Twirl-o-rama dress action

I saw this dress. It saw me. BAM!! True love. I carried it home with a silly grin on my face, laundered it, then tried it on. A perfect fit.

Mis Papelicos in full bloom comes to mind when I wear this diaphanous dress with its brilliant bold plumage - the flowers, the stripes, the frills - and it twirls most excellently. 

The dress has spaghetti straps so I had to wear a long-sleeved shirt underneath. The top part is shirred and dark brown, not black, which is difficult to see in the photo. Also, the dress is fully lined with black satiny fabric. I love everything about this frock, including the fact that the yellow stripe is not near my face. 

The wind was whispery cool today and my hand flirtatiously brushed up against the fabric making it breathe and sigh all around me as I willowed down the sidewalk. Why the Earth did not stand still in my sartorial euphoria is beyond my ken.

Details

• dress, thrifted, $8, Wildlife Thrift Store (WTS)
• little-nothing fishnet tights over pink leggings, sample sales
• Miu Miu boots, thrifted, WTS
• denim jacket, thrifted, Value Village
• fingerless gloves, retail, Canadian Tire automotive store

Ironically, this colourful dress lends itself to black and white photography. The painting on the wall was previously on the floor. I think it's finished.

I broke my rule: I told myself not to post again so soon, but how could I not? Does that happen to you? You tell yourself not to post and then you put on something that feels so overwhelmingly satisfying that you just can't help yourself?

We're sailing into the weekend. I hope your week has been grand so far.

Debut of travesty-of-music video

Watch it and weep. I scribbled these "lyrics"... (every time I write about my "band" I put quotation marks around everything, so let me preface this post by saying that key words about my "music-making" deserve quotations thereby cancelling them all out, okay?) I scribbled these lyrics just before our last band practice. What you'll hear is the first read-through that Sandra and I did and me composing music on the fly (lots of quotation marks in that sentence!). This was our last song of the day so we were very good by then with those secret communications that go on between band people (and baseball coaches and players). I looove this video. I hope you do too. It's one of my most intellectual projects in a long time. You may need your dictionary. Warning: there is language in this clip.

PS - It's not true about oxygenation.
This is the second video I've ever made - the first one I put together in my university days when video editing equipment took up a sizeable room. Here I used free software, which made me feel old but oddly liberated at the same time.

AND - Don't mess with this cougar!!
I premiered these leopard-print pants yesterday. One young fella purred at me and said, "Mm, cougar!" as he passed by. I had that coming - very funny. I should have taken a closeup of the soft fabric which has a furry texture.

I went for broke and wore my D&G leopard-print heels and added a gold bag. I tried these pants with a black sequin top as well and decided to exercise a teensy bit of restraint because the spanglers get snagged inside the jacket.

Details of the outfit:

• leopard print furry pants, high-waisted, Perry Ellis, thrifted, $10, House of Vintage
• black fine-cord jacket, Plum, thrifted, True Value Vintage
• leopard-print shoes, Dolce and Gabbana, thrifted, True Value Vintage
• knit fingerless gloves, retail, Canadian Tire automotive store

That's all from here. I hope you can see the video. It turned out exactly how I pictured it - make of that what you will...

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

Dizzy is the new neutral

It's Patti's Visible Monday again over at Not Dead Yet Style, her 50th Visible Monday. Congratulations, Patti! Great forum. Today's outfit, to celebrate, had me seeing double, triple, quipple.

Am I dancing or riding an imaginary scooter in that photo up there? I had a lot of positive feedback from people on the street in this Soul Train meets Spirograph apparel. Everyone's head was turned...and turned and turned until none of us could see straight - which was a refreshing way of viewing the world.

Oh no! I put my top on wrong - thank goodness. Wearing this top as a skirt is the ONLY way you'll get me in it. The cut-out on the front, or back if I twirl the top around, is cool, and the armholes are tucked up out or sight or I can wear them lower as pockets. This skirt, formerly top, also can be worn inside out.

I could have sworn I had a couple of hundred dollars in my pocket!

Details of the outfit:

• groovy stretch turtleneck, thrifted, Wildlife Thrift Store, $8
• skirt (originally a top), sample sale, Metallicus, $10
• stretch ankle boots, new years ago
• fingerless gloves, Canadian Tire, new (but with fingers when I bought them)

I also cut the foot part off a couple of black knee-socks and wore the tops of them over the tops of my ankle boots. I like the ankle knit with the knit of the fingerless gloves together.

That's all. I hope you have a fantastic week! See you at Patti's place.

Double waisted

Why have only one waist when you can have two, I always say. These stripy pants are very low-slung, which I love, and I like the wide-cut shorty jacket too, but I was seeing too much black so I added this fantastic belt I recently thrifted to add another waist and a pop of colour.

Can I tell you how much I like this belt? It's very long so after twirling myself up in it I left the ends dangling like little tassels.  This is a perfect party outfit, just what I need for Patti's Visible Monday!

Here's the look I ended up with.

The Basics:

• pants, Joe Fresh, thrifted
• belt, thrifted, $3
• jacket, thrifted
• stretch wedge booties, thrifted (it was raining today so my footwear options were reduced)
• black T, Sport Chek

Below is a close-up of the belt. Note the glittery yellow disc in the centre - it's the superhuman power source. The studio lights kept turning it on which had the curious effect of making me levitate, so I had to keep changing my angle. Look at that loverly macrame! The tassels have beads on the end, good for flicking about. 

And I have taken a couple of pieces of art off the rack so the visuals behind me are different. There is a lot of action on the art front these days... The piece on the right has little volcanoes on it made from sculpting fibre, and they are full of primordial colours waiting to explode. Maybe the volcanoes are the ancestral home of my belt disc - how romantic, reunited at last.

Me at one with my volcanos. 

Have a great week all!

Coming out of the clochet

Today I did something different. Usually I grab things in my closet pell-mell to create an ensemble that reflects an overall mood, giving equal weight to all parts. Today I chose a signature piece, an accessory, which singlehandedly seemed to embody everything I was feeling, and then constructed my outfit around it. I'm speaking here of my felt cloche with the flower. Poor little thing was buried in the closet.

This one little hat said it all: I wanted to partially shield myself during my walk (still in recovery mode) and I wanted to feel romantically 1920s. The colour palette is quiet, but my cloche demanded it be so. The jacket has convenient velcro tabs for closures on the front and the shift has a freighter neck, much wider than a boat neck, which is concealed by the jacket.

Details of the outfit:

• cloche, new decades ago from Sears(?)
• shimmery green jacket, thrifted, Value Village
• moss-grey shift, new years ago from Eatons closing-out sale, downsized 4 sizes
• black tights, "Frump" shoes, The Bay
• magic teacup carrier with heirloom teacup inside; I made the carrier, O did the hardware
• hand-me-over black vinyl bag that holds all my pencil crayons, sketchbooks, etc.
• Shar Pei wool sweater

I'm still recovering but managed a brief, low-intensity game of squash today. It felt good to MOVE!

And finally - 

Ms. Helga recently posted a brilliant photo essay of her drunken escapades under a tree. I immediately thought of this painting I did, although Helga was much more visually exciting than the waitress in this piece.

Title: "Becky had had trouble sleeping lately; she finally realized that it wasn't the coffee keeping her awake but something much more sinister." Acrylic on canvas paper, 18" x 24"

Have a great weekend everyone!

Maxi flower power recovery wear

Happy Earth Day! Three cheers for thrifting for reducing our earth-load! And many, many thanks to everyone for your comments while I have been recovering from this cold!

To aid in my recovery I wore this outfit today - maxi impact maxi with tropical flowers, a gen-u-ine Hawaiian-made muumuu that I discovered at a thrift shop about a week ago. The colours are so intense they threw off my white balance (on the camera) which made my face look a bit green in celebration of Earth Day.

You'll notice no beret, which is in part testament to my feel-good state. An ultra positive energy wave sloshed all over the sidewalk on my way downtown today, drenching innocent passersby in spring-fresh fuchsia goodness. (Gulp! That's me taking more meds...)

Here is the outfit. This dress longed for a photo out-of-doors but my studio had to do. Notice how I cleverly directed the lighting at my torso.

I wore my denim jacket because it was still slightly chilly, and my fingerless gloves. Under the dress I wore a long-sleeved blouse, a vintage baby-blue one-piece slip, and bright pink tights. I think the dark boots and the gloves in particular made this summery frock suitable for a sunny spring day.

Details of the outfit:

• muumuu, thrifted, $19 at Community Thrift Store, it has only one tag that says "Made in Hawaii"
• oversized silk shirt, hand-me-over
• Miu Miu boots, Wildlife Thrift Store
• fingerless gloves, Canadian Tire, purchased as regular gloves
• denim jacket with glittery bits, Value Village

I like that pic up there. It looks like I'm putting my right foot in doing the Hokey Pokey. The back of the dress has a full skirt created by a deep box pleat. I think that's called a princess back. Do you know? The train effect certainly made me feel like royalty.

Oh, chic alors! Too bad I can't just hover down the sidewalk so I can maintain this pose, I like it so much! I suppose I could mount myself on a skateboard and employ a dog or wayward child to pull me with a rope.

_________________________________________________

Today's walk was my second outing in a week - the first was yesterday when I was hired to shoot photos of concert pianist Corey Hamm during rehearsal of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere performance of Idee Fixe (sorry, I can't do the accent on the first "e"), composed by Jordan Nobles and conducted by Bramwell Tovey. Below are two of my favourite shots, although I also captured some good ones of Maestro Tovey and the full complement of musicians. I love photographing artists at work.

Meditations of the Artist. Pianist Corey Hamm   (c) Melanie Kobayashi 2012

Lost in the Moment. Pianist Corey Hamm with Composer Jordan Nobles    (c) Melanie Kobayashi 2012

I felt privileged to have had the chance to hear the fine-tuning of this piece with the full orchestra.

The fact that this was "work" was a huge bonus.

_______________________________________________________

I am of course including this outfit in Patti's Visible Monday. Poor Miz Bagg is bed-bound in the Arctic Circle after her pyjama party shenanigans. Thanks, Terri, that was fun! Tee hee. Do you think my facial worked?

Here I am in a little energy ball. Again, thanks, everyone, for your positive input! I could feel it coming my way and it DEFINITELY helped in my recovery. 

The Shar Pei sweater

I'm linking up to Patti's Not Dead Yet Style Visible Monday today - barely. I am glad that I am NOT so visible today because my head feels like a balloon, the usual hot hair of course, but lots of cold too - the dreaded head cold. The best remedy for this malady has been unexpected...

Jean at Dross into Gold!

Thank you so much, Sweet Jean, for your lovely Ode!!

You've given me a real pick-me-up!

So a big, warm hug to you (with my face mask on)

I haven't been out or online for the past couple of days, so I'm happy I had these shots from late last week squirrelled away to share.

Details of the outfit:

• thrifted wool walking shorts, two sizes too big, cost almost nothing 
• thrifted polyester graphic sleeveless mini dress, worn as a top, Value Village
• thrifted black wool sweater that I resized using my Shar Pei technique, described below
• maxi cardigan, sample sale, Metallicus
• fingerless gloves and beret - these two are inseparable
• dirty dove-blue tights, with D&G thrifted heels from Value Village

This was another positive bubble outfit. I love to jam my fists into the pockets of these low-slung shorts, which makes them sit even lower - marvellous. And until I tried the mini dress as a top, I never cared much for either the dress or these wool-prickly shorts. Now I think I'll hang on to them both for a while longer.

Above I have my thumbs hooked into the pockets.

And here's a close-up of the sweater.

I pinched up the wool in vertical worm-lines at the front and back of the sweater and around the sleeve, and hand-stitched them so the gathers remain on the outside. I love that Shar Pei (wrinkle dog) effect. One sleeve has a tuck and the other doesn't; there is no symmetry. This was a quick way to add detail and bring a large piece down to size. 

Happy week everyone! (Achoo!!) Excuse me.

Heathcliff, is that you?

This outfit is almost the same as in my post "I feel like Amelie," except I am feeling more sprite than sprightly. What's different outfit-wise is I'm wearing a different blouse, my red shoes, fingerless gloves, and my wonderful Ghost on a Swing pendant which contributed greatly to the Heathcliff-howling-in-the-moors mood. The darkness of the backdrop I did in a dirty photo edit to try to capture the thrill of standing in the shadows of a Gothic estate under a great rumbling sky. Sadly, there is still too much cheerfulness here.

With that expression could I be mistaken for the new governess at the gates of her lordship's manor - hopeful yet intimidated? This is "gleeful darkness." Shall I nauseate you and burst into song like Maria in the Sound of Music?: "I have confidence in sunshine..." I think a crow would have flown straight out of the backdrop and pecked my head off if I did.

Details of the outfit:

• wool/cashmere winter coat, thrifted ages ago at Second Suit, a real workhorse of a coat
• upcycled skirt made from a thrifted handmade dress purchased at a movie-clothing sale
• tuxedo shirt, Zara, thrifted, Wildlife Thrift store
• brown-and-black plaid tights
• Dorothy shoes, thrifted, Value Village
• Ghost on a Swing pendant from my friend Monique, also on Etsy. I love this!
• seafoam skirt as a petticoat, thrifted, Value Village, seen recently in another post
• knit fingerless gloves, sold as regular knit gloves at Canadian Tire automotive store but I cut off the tips of the fingers and hemmed the openings to prevent unravelling.

Oh dear, the picture up there is not a governess but a sprite from the woods, a playful temptress who lures innocents into the enchanted Dark Forest from whence they shall never return! Did you notice the cloud halo? Totally unplanned, my friends...

And I just threw this photo in there. I like the sense of dance and the old-world feeling. The cloud in this photo could be a giant feather sprouting from my beret.

Here is a closeup of my pendant, Ghost on a Swing.

Happy darkness to you. Oooo.