Naked people everywhere and men carrying trees

Remember how I said in the last post that amazing things happen when you wear amazing clothes? This is what I saw today...

This is what I was wearing...

This is what I saw yesterday...

This is what I was wearing... 

Ah, it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world. I'm almost afraid to get dressed tomorrow. Maybe I'd better not put on anything and hop on my bicycle. 

You might recall the kimono robe from our manhole-cover party. Or not -  things got slightly out of control. (Don't worry, Judith, I won't post those photos.) I'm using the brilliant Calvin and Hobbes kid suspenders from Bella of The Citizen Rosebud to hoist my skirt. Except for the shoes/socks and magic loupe O made me, everything is thrifted. Those shoes clop like horse hooves. Very satisfying.

The other outfit features my DIY rock star pants, in which, during their inaugural outing, I almost chatted with Paul Stanley, the KISS rock star, not the same-named New York designer of the fabulous vintage gown from Pao and her mum I wore in the previous post. Same names - spooky. And my DIY jacket.

My eyes are becoming more sensitive to eye shadow as the years go by, so instead of putting the colour directly on my lids, I have begun using it above the crease. The blue-green mini-brows were made with "Make Up For Ever" cream shadow from Sephora. The lipstick is MAC's Candy Yum Yum, a daily staple. The colours here are accurate, at least on this monitor. For the kimono manhole outfit, I painted a dime-sized dot of hot pink under my brows. Of course you can't see them - I have to stand under the fluorescent light for anything to show. Expect to see more eye colour experimentation.

According to Wikipedia, the World Naked Bike Ride is for a "cleaner, safer, body-positive" world. And those men are moving a styrofoam prop for a multi-million-dollar Jeep commercial in which a downtown block was transformed into a wild canyon with trees, boulders, gushing water, mist, and snowfall. Considering a majority of surveyed Canadians (not me) have identified Jeep as their "dream car," I can almost understand the expense. (No, I can't understand ever. This is madness.) 

Because I missed Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style last time, I'm making up for it by joining twice this time, with this post and the previous one. Bwa-ha-ha. See you there.

Edit: I'm linking this to Sacramento's Share-in-Style: Gold at Mis Papelicos as well. Gold spangles, can't live without them.

Does your town have any wacky celebrations? Naked people on bikes? I have always thought that a town in a slump would do well by becoming the Knitting Capital of the World. It could erect a tacky sculpture of the The World's Biggest Knitting Needles at the town limits and host an Annual International Knit-Off with prizes for skill, speed, etc. The resultant products could be raffled or donated. Just an idea. Have you got any ideas? 

*The days in this post refer to Friday and Saturday.

A Dark Horse

Yesterday I needed to wear something heavy, not warm, just heavy, don't ask me why. And it needed to be black, the more black the better. This is what I found. I threw on the shawl at the last minute.

Clearly I am a moth, I mean a phoenix, I mean a totem pole, I mean Sherlotta Holmes tramping through the woods, looking for toxic plants and clues, speaking of which, I could have saved myself the trouble just bottling a drop of Miz Bagg's drool, but where's the fun in that?

There are abazillion layers here - yes, this was very heavy. I moved silently, wraith-like, down the sidewalk. Turning around, I could see the fabric billowing still in slow motion behind me, life at five frames per second. Maybe that's why I wanted to wear heavy clothes - to crank it down a notch. I avoided traffic lights because, like a super-tanker, I would have needed a block to gear down to a full stop. (Would you like more metaphors and similes?)

NEWS FLASH
I've heard it firsthand that the Sherlotta, cowboy/First Nations, moth, opium den vibe is going to THEE hot trend for spring - you heard it here first.  Special thanks to Valastasia Bugheroff at Muse Fondue for letting me use her den for inspiration - more about that in a future post.

Wearing:

black gauzy maxi dress, thrifted

under the dress

black knee socks and heavy black jeggings

black cami and black long-sleeved top

over the dress

upcycled black wispy tunic with ribbon ties, as vintage as I am, retail

black patterned sleeveless maxi vest, thrifted

vintage black haori (short kimono-type thing), thrifted

silk Orientalesque shawl, $5 thrifted, yay!

Miu Miu boots, thrifted

above the dress

vintage black felt fur fedora, thrifted

I bought the haori in '85 and it was already vintage then. And I looove this black fedora. Usually I would have slapped a beret on my head for this but it felt too, hm, just too predictable, you know what I mean?

I'm linking this up to Judith's Hat Attack #7 at Style Crone.

I'm linking this up to Sacramento's Share-in-Style: Gothic  at Mis Papelicos. The prompt makes me think of secret science labs in castle basements and foggy midnight alleyways in London.  

I'm linking to Anne's 52-Pick-Me-Up: Short Over Long at Spy Girl.

Below is what I wore today, February 1. It is one of the happiest outfits I have worn in a while - I could feel the smiles blooming all around me as I tiptoed past. Happy Year of the Horse. Neigh.

Wearing

• Kimono-style robe, not silk, $8 thrifted, yay!
• long flowy skirt, thrifted
• glitter booties, crapily-made, mega-discount retail
• black sequin top, thifted
• black turtleneck, thrifted
• ...and other assorted layers-on-layers-on layers for warmth.

Finally, regarding my previous Lena Dunham post, I am traumatized that nobody offered me $60,000 to see my original unretouched photos! As part of my recovery process, I am posting them here for free. 

Have a great weekend all. And thanks to Sally at Already Pretty for the shout-out on my Dunham post. My stats are stunned by the exercise.

Code Pink sympto-maniacal

Wearing: elastic-waist polyester pants, fleece top, and baggy sweat socks under thrifted vintage kimono-style pink-patterned maxi "Loungewear" (label name) worn as an overjacket, and thrifted Miu Miu boots. So, yes, I did get the memo on pink and menopause. THANK YOU! I thought I was losing my mind, which would not be surprising as I have not cleaned out my belfry in ages and AGES.

I'm not knocking you if you DO in fact wear elastic-waist polyester pants, but one does feel so much more alive in pickled pink maxi Loungewear. Drinks, anyone? Meet me at the manhole cover.

I was curious about this "if you're menopausal-ish you start to wear pink" rule doing the blogger circuit, so I consulted the oracle, the Oxford Medical Dictionary of Physicality and Suchlike. I happened to be wearing my 3-D glasses at the time and there, under Menopausal-ish Symptoms, cleverly invisible to the naked eye, words started to materialize between the lines. Symptom 0.33(i): Irrepressible urge to wear pink. Of course! Then Symptom 1.52(c): Haphazard wearing of 3-D glasses. Then Symptom 3.7(gg): Spouting nonsense on your way to Nirvana (did not specify Cobain variety or Buddhal place).

I wore this symptomatic outfit on my inspiration walk today, flapping flamingo-like in the bracing morning breeze. Whap, whap, whap. Outta my way - there's a menopausal-ish woman coming through!! The kimono belt is lacking, which partially explains why this gem, luxuriously lined in silky healthy-gums pink, was only $20. Considering its pinkness is a soothing balm for the menopausal-ish mind, perhaps it is considered a medical aid and I could have paid with insurance. Nah, then the flap would be at the back.

The panoply of playful bold pink and patterned outfits in posts of late are clear indications that we're dealing with a contagion, spreading, oozing insidiously beyond age boundaries! I'm afraid there is no cure but time itself. Until then, brace, brace, brace in candy floss pink, cinderella-on-crack bubblegum, and Pepto-Bismol splendour. Show me how you suffer.

That's all.

Oh, I got a haircut. Next is colouring. I mean de-colouring.
Also, under this Loungewear I am wearing a warm camisole, a thrifted brown turtleneck, my skinny jeans, my Geisha socks, and a thrifted red maxi cardigan which you've seen in a hideous outfit in an earlier post. Gaaah.

Fly me to the moon

I may be from Istanbul. I may be from Rio de Janeiro. I may be from Boca Raton. I may be from Kuala Lumpur. But one place I'm definitely not from is...

...the Kiwanis International Convention, as the security guard at the Vancouver Convention Centre was quick to note when Sandra and I tried to blend in with the hoards streaming into the building - he clocked us as gatecrashers at 100 paces; we'll never know how. So we took our style parkouring outside. The guard was very friendly and invited us back for Canada Day celebrations (Monday) and cake.

I'm glad we went outdoors. Check out that billow effect. Swoosh. The thing I like about hanging out at Vancouver's waterfront is the number of tourists from all over the world. Walk through ten crowds and you'll hear ten different languages. It's fantastic, almost like I'm travelling myself, ALMOST. Sandra and I even considered stopping for hideously-overpriced coffee with smiles on our faces until we decided to nip into our favourite swanky bar for a glass of wine and a snort-fest (snorts of laughter).

I had to give my jacket a helping hand as it was a bit weighty for the breeze. But Sandra's new thrifted silky smoking jacket billowed juuuust right to achieve her rock-star-the-morning-after look. She posted a photo on June 28 on her blog, Lens is More. She also posted part of what I was wearing on June 29, one of my favourite maxis ever.

Details

inside-out silk brocade kimono worn as jacket, thrifted

old white Gap T-shirt, retail, upcycled in a last-ditch revitalization effort

tights, retail

stretchy blue skirt, Metallicus, sample sale

painted boots, the zip on one is broken at mid way (you can see the buckled seam in the photo)

2 magic pendants from O

ghost-on-a-swing pendant from friend Monique of little lamp sculptures

neon sunglasses, vintage, thrifted

Canada Day is tomorrow. As you might know, Canada is a "commonwealth" country. Okay, I get the "common" part. What I want to know is where is the wealth? 

I hope you all had a lovely weekend, and for those of you stuck in heat waves, stay cool! I'm linking up to Patti's magnificent garden party, Visible Monday, at her blog Not Dead Yet Style. Mint juleps, anyone?