Blue Collar Red Lipstick

14
Aug
2015

Vacation Style: Thrift Edition

Dress, Anthropologie (thrifted); top, J. Crew; shoes, Old Navy; bag, Longchamps

I thrifted this Meadow Rue dress … thingie right before my vacation to Vancouver, so I had to bring it with me, of course. Wait to wear a new frock? Pshaw! Besides, it’s perfect for kid-wrangling. The linen blend fabric is pretty much indestructible (it survived a close encounter with peanut butter – long and not terribly entertaining story) and those ginormous pockets are perfect for carrying all sorts of vacation ephemera. I can probably smuggle a ferret or other small furry animal in there. Not that I want to, or have needed to. Thankfully. Yet.

Potato sack dresses are not the height of style, especially when they’re a size or two too big, but comfort is also never overrated in my books. For $10, this dress delivers all the potato sack-y comfort and then some.

my, what big pockets you've got there ... — my, what big pockets you’ve got there …

This dress is also pretty versatile, in the sense that it goes well with a lot of different tops. Here’s another way that I wore it in Van (and a peek at the cute cross strap detail in the back):

top, H&M; shoes, J. Crew Factory; necklace, J. Crew

13
Aug
2015

Then and Now

categories: Favourite things, style

Dress, RACHEL Rachel Roy; shoes, Steve Madden; bag, MbMJ (all via consignment)

This is one of my fave dresses, and you are not surprised because I think we have agreed that I am the queen of dresses that look like separates and vice versa. I wore it again, after too long of a break, for my birthday dinner and it did not disappoint. It is just so darn pretty. And pretty comfortable too, especially now that I have a bit more wiggle room in it.

Speaking of which, I was a bit surprised when I dug out the photo of the last time I wore this dress, almost exactly one year ago. I honestly didn’t think my body had changed quite so visibly in the last six months or so, so this side by side was a bit of an eye-opener. Funnily enough, I see the biggest difference in my face. I am reminded of the saying attributed (if I remember correctly) to the great Catherine Deneuve: after a certain age, women have to chose between their face and their ass. She spoke, of course, in an era before injectables. And I won’t lie: I have a different perspective on Botox now than I did at 25. (Which is to say, I have been thinking about it.)

In case you couldn’t tell, issues of age and self-image have been on my mind more than usual lately, which I fully attribute to this damn birthday. 35 has hit me in a way that 30 never did, and I’m still working on figuring out why. Anyone else out there who’s felt/feeling the same?

12
Aug
2015

Print Mixing, Hardcore

categories: style

skirt, Marc Jacobs (via consignment); top, J. Crew; shoes, Bloch

This is probably a whole lotta print for most people, but I sometimes like to push the limits. I wore this for Saturday morning errands (my life, it is nothing but glamour), when the risk is low to non-existent. Nobody at Superstore at 7:30 on a Saturday morning cares that I mixed circus tent stripes and florals. Not a single person. Trust.

That particular Saturday also happened to be my birthday (did I mention my life was glamorous? Who needs swanky parties when you’ve got the frozen desserts aisle all to yourself?) so naturally, I had to take a selfie. I was having a Good Hair Day, which made the prospect of staring down my encroaching 40s a little less scary. As long as there are Good Hair Days, everything is a little less scary.