Room for change, change room, presto chango

The change room - not so unlike Superman's phone booth. You go in, make a quick change, then emerge with superpowers, at least in the ideal scenario, including the uncanny ability to see bulges as muscle. Heh. 

Faster than a woman swiping the last chocolate croissant, more powerful than matte lipstick, able to leap scummy puddles in a single bound in skyhigh platforms. Look! Up ahead (photo below) -  It's a mutant orange! It's a giant cheese! No, it's Melanie! 

Below is my latest superpower dress, Le Traffic Cone (sister to my traffic cone coat), which I picked up during a blogger shopping spree at Talize Thrift in Delta, BC, with Suzanne (SuzanneCarillo.com), Sue (A Colourful Canvas), and Sherry (Petite Over 40), post on it here.

Photo by Sue, A Colourful Canvas. l to r: Sherry, my back, Suzanne

I spotted this piece in the size 20 dresses. It ticked all the right boxes.

• Audaciously big? Check. 
• Pockets? Check. 
• Nuclear orange? Check. 

I wore it for the first time yesterday, which happened to coincide with the downtown kickoff of Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Imagine my delight at being able to bring traffic cone safety to all the lovely people attending this musical street party. 

Sadly, weakling pixels can't possibly capture the neon-ness of this piece, nor the heavenly swish, but it's all I got. An exciting bit of news is that the Vancouver Art Gallery plaza, closed for renovations for ages, had finally opened for the festivities. Hurray!

Those red sandals are from Talize too and are now a wardrobe staple. They are by Liz Claiborne, not to be confused with the movie Dolores Claiborne, which has one of my favourite lines, "Sometimes being a b*tch is all a woman has to hold onto." Scene here. Brilliant. The blue sunnies came from a vintage shop downtown a year or two ago.

The next photo was also taken at Talize. I challenged myself to wear kyrptonite, I mean beige. I made friends with beige in a previous post, "Clothes the colour of porridge," but decided to test the endurance of our detente, and, yes, our peace treaty endures. Except I didn't like this outfit enough to buy it. Maybe if I had to jet suddenly to England to solve a murder at a village fete, I would wear this.

Photo by Sue, A Colourful Canvas

Below is another change room, this one at Nordstrom. This is like Superman visiting his idyllic home planet, Krypton, before it exploded.

I know, I know, I only go to Nordstrom SPACE for eye candy but during a mega-sale it doesn't hurt to have a taste test, right? Or does it? This top didn't exactly hurt, but it was super prickly and clingy and cloying, and the skirt's lace and tulle were prickly with an expensive falling-apart quality. 

For modesty, I photo-edited-out my underwear under the lace skirt, which also features huge gaps in the front and sides by design (the skirt, not my underwear).

Although this ensemble is sweet, it's too much treacle for me, even with its propensity for scandalous wardrobe malfunctions. This outfit makes me proud of my farked boob cooler t-shirt here - scandal without the prickles, price, and tangle. But I know this piece will look fabulous on somebody else, which was why I was drawn to it in the first place.

Below, now we're talkin'! Comme des Garçons or a variation thereof [Junya Watanabe], the top of course. It was an ordeal to put this on too: a leather harness contraption with origami-ed filmy fabric bits forming an ethereal cage. Did I love it? Yes, I did. It was $3,100 Cdn marked down to $1,100 Cdn., but I balked, like a chicken, balk balk-balk-baaaalk. Nunh.

And I tried on a Simone Rocha dress, just a sliver of it showing on the left; again, too prickly for my comfort level but a very sweet dress. 

I don't fully comprehend why I was drawn to these sweet prickly pieces that day, and a feminine blouse on the left above as well. Maybe it's because they are as out of form for my style as the whole trying-on-new-things experience.

What did I find out by visiting Krypton?: 1) designer pieces can be dreadfully complicated and prickly; 2) I still don't have a strong desire to possess these things. I like farking my own looks; plus, I have a penchant for electricity and food and shelter at the moment. But the deals were certainly there if I change my mind with a brain transplant.

And finally, to round out this post, a photo of me and Sue called Running With the Bulls from when Suzanne and Sherry came to town. Heh. Why isn't Sue more afraid? I had a brief meetup with Sue this week too. I got to see her latest dress (here) in person. Awesome!

Photo by SuzanneCarillo

That's all for now. You know what's next, don't you...?

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

Stay cool or bundled as the case may be. I'm heading out for a little jazz fest enlightenment in a fruital jumpsuit and then it's time for work work work. See you next time. Thanks for stopping by!!

mwah

PS - I must pass along a big thank you to Lisa of Amid Privilege for her reference to me and our brief meeting in Vancouver in her thoughtful post, "The Salubrious Effect Of Someone Else’s Friendly Eyes And Someone Else’s Stories," here. Much appreciated.

Say hello to Planet Blog

Last week I experienced a startling big bang on the constellation known as my Ass - the appearance of a new spongy planet, which I have affectionately named "Blog." I welcome and cherish this bundle of joy in its celestial cradle. How better to commemorate a gorgefest on calamari, fries, a three-cheese frittata, and cheesecake while lunching with two stellar blogger friends, Sue of A Colourful Canvas: Stitch, Style, Smile and Suzanne of Suzanne Carillo: Style, Smiles and Stories? (Send me 20 bucks and I'll name an Ass planet after you and send you an official certificate. Makes a perfect Christmas gift.)

Suzanne is puckering up to kiss my planet! The change room in this shop is an old bank vault. Sue and I decided not to lock Suzanne in. Lady Madonna Thrift Shop on Homer near Pender.

We spent a whirlwind afternoon/early evening of feasting, laughing, shopping, chatting, sipping, and scheming, with me trying to hog the limelight the whole time, and guest appearances by Miz Bagg. Overall I suppose I came across as Brenda Blethyn playing the obnoxious mother in the movie Little Voice, which would make Suzanne the suave strip bar owner, Ray Say, played by Michael Caine, and Sue the schtar herself, Little Voice, in the scenes of her belting out show tunes on the classed-up stripper stage. I was in a snap happy mood, whipping my camera about like a rude gesture, each flash like a little slap.

Suzanne and I had to talk Sue out of this dress.  We had to rip it from her hands. Poor dear. (You know I'm kidding, right? In fact, I ordered her to hold it up for the photo. ) See her polka-dot pants? Love.

There was so much eyeball-rolling and violent laughter I'm surprised we didn't sprain our heads, although I certainly had a mighty social hangover the next day. Meeting a blogger in person is like meeting a celebrity, as you may know, and I was struck immediately when I met Sue how her face seemed to shine with light. When I met Suzanne I was transfixed by her dramatic hair and contralto voice. And while they were both dressed fabulously, their wit, smarts, and generous hearts reduced their bodily wrappings to mere bits of fabric. The looks hook but the personality sustains.

Check out those pearly whites, blue/green eyes, and those amazeballs eyelashes, not to mention the fiery hair. This is Community Thrift Store on Carrall St. I also took Jean of Dross into Gold here and Sheila of Ephemera and L. 

We exchanged prezzies, which included a super-fun hand-made T-shirt, hand-made pin/clip, and card from Suzanne. And, well, Sue, she gave me a brilliant card and the landing site for the next deep space explorer mentioned earlier. I'll wear both your gifts with pride and love long into the future. (To be fair, 10% of all Ass planet certificate sales will go to Sue, okay 15%.)

I love this photo! Sue holding her gift from Suzanne and wearing a scarf I gave her. See what I mean about the light?

We didn't have much luck thrifting – price and selection at the shops within walking distance in downtown Vancouver can usually be beat elsewhere. I only manage what I get through perseverance and an eagle eye on the sale racks. I did, however, snafu a beautiful greenie maxi vest thing I'd had my eye on in Lady Madonna for two years now (yes, that kind of determination). As we were leaving, the owner said, Make me an offer, and with Sue and Suzanne enveloping the shop in a cloud of love and "you better give the dame a deal if ya' knows what's good for ya'" vibe, it was mine for almost half price. 

The gang! I was smiling for sure but my smiles always look forced in group photos. We shut down this cafe, last ones out. Jean, we came here during your visit too.

I usually don't do Christmas, but this year I had a hankering for a party, and I got one with these two amazing women. I conveniently left my Cindy Lou Who self at home to take full advantage. Thank you so much, Sue and Suzanne, for including me in your plans.

T-shirt hand-made for me special by Suzanne, based on my earlier post, Do I dress to piss them off? Suzanne has  lots of cool original stuff on Etsy HERE. Her wildly popular Badass Blogger T-shirt is HERE. 

I hope you're all well, taking care of yourselves and letting stuff that doesn't really matter float off to where it belongs, just not on my Ass. Mwah.