser to enhance that tux feeling, so I pinned it closed. The slacks (love that word) zip up the back.

To top it off, I wore my blue velvety platform sandals with studded heels from Nordstorm and a satin sleeveless ruffle-front orange blouse with a super-high collar from many years ago.

I took these photos with my tripod on Granville Island.

The grand exit, tux tails flapping.

That's all for this week. I'll link something up with Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style and Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike at Not Dressed as Lamb. See you there.

Time-travel wear, party wear, nail art, and film debut

Flash Gordonia. Aaa-ah. Caped crusader!

Oh my goodness - I'm in the time-warp tunnel, fleet-footed in my awesome velvety-soft, blue, studded-heel platform sandals made for this exact purpose: "For fleet-footed running in time-warp tunnels," it's right there on the box. 

These are the same shoes I wore to the Nordstrom launch party for their True Nord ad campaign, which I blogged about in my previous post, here. That was more an out-of-body travel experience to Cloud 9 than a time warp. Make sure you also check out Shelley's writeup of the event on Forest City Fashionista, here.

As you can see, these sandals are the perfect all-round transportation device for any determined foot passenger. I highly recommend them as a neutral wardrobe staple that can be worn with all outfits with confidence and joie de vivre (French for "exuberant enjoyment of life").

Below is a flat lay of the full outfit I wore to the launch, except I forgot to include my Ribkoff clutch bag. Drats! 

Note the groovy sunglasses, eh? Nordstrom's personal stylist Farah picked them out for me. We had a blast putting together this outfit. Plus, red is very suitable for a Canada-themed ad campaign because our flag is red and white, although this dress is slightly orangy red. Actually, paisley, florals, beige, and plaids are also very patriotic because we get to wear whatever we damned well like. Heh.

What I particularly love about this dress are the long bell sleeves, the maxi length, and the rufflies along the cuffs and hemline. Again, see previous post, here. I had neon orange nail polish professionally applied to finish the look, but I didn't get a photo.

The clutch is partially visible in the next shot. It's got a pearly iridescent shine and zipper trim detailing.

Photo by Shelley, Forest City Fashionista. It's the only one with shades.

All of these pieces are available in Nordstrom's online shop: Simon Miller dress, earrings (on sale), sunglasses, clutch. This post is not sponsored and I don't get paid a penny if you click or buy anything (insert Lucille Ball-type Waaaa!!! here). I'm just sayin'. But I did receive the outfit as a gift for the party.

I customized the shoes by painting the studs on the heels with nail polish. The shoe design is a riff on a vintage sandal style, but through my rose-tinted sunglasses, they are badass Elton John.

The rib-knit fabric of the dress lends itself to high and low styling. Below is a more casual combo. I could also wear an oversized pullover and/or pants with it, although not the matching pants as shown in the online shop, too matchy for me.

Vivid reds always blow out on my camera. Vexing. Anyone know how to deal with that?

And below. I was sitting at my desk one night when O presented me two almost-invisible filaments with tiny, tiny red balls on the end that glistened like fish eggs. 

Hahaha. I insisted that we take photos for here and my Instagram. These antennae bend like willows in a breeze. And while they were really stuck on there, one would need to rely on one's maid to carry one's shoes about and do all the housework. I'm going to wear these everyday now! Although I'll have to rehire myself in preparation for the extra workload.

In the next shot I feel like a Vespa-riding secret agent in Moscow or London during the 1960s. Don't we all feel like that from time to time? The antennae activate my high-tech GPS tracking device (it's only the '60s, remember). I must accomplish my mission - if I could remember what it is. My memory seems not to have returned from Cloud 9.

You can see more of O's art on his website, and he sells magic loupes and rings in his Etsy store, OSK Micro-art Studio. He constantly amazes me with his imagination.

And one more thing:

KEEP IT IN THE STREETS documentary update

You might recall that I was in a feature-length documentary called Keep It in the Streets by Everett Bumstead and Sam Koopman, which I blogged about HERE. It's a skater/arthouse/street photography/Humans of New York (Vancouver) film and plans were to premiere it on the film fest circuit.

Well, in the following video, Sam and Ev share a startlingly heartfelt evaluation of where the film is at and their direction in filmmaking. "Make yourself feel awkward every day," Ev says, and, "I feel like an idiot all the time." These are men after my own heart.

They may be feeling down but they're definitely not out! You can subscribe to them on their YouTube channel and IG. There will be a premiere of Keep It on the Streets on the big screen, perhaps soon, and when that day comes, I hope all of you will join me, Sam, Ev and the other cast and crew to celebrate. Moving, timeless works about the human condition never go out of style.

There may even be collaborations with Ev and Sam in the near future as well. Stay tuned!

That's all for now. I'll link up with Patti at her Visible Monday, Not Dead Yet Style, and Catherine at her #iwillwearwhatilike, Not Dressed as Lamb.

THANK YOU for all your cheering on my big adventure. Hahaha!! You guys are THE BEST!!! We can move mountains together - although bulldozers are fun too. And those super-mega-earth moving machines too. And tunnel-boring machines.

Tell me your secret mission.