Going Out On a Lim

3.1 Phillip Lim silk pleated dress
Dress, 3.1 Phillip Lim; blazer, J. Crew; shoes, Stuart Weitzman; bag, Mulberry (via consignment)

OK, you guys: this one is special. I spied this 3.1 Phillip Lim dress on the (non-sale) rack at Holt Renfrew sometime last year, and immediately came down with a case of googly-eyes over it. You know what I’m talking about. I ooh-ed and ah-ed (internally), and thought about how much cooler I would be if only I got to wear something so chic. This is, of course, nonsense, but some clothes have that magic of making you believe that it is possible to be a cooler, prettier, more sophisticated, fill-in-the-blank you. But I digress. I looked at the price tag, and it was all, like, “LOL, nope. Move along, peasant!” And I did, because while I like pretty things a lot, I like my retirement account more.

3.1 Phillip Lim silk pleated dress
love at first sight

Cut to late January, and I’m back strolling through Holt on a coffee break with a co-worker. (Which happens more often than it should but … ah, let’s get back to the story.) I spot the dress again, this time on the sale rack, and pull it out to show it to my friend, who agrees that it is quite lovely. I get ready for more wistful oohs and ahhs, when … do my eyes deceive me? Is that … can that be the sale price? $157, down from $815?

Yes, yes it is.

Chanel dragon
manicure, Chanel Dragon

Now, $157 (plus tax) is still a lot of money. I routinely spend that much and more in any given month on clothes, but very rarely in one go. And almost never on a piece of clothing. (It’s usually a bag.) It’s above my psychological price threshold for impulse buys, so to speak. This story might have had a different ending than these photos suggest, were it not for a little deus ex machina action in the form of my annual Christmas gift card from work. Gotta love a happy ending, cliched narrative devices aside.

3.1 Phillip Lim silk pleated dress
so pretty!
3.1 Phillip Lim silk pleated dress
prettiest thing I own? may well be …

Have you ever fallen (hopelessly) in love with a piece of clothing or accessory outside of your budget, only to later end up being able to buy after all?

Beach Vacation Style: Travel Capsule Review

riviera maya mexico
oh, sunshine & ocean

You’ve already seen a bunch of the outfits I wore on my Mexico vacation, but I figured I’d do a proper “capsule” recap so you could see how I fared overall. While I ended up wearing almost all of the pieces I brought with me, I spent the majority of my time in my swimsuits and either my thrifted tie dye schmatta dress or my cover-up. No surprises there, really. I always seem to forget how casual most resorts tend to be; the shorts-and-tee outfit on the right (below) was a “dressy” daytime outfit. Running around after the kids gave me one more reason to stick to the simple & comfortable.

beach resort capsule; travel capsule; beach vacation capsule
one, two

Speaking of shorts, I wore this pair an awful lot:

beach resort capsule; travel capsule; beach vacation capsule
three, four, five

I also wore them in the evenings, fancy like so:

beach resort capsule; travel capsule; beach vacation capsule
six, seven

Or what passes for fancy at a resort, ahem. And on that note:

beach resort capsule; travel capsule; beach vacation capsule
seven, eight, nine

I was mocked mercilessly by my family the entire trip for taking outfit photos, but that was not the worst indignity my blogger ego suffered; I was also ruthlessly photo-bombed, and entirely upstaged on the regular. Behold:

beach resort capsule; travel capsule; vacation capsule
who cares what I’m wearing, amirite?

Luka wasn’t the only one in the photo-bombing game, however:

beach resort capsule; travel capsule; vacation capsul
Payback’s a bitch

My kids are certified grade A hams … and I wouldn’t have it any other way:

IMG_5539
dat smile, tho
Blue Steel-ing it on the beach
Blue Steel-ing a few selfies on the beach

Oh, right, this is a style blog. Ahem. Moving on.

beach resort capsule; travel capsule; beach vacation capsule
ten, eleven

All of these were on the overdressed side of the scale, but I didn’t care because – hello, pretty summer frocks! It’s been too long, my lovelies. Summer can’t come soon enough.

All in all, I was pretty happy with the things I packed. There were only a few items I never wore, which I sort of expected anyway. My workout gear never got unpacked; the resort had beautiful and extensive grounds, and everything (our rooms, the lobby, the buffet, the beach, the pools) was spread out, so we walked a lot. Let’s just say, I was not devastated that I didn’t get/have to work out. The weather was unseasonably warm for the first half of our trip, so I didn’t need any toppers in the evenings; the last few days, I wore my black cardigan for dinner – the other cardigan and my denim jacket could have been left at home. Still, you can’t predict the weather, and better safe than sorry, etc. The only piece that was truly useless was my pair of jelly pumps. Heels just weren’t going to happen on this trip. See above re walking a lot, and running after kids. I should have known better.

What got the most wear? As I mentioned above, my tie dye dress and beach cover-up were almost daily wears. I also wore my floral print shorts, and black maxi dress more than a few times. Oh, and my black J. Crew Factory sandals and Old Navy flip flops – I probably didn’t need to pack any other footwear, to be honest. And that’s all I got, folks. Nothing really groundbreaking in this post, but I did manage to sneak in a few photos of my kids, and you got an eyeful of my pasty appendages, so … um, there’s that. We’re all winners here.

Beach Vacation Style: That Other Dress

Desigual floral dress
Dress, Desigual (thrifted); shoes, J. Crew Factory; bag, MbMJ (via consignment)

I don’t know about this dress, you guys. I love the print and the colours, but I’m not a huge fan of the style. This Desigual dress was part of the 2012 f/w “Rainbow” collection, so it’s not that old, but it feels really dated to me – like something from the early 2000s. If I’m honest, it makes me feel a little old, because I feel like I’ve already worn this dress a decade ago. Am I crazy?

Desigual floral dress
the details …

That was largely a hypothetical question, but probably. So help me decide, internet peeps: should I keep it or no? Is there an easy way to alter an asymmetrical cowl neckline? Or should I even bother?

Desigual floral dress
keeper or not?