From the boudoir to faux France

From the boudoir to the garden with huge honkin' plants. The leaves seem to embrace me, clearly unable to resist my vintage neon hot-pink robe by "Rhapsody of California made by Glazier," a phrase which must be said aloud with a haughty drawl each time I don this luxurious furry confection. I also memorably worn my Rhapsody when Shelley came to town in May 2016, post is here. 

"I am One with the Big Leaves" Photo by @vancouverbarbara

Now and with Shelley I was surrounded by big green vegetation wearing the Rhapsody. Are there strange forces at work with this robe - beyond its general fabulousness - that I don't know about?! Could this robe be opening some warped telepathic channel to our Jurassic herbal past!? Now I'm afraid to say the label name backwards. Who knows what would happen?

Shelley (Forest City Fashionista) and I goof around while feeling fabulous

The blouse is a chartreuse-y colour, very silky, with huge gathered sleeves, of course not visible here because they were smooshed in my robe. And I wore this awesome stretch floral maxi skirt and super-soft stretch leather booties, both from My Sister's Closet at one time or another.

But oh no! Do you see it? The huge honkin' camel nose? What are the odds? Giant leaves. Giant camel nose. And camel without the "ca" spells mel. Gaaaa!

Not only that, the nose's brand is - dah-dah-dummm - "totem." Is my spirit animal a camel nose? A Jurassic camel nose? Whoa, things are getting out of hand here.

In its undercover life, this is a mere courier bag. The long body strap is an upcycled seat belt, and the short handle on the flap is also seat-belt strapping. My laptop fits perfectly in there. Clever, right? Nothing suspicious there.

Of course I wore my magic loupe, which O made me. I never leave home without it. If you want to get louped like me, use the link in my sidebar to go to his Etsy store, OSK Micro-art Studio. His cool rings are there too.

You may now be asking yourselves, who let Mel into the peyote? Don't worry, I sobered up real quick when I...

...put on a little faux-French, which also required flattening my hair. This dress might be considered dour, drab, matronly or simply gross if it weren't for its extreme boxiness, which elevates it to the level of haute couture faux-French. Boxiness is a sure sign of $$$.

The dress came from My Sister's Closet. The bottom skirt half, with a single knife pleat on one side, a pocket on the other, and five gold buttons, is picky wool, and the top half is another kind of wool, yes, also itchy, but that's part of the iron discipline one may require to wear haute faux-French, n'est-ce pas?

I think this dress was made from two vintage pieces sewn together. There are no labels or notions, except for the buttons, to research. I bought another very similar dress a few months before this one. The top half looks hand-knit, black wool, and the bottom half is dove-grey Crimplene. Dreamy. But I think I'll upcycle it into a coat. I'll show you later.

I carried my toolbox hand bag, swiped from O after he removed the height gauge, opaque black tights, narrow men's pointy shoes in taupe/brown - they are much pointier than the picture above suggests. And I took my teacup carrier made from a wooden matryoshka. The sunglasses are Lagerfeld, darling, a gift.

That's all for this week. Not much to say. I am preoccupied. I'll tell you about what after Thursday, which is when I'll put up my next post.

I'm going to link up with Patti at Not Dead Yet Style, Visible Monday, and Catherine at Not Dressed as Lamb, #iwillwearwhatilike.

See youse guys later!! Get back to work!! Heh.

The holeliness of the wool Alaia Paris dress

First stop. I seem to have stepped into this painting by Jeff Depner I found hanging at Nordstrom. My Alaia Paris navy and brown belted wool dress took me there. Too bad you can't hear the music in my head that accompanies this vintage vibe. 

The dress came from Anne of SpyGirl at the blogger meetup clothing swap in July and it's cool enough now to wear. Thank you, Anne! As a trash rescue, she pointed out the detailing made by moths, unsure what I would think. Well, that's what black underwear and coats are for! Greetje, No Fear of Fashion, has a great shot of this dress from the meetup here, scroll down. 

Next stop. I decided to take my party into the lobby of Hotel Georgia, which is also home to the speakeasy Prohibition. Dear me, looks like I was the only one who showed up! Passersby threw money into my toolbox handbag and afterwards I went and bought bread pudding.

I prefer this dress backwards because the belt creates two little scallop shapes below the waistline at the front which I find visually interesting. And the collar is higher in reverse. Having the snap closure on my back is tricky but nothing a little contortionism and mastery of curse words can't handle. The photo below shows how the dress was designed to look from the front.

Detail of fabric wrapping, and moth holes on my shoulder. The brown swath of fabric is sewn onto the "front" of the dress, wraps around to criss-cross at the rear, and finally belts at the front. Ruching where the belt attaches to the fabric provides lovely structural detail. 

Final stop. Concrete studio for Zoolandering.

I always try to mend holes in my clothes because: 1) upkeep prevents further destruction, and 2) socially, holes are almost pathologically unacceptable, unless they are put there deliberately by a designer. Given this dress's fairly extensive damage and precise structural design, I decided to go with camouflage. 

Do any of you pro sewists have mending ideas for sprays of tiny moth holes in fine wool knits?

No matter what, you can't keep a good dress down! This dress may be frail but it still looks great, feels great, and fuels my imagination - WINNER. What about you? What do you do with your wrinkles holes? Trash, repair or camouflage?

Finally, this is a new ring O made for me. Steel and ruby. 

He doesn't use lost wax; he machines each piece.

To add visual interest he used a black finish and a brushed metal finish. 

The ruby is held in place with a tension mount. 

With so little surface contact, when the sun hits this ruby just right, 

it looks like an LED light. 

I'm not wearing the ring in these photos because it wasn't finished yet.

That's all. I guess it's Thanksgiving. Eat! EAT!! EEEAAT!!

I'll link this up on Sunday with Patti and her excellent Not Dead Yet Style party, Visible Monday. 

Vintage and Shoe Shine

Wearing: vintage dress with thrifted seafoam underskirt, mustard tights, upcycled vintage bolero jacket with humungous buttons (label "zachary's smile"), thrifted shiny red shoes by Hush Puppies for Bella's Shoe Shine at The Citizen Rosebud. Thanks, Bella, for hosting the party.

I also call these my Dorothy Shoes, as in the fantasy story Wizard of Oz. Of course "there's no place like home," as Dorothy says in the movie, but there's also no place like, say, London (England), New York, and Milan. Those are the places I'll go after I figure out this heel-clicking trick. 

The sleeves of the jacket have a wonderful patterned fabric inside the cuff - slightly visible - which reminds me of drapes. And the pattern on the dress is created by stitchery with white thread. I really need a proper crinoline to do this dress justice, but we make do.

And again, see the vintage goods IN ACTION!! Surprisingly I didn't bend over backwards this time making the clip. That's a tiny local park, also known as Giant Doggy Toilet. The photos are stills from the video clip; it's nice when I get to select my favourites from a bajillion frames. 

I have many Serious, Heavy Thoughts now too, such as is it a cold universe or a hot universe?, which require Brain Work, but that post will just have to wait. Maybe a Push Ring would help me deliver the words. Until then, you'll be seeing more words like nice, wonderful, good, awesome, and grippingly good post titles such as this one.

Also, many hugs and thanks to Shelley of Forest City Fashionista for her continuing awesome work in mapping out the Freakish Yellow Skirt's global trek. You're a schtar!!

That's all. 

Vintage wool dress for mystery

Today I wore one of my favourite odd dresses, a heavy wool garment with little gold studlettes, graduated in size, on the sleeves and front pocket, and a flared skirt. The dress was three or four sizes too big when I thrifted it, so in standard slacker fashion I simply sewed up the side seams to fit and lowered the shoulder seams at the top. Although this is a frequent go-to item for evening music recitals, I also enjoy it for daytime wear as well. There is a mysterious air about this garment which brings to mind the classic holiday-season movie Bell, Book and Candle in which Kim Novak, a witch, falls for a mortal, James Stewart.

Walking down the sidewalk I felt so deliciously witchy in the rain shadows that I was sure that if I turned around quickly, boo!, I would catch a dozen black cats (named Pyewacket) frozen in stride, amber eyes blazing. I always liked Kim Novak far better as a witch than as a mortal. I wonder if the street lights flared and burned out in a trail behind me.

Details of this ensemble:

• vintage dress, thrifted
• black tights, retail
• medium-heeled shoes (aka frump shoes), retail
• magic loupe, O made it for me
• magic pendant, O made it for me
• fingerless gloves, upcycled from Canadian Tire automotive store
• beret, thrifted
• seafoam cotton skirt underneath as a petticoat, thrifted

Below is a closeup of the dress fabric with the studs, and this is the tool-box bag I carried today, which came with a tool O ordered. Isn't it divine? I shall customize it at some point but I was content with the plain exterior today.

Happy Visible Monday! This week I'm able to make it over to Patti's place at Not Dead Yet Style. I missed you all last week... Time to catch up. Do your clothes put you in a mood or does your mood put you in your clothes?

Also, regarding my last post for Vogoff magazine, I greatly dislike ageism, and yet I defined this faux magazine's audience as women +40. Big mistake! I know so many wonderful bloggers who are under 40 and the world would not be complete without you. So if any of you want to contribute to Vogoff, I heartily welcome your suggestions.

PS

AND - I am very excited and flattered to be featured in an interview (here) posted by 

Sylvia on her amazing blog, 40+ Style (TM). 

The piece is called: 

"How to be more creative with your outfits: Style lessons from Melanie." 

Thank you! 

Sylvia is the kind of woman who could put on a scratchy potato sack and make it look cool and breezy in Singapore heat. If you haven't see Sylvia's style yet, do go have a look!

Everyone needs a ballerina dress

I was meandering down the sidewalk when suddenly a tiny glittery whirlwind engulfed me...I thought I was dreaming. When I awoke, prickling warm and dazed, I found myself wrapped in a tangle of autumn leaves and white tulle.

This lovely vintage dress surely has stories to tell judging by the irregular trail of snags and rips in her balletic cloud of skirt. The bodice is ivory silk with a built-in foundation garment and boning along each side seam, and the straps are fragile soft pink elastic. I shall do minor mending on her to halt further deterioration and wear her only on special occasions, like today, just because. I only ventured as far as a local mini park with my tripod and tea, but my outing was very satisfying indeed.

Details

• thrifted vintage gown with full tulle skirt and silk bodice, saved from Halloween abominations
• black tights
• black stretch pointed shoes
• Shar Pei sweater over black boat-neck top, necessary for warmth
• Spode teacup with tea

I'm sorry I didn't get a full standing shot; you'll only have to imagine a cloud of white tulle billowing across the horizon... Bwa-ha-ha!

I'm hooking up to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style. She always starts the week off right. I shall see you there...? I must.

My hot pink peignoir takes me for a walk

Wooo, I was feeling psychedelic today. Can you tell? I was on the cusp of culling this vintage Karen Millen green dress with the "England" label, but I won't now having discovered how groovy it feels paired it with this hot pink peignoir - I felt like doing the twist. There is excessive amplitude in the upper reaches of the dress and with the flare of the skirt I consider it slightly too short to wear just tights with, so I paired the dress with these riding-pant jeggings and threw on a hot pink silk top to colour block the green field. I was also hoping there would be a greater clash of pinks between the peignoir and the top, but you can't have everything.

It was windy today so the peignoir billowed and fluttered brilliantly with the lightest, feathery  swish of my hands. That feeling brings back memories of sheer curtains wafting in my bedroom on a summer evening, crickets singing, and the passing of the distant night train. 

Can you see the pink satin ribbons? This was the peignoir's inaugural outing; I'm glad it took me along. The top part of it is shirred and stretchy and has three little pink buttons.

Details of the outfit

• vintage Karen Millen green dress, thrifted, True Value Vintage end-of-business sale, $5 (?)
• bright pink peignoir, thrifted, Salvation Army, $10
• bright pink silk top, hand-me-over
• caramel riding-pant jeggings, new, Hue brand, The Bay

Here are some close-ups of the dress. I love the label. The dry-cleaner said when I brought it in, "That's a really old dress," but I don't know if he thought that was a good thing or a bad thing. I think this dress is made of lightweight wool crepe, and it has a light-green satin lining. Perhaps I subconsciously chose this "England" dress with the Empire waist to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee.

I'm tired of hearing my hangers scape hard over the bar when I dig for a piece of clothing - my closet is packed. There was a time when the aubergine outfit in the previous post felt the edge of scandal. How things have changed, the result of hanging around with so many fabulous bloggers. So it's time to do a serious weeding of my wardrobe according to my new standards, which sometimes include opera gowns and peignoirs as daywear. There are too many as-yet undiscovered "favourite" pieces in the shops and not enough hours in a day to devote to "meh" clothing. Wish me luck in The Big Clean! 

Of course I'm heading over to Patti's Visible Monday. I sure felt visible in this dreamy, lava-lamp outfit. I hope I'll see you over there!

P.S. Playing squash like a worm is like playing with a racquet made from silly putty and running with noodle legs, all wibbly and ineffective. 

My Style Autoblography

When I went on my inspiration and style-scouting walk today, I ran into my rocker chick friend, Sandra Bernabei. I told her about this new blog and she said, "Oh, you're doing an autoblography?" I love that word and she said she just made it up on the spot. I'm trying to coax her into her most intense rocker gear for a photo but even today she had on a great hand-sequinned T-shirt supporting the Port Alberni fire-fighting water bombers! (Port Alberni is a small town on Vancouver Island)

Today was cold so I threw on three slips under my dress, one red, one rust, and one white, and it helped.

Details of my outfit:

• one nifty thrifted vintage dress, short sleeved with pleats, made out of excellent polyester, which I bought a few days ago
• black turtleneck under the dress for warmth
• three slips and light blue tights (you can see the rust slip peeking out in photo 2)
• thrifted D&G pony heels, score purchase a few years ago
• a necklace from waaay long ago with a little heart hanging on it.

There are three vertical rows of  ivory-coloured stitching on the front of the dress, curving from the top down to just above the pleats where they end in arrow points. The whole dress is finely made. I kept the photos slightly orange because I liked that vintage patina with this dress pattern.

This pose is how I feel in this dress: "Ta-dah," with a little tap dancing flourish to punctuate it!
O thinks this is good studio camouflage wear.

It looks like there's light coming out of the painting with this colouring and reflection.