Pinky tea with a parasol

Oh dear, I think it's time for pinky tea at the country estate again. It's on my mind on account of the Royal Wedding. Did you watch it? One of the major thoughts I had when flicking through footage the next day was, that woman, the now-Duchess of Sussex, will never have to vacuum again, which is a good thing because her new digs are ENORMOUS, a perfect venue for pinky teas.

I'm featuring my new parasol this week wearing three different outfits on different days. There is something elegant, almost regal, about a parasol. It works hard in tough conditions but always maintains its composure, whether it's with man-pyjamas, above in Outfit 1, or a Moschino suit, later. 

I call this black shirt-dress man-pyjamas because I found this piece at Talize thrift store in the men's nightwear section. (Never overlook other sections in the thrift store.) And of course I'm wearing my magic loupe that O made for me. You can buy one too at his Etsy store, OSK Micro-Art Studio. 

Outfit 2 below features everything upcycled: my Marni for H&M pants with added side stripes, from Vancouver high-end consignment store Mine and Yours, chest-cooler T-shirt, graphic vintage handbag, and scribbled-on sneakers. And my magic loupe.

I seldom wear hats on account of my tower hair, and my pores choke when I put on lotion, so this parasol is perfect: it maintains the do, protects my skin, and keeps me cool. A special coating on the fabric blocks 98% of UV rays.

I almost bought a paper parasol last summer thinking a parasol would meet my needs. Glad I didn't because Lily-Lark asked if I'd like one of their designs. Wow, yeaaah!

Finely crafted in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from bamboo and wood, with ultra-soft, durable fabric in divine arty patterns. It's lightweight and comes with its own carry case. See how it's made HERE.

It's like a mega-brimmed hat but better because I control the roll, pitch, and yaw with a flick of my wrist.

Below I'm standing next to Elizabeth Zvonar, an artist friend, with the parasol closed.

I'm also wearing very cool tights that Zohara "Art on Tights" sent me. They are super soft and opaque at 120 denier, just the way I like them. Vancouver can be cool in the spring and summer, so I'll get to wear these tights year-round. I have more pairs I'll show you later.

Lily-Lark parasols come in large and small. This is a small - I thought it would be perfect for navigating busy city sidewalks. It is.

The pattern and drama of the parasol inspired me to make a short video on a whim. That day, I was wearing Outfit 3, my Moschino plaid suit, which features men's ties on the jacket and skirt. I bought it last year at the West Vancouver United Church Flea Market on a tip from friend Yvonne.

With the suit I'm wearing my cat/dog sticking-out-its-tongue T-shirt tucked in. But you can see the eyes when I don't wear the jacket. I got it on a tip from friend Sandra.

All that parasoling, I'm tuckered out. It's an Olympic sport now, did you know?
Then it's nap time on the concrete steps. Aaaah.

Give a lady a little privacy, would ya!?!
So many uses.

And that's the carry bag you can wear over your shoulder, which I do. It's almost like a samurai sword. Almost. Always at the ready for solar emergencies.

You wouldn't believe all the conversations I have with interesting people when I carry this parasol. Several men have commented on the quality - I'm not making this up. I'd love to see men carrying parasols - that would make my day!

Note to Lily-Lark: how about some canopies with monster trucks and stems that look like steel rods? Our skin is important and some guys can't stand lotions either, let alone large-brimmed hats. Good luck with that, hahaha! But why not?

I didn't remove the tags right away because I was always getting asked the brand. Now I won't forget. This design is called Taco.

Before, on sunny days I'd have to skulk awkwardly from light standard to light standard, like Inspector Clouseau of the Pink Panther, very undercover. But now, porting my own shade, I can walk wherever I like - what a concept! It's very liberating to choose my own path.

I met another woman today who also has a parasol - her skin is sensitive to lotions too. Are sun parasols a new trend? Rather, the revival of an old trend? Would you carry one?

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

Groove on!

Three looks for a savage woman

That's right: three looks, no rules. Why? Because I'm SAVAGE!

Look 1: Double expansion pants for Candyland

A land of cakes and ice cream! But, uh oh, not nearly enough elastic-waisted pants before laundry day. What to do! How can I possibly accommodate such an ungodly chow-down?

Fabulous Anna of Anna's Island Style to the rescue. She sent me two pairs of trousers quite a while ago, and I'd say they fit very well if you don't mind losing all your circulation. Since I like circulation and eating, I decided to convert these pants - one pair in a beautiful soft, brown wool plaid and the other in a vivid zig-zaggy blue - into one pair of pants double size.

I chopped the brown pants down the sides, then inserted side panels from the blue pants to turn these slim-leg trousers into one pair of wide-leg wonders. To finish them off, I sewed the blue rear patch pockets onto the front. With a little hemming, these pants were done. Pocket artefacts in the blue panels are just wide enough to hold a pen. Handy!

Now I LOOOOVE these trousers. Although the fabric has stretch, they hang freely so I have lots of room for cake and ice cream. Thank you, Anna!

My top you might remember from an earlier post - I combined two t-shirts and a blue sweater into one top. The sleeves are extra long, but, because I designed two more sleeve holes higher up, the top can also be worn short sleeved with the excess fabric at the elbow free for dramatic whipping about and cursing when they dip into your coffee mug. The back of the top is longer than the front for fantastic rear coverage.

Look 2: Lurid waddle pants

Moving along. These are my Marni for H&M lurid lurex pants bought from a consignment shop, also farked with the addition of a racing stripe down the side for curbside appeal and expansion. (Am I noticing a trend here?!!!) The top is a vintage thrift find.

The above photo is called, drum roll please, Savage Lurid Moon Walk with Elephant. The pants are slightly drop crotch. I would call the original design a partial fail because you are forced to do a mini shuffle when you walk due to inadequate fabric in the crotchal area. But wearing these is still worth the waddle.

Note the facial expressions. That's my normal face. My blank face. My I'm-just-standing-here-waiting-for-the-camera face, perhaps elevated by the messy hair into the realm of fake rockstar.

The next photo is the one I shall put on Instagram. I had to show you the version with the shades.

Look 3: So short it hurts you

And the grand finale of this post, my mini dress. Does its scandalicious shortness wound your delicate style-rule sensibilities? How short is it? It's soooo short that I have to keep tugging it down to cover the solid band of colour at the top of these glitter tights - it's so bad it's good, and perfect for being part of The Savage 50, feck yeah.

I'm also wearing my thrifted over-the-knee caramel boots, vintage I believe, softest leather, made in Italy. I was delighted and surprised that they fit my ankles and calves so well. These boots were DEFINITELY made for walkin'.

Isn't she AMAZING! - I'm speaking of Nancy Sinatra of course, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'." This is exactly how I feel when I step out in this last outfit, well, when I wear many of my outfits. Often this song plays in my head when I'm on my inspiration walks around town. I can see now that my dress is not nearly short enough. Heh.

I hope all of you have outfits that make you feel this good, whether it's a mini dress or a pantsuit, whether you're out walkin' or lounging in the La-Z-boy with a martini. If you don't, what are you waiting for?!! Get on it!! Hahaha. Let your savage heart run free.

I'm linking one of these up to Patti at Not Dead Yet Style, Visible Monday, and Catherine at Not Dressed as Lamb, #iWILLwearwhatilike, absolutely.

The crotch grab, and a little movie with Shelley!

"Dang, woman, those saggy-butt, hangy-diaper pants are making me hot!" I swear, can't they come up with something more original than that? Sooo predictable. One thing is for sure: these hot-lovin' hip huggers are certifiably waddle-icious.

I went with the grey wall backdrop for these photos because someone had set up camp over at the blue wall.

The pants were a size too small but such a steal at the consignment shop. Buy? Walk away? Buy? Walk away? I could zip them up, barely, and achieve locomotion like the Tin Man before the lube job, but that ruined the whole saggy I-don't-give-a-feck effect. There was also no way I'd be able to de-grow into them. In the end, I decided they were worth a session of pro-wrestling with my sewing machine.

And ta-dah! Only a few hours and profanities later (have you ever tried to push in a straight pin from the wrong end?) I ended up with these. I added roominess by sewing wide racing stripes down the sides because that's how I roll, roll, not racing, being the operative word - unless I'm grabbing for the last chocolate croissant. I like the orange bits and am pleased with the results. Waddle on! I didn't exp.....Uh oh....

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STOP EVERYTHING. BREAKING NEWS!!!

Video Alert, 24 sec. Watch now.

Oof: Shelley & Mel Meet

Shelley, aka Forest City Fashionista, came to Vancouver recently. 
We had a blast. Choreography by Shelley.

Hahaha!!

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See? My blog is almost like real TV with little commercial breaks. If this were a real emergency you would have been instructed to go eat chips - it's all over anyway. Now back to the outfit. Take it away, Mel!

The pants are "Marni for H&M," although with gold lurex and shiny purple I don't care what brand they are. What more could you want of any pant, besides a drop crotch and hipslung hug? Oh, they're lined too.

I'll link these up to Patti at Visible Monday, Not Dead Yet Style, Catherine at #iwillwearwhatilike at Not Dressed as Lamb, and Anne at 52 Pick-me-up: Black and White/Destiny at SpyGirl.

Of course I'm grabbing my crotch like all the best people do. Okay, like Madonna does, except in Toronto they threatened to arrest her for it. So this is the safe and friendly two-handed, off-side Canadian Crotch Grab, not quite committing to the full grab because 1) I am a polite Canadian, and; 2) as a mere mortal non-superstar I might get arrested. So much drama/one pair of weird pants - just the way I like it.

The top with the huge drapy sleeves is vintage, the neon orange ruffled blouse was thrifted, and the geta-style shoes were retail at big discount. Now enough of my outfit.

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Look - it's more Shelley, Forest City Fashionista!! 

In my previous post you saw that she came to Vancouver at the end of May and we played hard! The photo above is Shelley at Bacchus Lounge at the Wedgewood Hotel where we had cocktails (well, I had coffee working up to the hard stuff) and fries during our night of cocktail hopping at luxury hotels - but only because it was raining. (Yeeeah, right.) I've seen Goldie Hawn here in the past. The piano man, directly to the left of Shelley's elbow, was playing all our faves.

On Shelley's final day in the city, we had brunch with Sue, A Colourful Canvas, and Louisa, Damselfly's Delights at Acme Cafe.

Shelley and Sue

There were dogs sitting at the next table, seriously, men wearing dog headgear, and one had a tail. They were good dogs; they didn't howl or bark or self-groom or try to hump our legs, thank goodness. Clearly these men took my previous posts to heart - to live life like a dog. [Edit: Shelley corrected me - they are actually puppies.] 

Louisa above. She spun, dyed, wove, knitted, and sewed every single piece of clothing she was wearing. I can't believe the talent! She grows plants for dye in her garden. The plants in my garden usually just die. Oh wait, I don't have a garden. Her dress was a beautiful shade of soft mint green.

The back of Shelley's robe, which I gave her, and Sue's coat, which she sewed. Sue also designed that amazing applique. WOW!  

And I did a post about the fancy party that Shelley and I attended on Friday, May 27, "Emma Dunlavey CURVE Fine Art Photography Exhibit and VIP Shopping Event" where we did some serious hobnobbing among Dior, Prada, and Moschino at Leone, thanks to an invitation by event impresario Vernard Goud. The writeup is HERE, on my street style blog.

I have so many photos from Shelley's visit, and I'm sure you'll see more of them over at Shelley's blog and Instagram. Louisa has also put up a post on our brunch, HERE.

I know I haven't covered everything, but that's all I can manage at the moment. I miss farking with Shelley!! 

Shelley at the big do. Everyone at the party loved Shelley! Of course.

Tired now. Must go eat chips even though it isn't an emergency, well, yeah, it kind of is.
I wish I had a hat for Judith's Hat Attack! Dang! I'm just trying to stay on top of everything. Easier said than done.

Hope you have a great week, you guys!!

[Edit: Shelley's post on our get-together is HERE.]