What I Wore: July 2-8, 2018

Punk Butterfly

There is nothing “punk” about this outfit, per se, but butterflies on a leather jacket are butterflies with an attitude, you know? Anyway, I enjoyed this outfit a lot. I call this my “Adventurer feels sassy today” jacket, which is all you need to know about my general mood when I’m wearing it. The brand is Aqua, which I think sells at Bloomingdale, or Nordstrom, or Saks; it originally retailed for $500, but I got mine for a fraction of the price from Jenn (Life Preloved) who thrifted it brand new. I’m pretty inured to the amazing things that people donate, and coming across pieces like this still boggles my mind. Not that I am anything but grateful for it.

Is long over slim – or whatever fashion peeps call throwing a tunic over pants – still a thing? Because I am pretending it is. In my defence, there is no other way of wearing this Wilfred tunic/vest because of those enormous side slits. I’m not mad about it; I’m feeling sassy, remember? These Madewell jeans are also on point, what with the raw hem that drives my mom batty. (Between these jeans and my distressed ones, she’s convinced that I am not capable of picking out normal pants. Sorry not sorry, Mom!) Say it with me: sssssssassy!

Slouchy Chic

My friends and I had a debate about what BDE means when it comes to style. To me, this is a BDE outfit – and I say that fully cognizant that I, myself, have no BDE whatsoever. Whatever BDE means in terms of personal energy, when it comes to clothes, it boils down to one thing for me: a “give no f**ks” attitude. A height of sartorial BDE would be wearing a literal potato sack down the red carpet. Or, you know, a swan wrapped around your neck. To digress further, Iris Apfel seems like a good example of someone who has sartorial BDE separate and apart from any other personal qualities; in contrast, I think someone like Tilda Swinton has sartorial and personal BDE.

Back to this outfit. Obviously, it does not belong in the same paragraph as any mention of Iris or Tilda, but I do think it nicely illustrates my current mood. A slouchy blazer paired with a sack-like dress and sensibly heeled shoes (Chie Mihara, thrifted, heck yeah!) is not an outfit designed to attract the validation of external attention. It’s designed for maximum wearability, and also to please my inner love of drapey silhouettes. This may not quite be Man Repeller territory, but it’s not too far off. And speaking of which, Man Repeller has a name for this: menocore.

Boho Chic, Again

The upside of taking the kids to Galaxyland in West Edmonton Mall is that I can make a side-trip to Anthropologie. (The downside should be apparent to anyone who’s been to Galaxyland on the weekend. It’s a zoo.) I rarely visit the store, which is probably best for my wallet. It’s not even the clothes that get me nowadays, but the housewares and the accessories. Like this chunky stone necklace. It’s a little bit Wilma Flintstone, a little bit “third grader’s art project” (which we all know is right up in my wheelhouse), and I fell in love with it in approximately 1.5 seconds. Lucky for my wallet, it was my husband and my anniversary weekend, and he was in a gift-y mood. Which is a good thing, because how cute does this necklace look with my Floreat muumuu? So cute.

Bonus Outfit

Throwing this one in because I really liked how it turned out. I call this “soft normcore”, which is to say it’s a basic “mom uniform” (chinos and sweater because July in Edmonton means temps in the mid 50s) in a pretty pastel/neutral colour scheme. I added my new favourite necklace because (a) why not; and (b) seriously, why not get a little fancy on a Sunday morning errand run.