Maxi skirts, meetups, movies, and dressing like a bouquet

Vintage bias-cut maxi skirt from the $5 rack. Ack!!! What luck. From My Sister's Closet (MSC), don't you know. I got a whack-ton of '70s treasures in a two-day spree there. Again, eagle eyes and persistence, my friends. 

"But I'd rather look ridiculous when everybody else does than plain and sensible all by myself," persisted Anne mournfully," speaking about her love of puffed sleeves on dresses, from Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. 

I have that puffed-sleeve love for this top, silk, hand-painted, by a Nordic company, I don't remember which one because I cut out the label when I decided to wear it backwards (I like to see the faces on the front) and then hid it in a safe place. 

The big earrings are from MSC too.

Below is a skirt that Suzanne of SuzanneCarillo.com gave me when she came to town recently. I wore it for the first time to an afternoon's 2017 Resort Wear Trunk Show by designer Rabia Dastgir. The event sounds rather lah-ti-dah but I met a great bunch of people there. I did a brief post about it on my culture/style blog HERE.

The skirt says, "THIS KIND OF MEMORABILIA, IT IS THE PERFECT SOLUTION." Haha, yes! I tell you, Suzanne is the wicked wizard of bod. Although I would have admired this skirt for its design and colour, I would not have picked it out for myself - far too fitted. Thankfully, Suzanne is not so short-sighted. She always picks out winning pieces for everyone when we shop together. 

Bare legs? Body con? Suzanne said, yes, please.

I love the simplicity of this piece with its elastic waist (more food for me!). And I love vintage typewriters with their satisfying Ding WHAM refrain at the end of each line, not to mention the hard clacking of keys, sigh. It makes me think of snappy dialogue between Rosalind Russel and Cary Grant in that screwball comedy His Girl Friday. Another sigh.

There's also a 2012 French film called Populaire set in 1959 about a woman who reluctantly enters speed typing contests. I thought it was charming, with just enough style gluttony to fuel my popcorn hypno-feast. Beware. It was on Netflix.

I bought those beautiful red sandals at Talize thrift store in Delta during our meetup too. I walked all the way across town in them for the trunk show - so glad I took my runners to wear home. 

I have to say, if you're in the Toronto area and need a wardrobe pick-me-up, you MUST contact Suzanne. No kidding. I'm just throwing this out there without consulting her, heh. She sees things you wouldn't even consider but look great. Or check some of her amazing vintage finds in her Etsy shop, HERE.

And next, for your entertainment -

A real movie! Sherry of Petite Over 40 made it from footage we shot during the meetup with me, Suzanne, and Sue of A Colourful Canvas. (I posted on it HERE.) It cracks me up every time I watch. Sincerely, Sherry has a talent for this stuff. She used to work in media so this marks a return to video after a long hiatus. So glad she's baaaack!! 

And that's not all. There's a video clip of Suzanne riding Vancouver's SkyTrain public transit in novel and exciting ways HERE. Hahaha! This is what happens when you give Suzanne a dare. Nobody even batted an eye! 

Another Blogger Meetup
No, it didn't take place in a pool but I just thought I'd put myself there using a stairwell photo I took in the outfit I wore to the meetup.

With the cold and rain, a frigging cornucopia of flowers was required. Thank goodness I had this vintage rear-zip jumpsuit for such an emergency. Also, when meeting one's fellow bloggers it's always a nice gesture to dress as a bouquet. I'm wearing my vintage angel-wing top underneath. O had just cut my hair so it's extra-special sticky-uppy too.

So whom did I meet? Lisa (Amid Privilege) and Susan (une femme d'un certain âge), who had flown into town to spend time with their friend of many years, Frances (materfamilias writes). I was happy that this trio set aside time to include one more. Left to right in the photo below: Lisa, Susan, and me. Frances had left by the time we took this shot.

We convened at Thierry café, which often wins Best Dessert and Best Pastry in popular Vancouver eatery surveys. And it is also a fancy chocolatier. What better place for a blogger meetup? 

I'd met Frances before for a sketching outing but this was my first time meeting Susan and Lisa. What a bunch of strong, smart, stylish, and supportive women. We had an intense and satisfying discussion on the issue of invisibility and aging, as well as techniques I can use to take over the world. Hahaha! I was moved by their generosity of heart, thought, and laughter. 

After "coffee," I showed Susan and Lisa around a few stores, including Holt Renfrew, which they had asked about. As a staple in my eye-candy diet, I know that place inside-out. And then I took them to Italian Kitchen restaurant before we parted ways. It was a brief meetup but worth it. I hope we can meet again! Susan's writeup is here and Frances' is here. [Edit: Lisa also put up a related post here.]

And now, what I wore just for nuthin'

This next outfit I call Fake French De Niro Style or How to Look Tough in Ballet Flats. "You lookin' at me!?" 

Skulls, chic high-waisted fit and flare skirt, sparkly clutch from MSC, ballet flats, Lagerfeld sunnies, fun fabric flower clip/pin hand-made by Suzanne as a goodie bag gift at the blogger meetup two summers ago, and my magic loupe. (Thanks to all of you who bought a loupe! O has had to restock.)

The skirt was originally a dress for a woman with a Barbie doll figure. I would have had to remove a couple of ribs and had massive implants to make it fit. So I hacked off the top part and farked it into a bolero jacket; the rest became this high-waisted skirt. Below you can see the subtle patterning on the fabric. I bought the dress at a movie lot sale of costumes.

Poking my bag to make sure it's not moving. Always a good idea.

This next red outfit is called Failed Highland Dancer or Weak Scottish Gladiator. The dress was oh-so-flat-falling on the front so I added some thrifted suspenders from MSC to create interesting draping and a wonky hemline. The back is also clipped up in one place. Those are my white Reebok sweat socks with my sandals. They save me putting four band-aids on my ankles - these sandals bite.

That's the tartan jacket I farked from dumpy to punky, HERE. It's one of my favourite farked pieces. I can't believe it's mid-June and I still wear wool jackets!

If you've made it this far you deserve cake! And ice cream!! I missed posting last week and the backup just came tumbling out this time. 

I'll find something here to link up with Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style and Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike at Not Dressed as Lamb. 

Now I'm tired. Heh. What's up with you? Share it in your comments. Thanks so much for visiting!!

Yellow Skirt Freak Show Update!! And bumping up your glam factor

If you find me doing DIY lipo, licking a champagne bottle, and eating buttons off my pyjamas thinking they're pills, I've been worshipping again at the altar of lifestyle gurus Patsy and Edina of Ab Fab. (read about them here)

I went to see their new movie, "Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie," two nights ago, which was very timely considering how lately I've been contemplating measures to glam up my life.

This is what I wore to the movie. I also had on my vintage gigantor red and mustard paisley palazzo pants.

Still from the movie review video. Barbara shot this part. Thanks, Barbara!

But more about the movie later...

Project Glamourization. Last week I read a magazine article about a woman who had a very long, impressive name and an expensive villa in Florence, disguised to look rustic. Hey, I thought, that could be me if I changed my name to (drum roll, please):

Melanie von Harumph de Schnackenloafer del Petunia

In the article, they wrote the full family name every single time. Well, I think that's a bit much - I'd definitely let them shorten my name to, say, HRH Mel after the first ten mentions at full length. Oooh, I feel more successful already.

Below, the seersuckiest seersucker you ever did see. Vintage. Home-sewn. With pockets. I wore this last week. Glam? Yes, I think so!

And my sky-high Steve Madden sandals go perfectly.

But I suspect it's not just the name. One needs to glamourize one's life in general. For example, why inhale air, which is so utterly boring, when you can sniff it? Also, now I drink my water from a cute little shot glass. I down several shots in the morning like a big-time bad-ass.

Shot glasses make hydration glamourous. 

Write that down!

But I'm afraid nothing I do can live up to the standards set by Patsy and Edina.

However, before I tell you more about Ab Fab, I have some breaking news!! Well, not so breaking now because I've been slacking on the blogger front, but -

Nearly breaking news!!!

The Freakish Yellow Skirt is back in ACTION, high-impact action, with Trina of Tea Time with Trina!

*********************************************

Stompin' Dancin' Flower Pickin'

QUEEN and Bohemian

and Cow-woman - okay that sounds bad - Cowgirl to boot

a little Utah hooplah for the Freakish Yellow Skirt

on the Travelling Yellow Skirt Freak Show!

Madly Joyfully Twirling and Ducking 
In and  OUT & Up and On with

TRINA

TEA TIME WITH TRINA

   G o !   G O   N O W !!!   

I'm thrilled that Trina has joined the Yellow Skirt show. I was fortunate to meet her last summer and know that she must have packed a humongous helping of positive energy in FYS. Thank you, Trina, for joining and adding your magic to this curious garment.

*********************************************

Now I'll tell you about Ab Fab...

Vancouver Barbara and I attended the Absolutely Fabulous movie together. We ended up in the bar at the Sylvia Hotel afterwards - how surprising!

I made a little movie review video with Barbara. I hope you like it.

MOVIE REVIEW 

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: THE MOVIE

Special Guest: Vancouver Barbara (who also helped with filming)

I ran into lots of cool women at the theatre. In particular I was happy to see Frances of Materfamilias Writes seated near me. Her take on the movie is HERE. It turns out we are neighbours! Hurrah!

Frances was wearing a spectacular outfit featuring the silkiest oyster grey skirt with two daring slits right up the front which showed off her fantastic gams. Definitely NOT a wardrobe malfunction! She proved that you don't have to dress outrageously to be fabulous. She wore her new blue specs too. They look fantastic. (I also put this photo on my street style blog, here.)

Also there was Denice, whom I met at that swanky event when Shelley was in town, accompanied by two of her very stylish friends, Roxana and April (I hope I got their names right). And Colleen of the blog Clothes Line Finds, and Lynn and Diana, both of whom I know from My Sister's Closet. Colleen and Lynn are in the final scene in the video.

Below: Lynn, Colleen, and Barbara before the show. They look incredible! It's hard to see here but Lynn's sandals are paved with rhinestones. Barbara made that outfit - spectacular! And Colleen scored the glittery shawl from My Sister's Closet.

Finally, a BIG THANK YOU to Lynne Spreen, Any Shiny Thing - Life After 50 for mentioning Bag and a Beret in her post "Grief about Turning 50," here, as a source of style ideas over 50.

And, someone else has linked to this blog but I don't know who you are or where you come from but Thank you!! (unless you are sending people to ridicule me - you never know, right?) 

And to finish off this rambling post, one more shot of my seersucker. Mmm. I used to detest seersucker; now it is precious to me. Heh. That's a good view of my shoes.

Did you make it to the end? This is what happens when I miss posting for a week. Everything piles up. I hope you are all well. I have been on a blogger break and getting lots of farking done. Feels so good.

Stay cool, whether it's summer or winter. But I don't have to tell you that, do I?

Are you Ab Fab fans? I thought I would hate that movie because there were so many celebrity cameos in it, which I've found usually means the script sucks. How happy I was to be WRONG!!! Jennifer Saunders is a brilliant comedic writer. Lots of laughs. It turns out there was a character with a huuuge long name, which just proves my theory!

Oh, and because of Suzanne's comment I'm wondering what your long glamour names would be.

I'll link this up with stuff but, really, I can't think about that now. I'll add it later.

Yours Sincerely,
Ms. von Harumph de Schnackenloafer del Petunia


Edit: Okay, I'm back, ready to do some linking.
1) Patti at Visible Monday: Not Dead Yet Style
2) Catherine at #iwillwearwhatilike: Not Dressed as Lamb
Anne has a great linkup at SpyGirl - The Fashion Rosebud Linkup: "Write about a powerful memory from your youth, one that shaped your core, one in which fashion was involved." I love this prompt - maybe I can think of something later...