style – Page 45 – Blue Collar Red Lipstick

15
Dec
2016

Best Laid Plans

categories: Dress-up, Social events, style, Trials and Tribulations

Sometimes, I feel like my borderline-obsessive planning is simply an invitation to the universe to mess with me. Does anyone else feel like that, or shall I go ahead and add the label “paranoid” to my bio? Actually, don’t answer that. All I’ve got to say is that, at times, despite my best efforts, things simply don’t work out the way I expect. This year, in particular, has felt like an extended exercise in things-not-working-out-as-planned, so I suppose I should not have been surprised by yet another curveball late in the game.

Thankfully, this one was of the inconsequential variety … which is not to say that I didn’t sulk about it for a day or two. Much like my three-year old, I have a lot to learn about going with the flow, I guess.

This all started with my office Christmas party. For newer readers, by way of background: every year, my firm hosts an extra fancy Christmas party at an extra fancy hotel. There is a different theme every year, but the dress code is always “black tie(ish)”. (I did a post on my past Christmas party outfits a couple of years ago, where you can see my past efforts, successes and failures both.) For the past two years, I have been on the organizing “committee” (really, there are two of us), so I’ve been putting extra thought and effort into my outfit. People don’t typically “dress to the theme” at these parties, but I like to give a subtle nod to it if I can. For this year’s theme, we chose Beauty and the Beast. Red roses, naturally, formed a big part of the décor. In the circumstances, it seemed fortuitous when I found a dark red velvet dress (with rosebud-like folds on the off-the-shoulder straps) during one of my thrifting stops earlier in the fall. I generally only wear fancy cocktail dresses at my office Christmas party, and where else but at this particular Christmas party, would a dress of this description be so wonderfully fitting? In short, it was fate.

As it happened, I also found the perfect accessories for this dress shortly thereafter: a necklace from the antique mall, and sky-high Louboutins from Value Village. It was going to be the perfect outfit … all for under $100.

Take a look:

Dress, vintage (thrifted); necklace, vintage (antique mall); shoes, Christian Louboutin (thrifted)

It would have been so great, wouldn’t it? Sigh. If you remember the intro, you will have figured out that this was not the outfit I actually wore to the Christmas party. Why? Because sometimes the best laid plans get derailed by an errant hot iron.

See, the dress was vintage and while in generally amazing shape, it had a small tear in the fabric near the back zipper. Since the fabric was velvet, I decided to play it safe and take it to the tailor rather than attempt the repair myself. Velvet is tricky, after all. Oh, the irony. The tailor was able to repair the tear just fine … then proceeded to iron over her handiwork for some unknown reason. If you know anything about velvet, you probably know what happens when you apply a hot iron to it. The tailor should have known; moreover, the care label attached to the dress clearly stated DO NOT IRON.

Had the damage been done in some more unobtrusive spot, I might have taken my chances with it. As it was, I couldn’t wear it. Not at my fancy Christmas party, and probably nowhere else – save maybe a future Halloween party. I was so, so bummed out – mainly because this was a vintage dress I could never replace, and an occasion I could not duplicate. So, even though the tailor (who was very apologetic) offered me compensation, it did not bring me much cheer.

Of course, in the end, I rallied – found another dress, went to the ball, no fairy godmother required. I was still sad about the ruined dress, however; I hated the idea of getting rid of it, or keeping it in some dark corner of my closet, unworn. It seemed like such a waste of a beautiful thing. I don’t know why it bothered me so much; in an age of fast fashion and disposable everything, I suppose my feelings about that dress could seem odd and anachronistic. Still, it felt like we had unfinished business, the dress and I … and that’s why I decided to write this post, and take photos of the outfit that never was. And you know what? I feel better now. So long, beautiful dress.

07
Dec
2016

In Wonderland

categories: Awesome red, Favourite things, Love at first sight, style, Thrifting

I know I am by no means unique in this, but I have been low-key obsessed with Alice in Wonderland for many years. I am not precisely sure why. When I was little, it was my fiercest wish to have long, blonde hair; paired with my fondness for Alice’s sartorial choices (that blue dress is on point, is all I’m saying) and admiration for her undefatigable curiosity, perhaps that explains the obsession. Perhaps not. That is actually neither here nor there; the point is that I was instantly sold on this dress because the brand label said Allison Wonderland.

To be fair, the dress itsef is aces.

I blazered up for work (as you can see), but I’m going to post a bazillion blazer-less photos because this dress is worth admiring. It fits like a dream, which is actually a fairly tall order when you consider its silhouette; scratch that. It doesn’t just fit like a dream, it flatters like a dream too. I assure you, I’m not wasp-waisted. This dress makes it look like I am, while at the same time being insanely comfortable to wear. It’s practically magic!

i call it ... the optical illusion dress — i call it … the optical illusion dress

I almost feel guilty telling you that I paid a whopping $8 for this dress … but well, I am anyway. Edmonton peeps, this is what your thrift scene has to offer — get out there and check it out, you won’t regret it. In this case, I got a beautiful, made-in-Canada dress … and I discovered a new designer, Allison Smith (the woman behind Allison Wonderland and sister brand Pillar — thanks, Google!) According to her website, her clothes are made in Vancouver in collaboration with local small businesses, and the (retail) price points are very reasonable for “slow fashion”. Based on how much I love this dress, I plan to keep an eye on her IG for future collections.

every angle is a good angle in this dress

06
Dec
2016

What I Wore: November 2016

categories: style

Can you guys believe that the year is almost over? Let’s face it, nobody is going to be sad to see the end of 2016 (worst year ever, yes?) but it’s still surprising how quickly it seems to have gone by. I think this has been the first year when I found myself thinking, “I need time to slow down”. My kids are now 3 and 5, which are amazing ages, and I want to hold on to their preciousness with all my might, even though I know it’s futile. That saying, “the days are long, but the years are short?” I lived the first part of that when the kids were babies (and, boy, were the days ever long then), and now I’m starting to realize the truth of the second part.

Enough mushiness, let’s get to the outfits:

I played along with Nicole‘s Minimalist Closet Game this past month, and it was a lot of fun. Not only because it helped me de-clutter my closet (working on a post about that), but because I loved seeing all the participants’ interpretation of the daily prompts. It made me think that doing an IG remixing challenge would be a lot of fun too. Anyone interested in playing along?

As for the rest of the year, my non-work goals are to survive the planning of my office Christmas Party (less than a week away, eek!) and to finish the edits on A Temporary Engagement. Most of my Christmas shopping is done, and we are not planning to host any major get-togethers at our house, so the holidays should be pleasantly low-key and relaxing (work gods willing!). A nice way to end a troublesome year — and welcome a hopefully much more promising one.

Category: style