Second Chances

I first saw this Pink Tartan dress at Holt Renfrew in December 2015. I know, because I have a couple of posts saved in my IG feed from when I was trying to decide whether to buy it. It was on sale for $200, and I had a gift card. But somehow, I couldn’t pull the trigger. I think this dress was a 2020 Adina dress, not a 2015 Adina dress … but 2015 Adina had an inkling about it. And regretted not buying it ever since. I’ve spent the intervening years hunting down this dress, on and off, on various platforms without success. I’ll save the story of how I found it for my next thrifting update, but needless to say: sometimes we do get a second change. And I grabbed it with both hands! This dress is so incredibly cool and photos don’t do it justice. It’s almost designed like a skirt and top, connected in a very cool way (the back has a concealed air-vent-like gap!). It has a slinky flapper-esque energy that I love, and though I wish it was a touch longer, I am so in love with it.

Bubble Chic

I love the cocoon-y shape of this COS skirt, and decided it would pair well with this bubble-shaped Zara top. Perhaps not the most figure-flattering, but I love its architectural lines. I especially love the micro-pleating on the top; it reminds me of Issey Miyake. I also appreciate the celadon-and-navy-blue combination, with teal as an accent colour. A muted but unexpectedly lovely palette.

Snowmageddon, Part 1 (?)

We had an unusually warm fall, all the way into the first week of November. I knew we would be paying for that, somehow, and sure enough, it happened sooner rather than later. A week after Halloween, BAM: over a foot of snow dumped on us in less than 24 hours. We shoveled FIVE times that day, and still couldn’t keep up. Did I mention we live on a corner lot? And that our ancient snow-blower hasn’t worked since 2018? Ugh. Weather aside, I did manage a cute outfit that day – including the inaugural run of the Oak & Fort cocoon, teddy bear coat I thrifted recently. It’s huge and warm and I love it. It makes this time of year slightly more bearable, weather-wise.

I don’t quite know how, but recently I became a skirt person. I bought a couple of amazing ones online (eBay and Poshmark) and then the next think you know, it’s ALL I’m buying. I haven’t worn real pants to work (from home) in 8 months, but for some reason, skirt are just dandy. So I decided to turn October into skirt month. All skirts, all the time. Lest you think I would run out of material on a month with 31 days … hah! I actually had a few left over that I never got the chance to wear. So, umm, yeah: my skirt collection is all set. And I had a blast picking outfits last month.

Should I be bringing back monthly capsules? Hmmm.

For now, let’s have a look at the month in review:

Somehow, I managed to miss my favourite skirt (and outfit) in these collages. D’oh!

It’s always hard for me to pick favourites but IF I absolutely had to, they would be: the Dries Van Noten with the train; the aqua blue Acne; the muted ombre rainbow; the red tartan Saint Laurent skirt; the blue/green plaid Ralph Lauren; and the micro-pleated Issey Miyake maxi skirt. But, gah, I love them all.

As you can probably tell, I am very fond of midi and maxi length skirts at the moment. I don’t have many knee-length ones anymore; the few that I have, I keep because I love the print or the design. In the collages above, I tried to group together the skirts to show some of the outfit “formulas” I like to use. One of my faves is the sweater+skirt combo. Easy, cozy and chic. I do still try to incorporate layers and texture as much as I can, but working from home has influenced me to simplify my outfits a lot. It’s probably why I am gravitating back towards colour, away from monochrome black outfits – it’s a way to inject some creativity into my outfits, which I crave even when I’m purely dressing for myself. This shift also had me wondering if black is the colour I feel most comfortable wearing around other people, whereas when I am alone, I reach for brighter colours and prints. Or maybe this is just 2020 energy – chaotic all around.

Whew, this week has been a stressful ride for folks in the US and those of us adjacent to it, hasn’t it? I think it’s safe to say that my current mood is cautiously optimistic but I will need a long time to come down from the anxiety rollercoaster. Let’s throw it back to a simpler time for a moment: Halloween 2020.

I’ve never been super into seasonal decorating. Or dressing up for Halloween — not since my early 20s anyway. But as with so many other things, 2020 ended up different. This year, I felt an inexplicable impulse to fill my front porch with pumpkins:

Look how jolly they look! Is “jolly” not what we go for when it comes to Halloween? Oh well.

I also sprinkled some “Mini Boos” (seriously, that’s what they’re called, I die) inside my house:

I knew that stockpiling thrifted candlesticks would pay off some day — I was able to assemble a “Halloweeny” candle display in 3 seconds flat. Now, admittedly, that was the extent of my seasonal decorating efforts which, for some, might seem like barely an effort at all. But it was a pretty big step for yours truly. My husband also got into the spirit, and built this candy chute for socially distanced trick-or-treating.

To claim credit where it is due (if I say so myself), he built it and I decorated it. We both stole our ideas from others in the neighbourhood.

And I also got dressed up for Halloween. In fairness, it only happened because I stumbled on the perfect dress a few weeks ago. It’s a dress that puzzled me a lot. The material feels pretty cheap, but the construction and finishing details are fantastic. There are no labels anywhere on the dress. I can only assume that it was either a sample of some kind, or a theatre costume. Either way, it was pretty perfect:

I live the witchy vibezzz all year round, so it seemed only fitting to let my witch flag fly this Halloween:

Hope you had a safe and spooky Halloween, and survived the rollercoaster that was Election Week. Onwards and upwards!