Botanical Beauty

This time of year, I can't walk outside without being bombarded by blooms.  Every tree, every plant, every flower: just bursting with life and lushness.  This poster reminded me of that feeling.  I love old botanical illustrations!

 Aren't these designs by Natalia Grsybowski stunning?  I'd love to be able to design custom prints for my dresses.  It's a whole higher level of creativity.  The effect here is feminine and pretty, and kaleidoscopic and provocative at the same time.  Garden party dressing to the extreme!

I've lost that shopping feeling

Sometimes I get such a strong urge to go clothes shopping.  It's one of those silly urges like wanting a whole plate of brownies; there's really no justification for it.  There are two pretty obvious reasons why I've learned some coping mechanisms to help the craving pass: first, I absolutely don't need any more clothes, and second, I can't afford it.

The best, most virtuous, way to lose the shopping feeling is to organize my closet and drawers, which seem to always need tidying.  This works for a few reasons.  For one thing, it reminds me just how freaking many clothes I own!  It also kind of burns me out on looking at clothes; I'm just over it.  Also, I come across clothes that have been buried for a while, and that rediscovery can fill the novelty void.  A pleasant side effect is orderly drawers, and usually a bag of things to take to the thrift store to donate, and a much clearer idea of whether or not there might actually be something I need.

So I'll leave that bag of clothes to take to the thrift store aside until I have another shopping urge, at which point I might give in and go to the thrift store.  It's not so bad though, because I'm getting rid of more clothes than I will come back with, and I can give myself a ten dollar limit, which is often way more than I spend.  Also, I feel like the thrift store gives good shopping bang for the buck, in terms of lots of browsing, lots to look at and touch, and relatively little to actually buy.  I can easily spend an hour looking and maybe part with three or four dollars.  Compare that to an hour at the mall: I'd be in and out of a dozen or more stores that don't sell anything for under twenty bucks.  Too tempting!

Another good remedy is to find an old gift card stashed away.  At any given time I might have a couple of gift cards with money on them and no matter where they are from, shopping anywhere can satisfy the shopping need - it's just that little splurge that I want.  Right now I have a ten dollar gift card from the Superstore, which could get me some Joe Fresh socks and undies, or something from the clearance rack.  Or that plate of brownies.  No!  I've also got some money on a gift card from a kitchen supply store: maybe some fancy tea or pretty paper napkins; there's lots to look at.  Even the few bucks on a Starbucks card could buy me a fancy drink which is a treat I almost never indulge in.  Gift cards let me shop a little without spending a lot.

A couple of other ways to ease the desire to shop: online pretend shopping, trying testers at Sephora, browsing at Holt Renfrew or somewhere else so expensive I know there's no danger of buying, and turning a mundane purchase into an experience.  If I need toothpaste, I might go to a couple of drugstores looking for the best price on a new flavour of one of the all-natural brands of toothpaste.  It sounds silly, but it takes the edge off!

Have you got any tricks to lose the shopping feeling?

Spring blouses on the street

Is it just me, or are street-style blogs kind of blah these days?  I just spent the last, um, hour browsing through a bunch of them, and nothing really got me excited for spring.  I even looked at a bunch of photos from Coachella and ripped denim shorts aren't really doing it for me.  Interestingly, my three favorite looks were all from The Sartorialist, which is rare, but they all feature blouses - not so rare.  Three totally different vibes going on with these ladies, but I love to wear blouses in lots of ways.  And isn't that hat on the third girl fabulous?

The Mid-April Rush

Thanks to a sunny weekend and attending my first wedding of the season, it really is starting to feel like spring.  There's lots of hustle and bustle at work, and with the bow ties, and the longer days always seems to bring more visits with friends in the evening, so there's a good energy happening right now.  We had a great couple of days with my parents in town for my cousin's wedding, and it was a great wedding!  The sun shone, the couple glowed, the extended family was mostly there, the food was great - really no complaints.  Well, except for the fact that I didn't manage to take a decent photos of the bride and groom, but that's often the case.  The professional photographer was getting the good shots, so I got the backs of other peoples heads and the awkward angles!  However, I did get a nice one of Karl and my dad modelling their bow ties like good sports, and one of Karl and I that shows just what an amazing day we had!

Farewell, FT!

After being on the air since 1985, Fashion Television has been cancelled.  I can't say that I'm surprised; in this instant Internet world, a television show about fashion seems so slow, and it seems like Jeanne Beker has plenty of other projects on the go that are more relevant.  But it's the end of an era and I'll miss seeing her elbow her way through the crowds backstage to get some face time with the worlds biggest designers.

I can't remember how old I was when I started watching FT, maybe around ten or eleven, but I was instantly a devotee, especially because since it's a Canadian show, it aired on one of the three channels we got on our tiny little TV!  That was the time of the Supermodels and with Jeanne's help I could name every one who sashayed down the catwalks, and I loved her little interviews with the designers and especially the critics, who weren't afraid to say so when a show bombed.

In the last few years I've probably only caught a handful of episodes, and while it might be last seasons shows that they are discussing, I never tire of Jeanne's energy and obvious love for the industry.  I can't wait to see what she'll do next.

Sunny day, funny jeans

Still a little chilly for shorts, but at least a day with out rain allows me to take a few pictures outside!  These thrift-store jeans are kind of funny: really high waist, short legs, pressed front crease, rhinestones on the rivets, weird blue-grey colour, slight flare at the hem.  The label is all in Chinese, which explains who the previous owner might have been.  In my eyes, they're cool, but I certainly understand if no-one else thinks so!

Short Post

I want shorts weather!  We keep getting a little glimpse of spring weather and a little warmth, and then right back to cold and dreary greyness.  I have a couple of great pairs of printed shorted that I'm itching to wear without the aid of tights, but the forecast isn't too promising for this week.  I'll be dreaming of the sun, and of these shorts below.  My very favorites are at the top left!  They're by Mink Pink, and sadly, at $105, not in my future, but maybe something will turn up at Value Village...

Just A Hint

What's this?  A bowtie?  A hand-made, hand-tied, vintage silk bowtie to be exact.  Can't you picture a bowtie on every dapper man you know?  This is just a little teaser; the big launch is yet to come, but stay tuned for more bowtie excitement!

Isabeli Fontana by Peter Lindbergh

It's a rare day that I see a wedding dress editorial in a fashion magazine that isn't boring and cliched.  These images from Vogue Paris are so pretty.  I love the dress in the lower picture - someone ask me to make that one, OK?  If I had the time, I'd make one as a sample, but I'm so busy right now...

Say No To Flatforms

I'm usually a mindless sucker for every new trend that comes along, so I gave this one a chance before speaking out against it.  I though that maybe, somehow, the flatform would grow on me, and that with time it would start looking less hideous, and then one day I'd wake up one day craving them.  Now, I'm not promising that this won't still happen, but it has been at least a year, and I'm still pretty opposed.

I just don't see the appeal.  Clunky, dumpy, and totally unflattering; if they really are flat, they are just plain ugly.  The ones with a little bit of a rise in the heel are OK, but then they aren't really FLATforms, are they.  Can't we all just admit that it's one more silly novelty that designers came up with to sell something new and that we should just ignore the whole trend for once?

who am I to blow against the wind?

Looks like a little bit of that sunshine I was asking for!  Just a boring outfit, but proof that I still exist.  I'm working so much on this new project, which will be ready for it's close-up next week, that I'm just a little frazzled, but in a good way.

Black and White (and pretty all over)

Spring starts sometime this evening, and it sure doesn't feel like it.  It's been cold and rainy and snowy hear for the last few days (well, months of course), and I wish we could have a little bit of sun and warmth, just so my brave daffodils keep their spirits up.  I was going to hunt around for some really fresh, springy photographs, but then I decided to post the last three black and white shots in my picture folder, just to get it out of my system while it's still technically winter.  Tomorrow is a new day and a new season!

Young Cher - Fashion hottie

It's a little bit unfortunate that Cher of the present day has become a little bit of a parody of herself.  She's the butt of jokes now, which makes it hard to remember how amazing she used to be.  In the Sonny and Cher days she had that awesome sexy hippie doe-eyed thing down pat!  And that hair is to die for.  My co-worker said that when she was a teenager in Saigon in the 1970's all the girls wanted to look like Cher and grew their hair long and parted it in the middle and rode around on their motorbikes with their hair flying!

I even love her Bob-Mackie-at-the-Oscars phase, with the excessive glam and ensembles that left nothing to the imagination.  It wasn't until after the movie Mermaids that things started to get a little weird.  Maybe it was just one facelift to far and one farewell too many, but let's just focus on the good old days.  Keep these pictures in mind next time some lame comedian does a Cher bit!

blush hush

Spring must be on it's way - sunshine this afternoon, and that extra hour of daylight after dinner had me feeling optimistic despite the wretched weather forecast.  On Sunday afternoon I went for a long walk in the sun and actually felt some warmth.  Bring it on, and bring on the pastels and flowers.

Hint hint: working on kind of a cool project at the moment, but I can't spill the beans until things are a little further along.  The good news is that it's got me spending extra hours at the sewing machine...

Daga Ziober in Harper's Bazaar Russia

 

This editorial was one of the first in a while to get me excited about clothes.  I love all of the unexpected combinations and the kooky prints.  I'm always on the lookout for a good print, which is funny because a few years ago I remember thinking that I wasn't really a print person.  I never liked any florals, any polka dots, just wasn't into prints, but now I can't get enough.  Another thing that I love about this shoot is that so many of the pieces look like if I just keep my eyes open, I'll surely find something similar in a thrift store.