The Nub of the Gist

I guess there's no point in reflecting on the implications of not shopping when there's nothing to to tempt me.

Fortuitously, the shopping goddess has decided to throw me a curve.

While reading Vogue UK recently (I know, what am I doing reading a glorified shopping catalog when I'm not in the market??), I spied this:

See that fantastic vintage silhouette? It comes in my size too - and I can't often say that about a wire-free bra.

Alas, it's not cheap. At 55 pounds plus shipping, I'm looking at a little investment. Not that it would matter if it were 3 bucks - or 300. I'm not buying right now, remember? (Note to reader: Natch, I'm clarifying that for my own edification...)

I bookmarked it on Figleaves and I'll buy it in April if it's still there. In the meanwhile, I'll be (compulsively) checking out the full line of gorgeous foundation pieces here...

Achilles Heel

Club Monaco Italian Cashmere Collection

It's Italian and it's cashmere. How I haven't run off to Club Monaco to buy the whole freakin' line is beyond me. And though I've been back twice, to check out the gorgeous long sweater / short tunic with pockets (circled above), I've resisted so far. Cuz the only thing better than getting cashmere is getting it for less than the original price of $169.00.

Let me be the first to say that, if I didn't already own so much cashmere it's obnoxious - or so much grey that it's verging on black - I would snap this baby up at retail. The price is by no means unreasonable for the quality.

The colour is very soft and flattering, the Vneck so plunging as to necessitate a cami (unless you are flat as a board and nervy). And it fits like a glove, hovering against every delightful curve and rendering each more delightful still.

Lord, I seem to be talking myself into this. Stop it. Now.

Somebody please go out and buy it and send a photo. I appear to have a problem...

Looking for a Red Designer Bag?

Then I suggest you consider this one...

Thing I Want

Photo from my perennial fave, DesiretoInspire...

I love that free standing fireplace. Everytime I see one in a chic restaurant or fancy hotel, I mentally calculate how to steal it without anyone noticing. I've tried to find out who makes it and a bit about its pedigree (I mean, it is iconic) but I can't seem to figure it out. Why have I never asked anyone??

The combo of the spindly table, the voluptuous fireplace, the elegant curve of the vases, the deep richness of the colour scheme refracted by the crystal - it's just blissful. Almost makes me miss winter. Not that we're having any kind of summer, particularly.

It's Okay...

...I'll graciously accept if you'd like to gift me this place:

Photo courtesy of Apartment Therapy, blog to which I have a small, dangerous addiction

Hit Me Where It Hurts

These people are really after me. I can tell I'm going to have to avoid certain key streetcorners with black awnings for the foreseeable future...

PS: Please, someone go buy some spring-gauge cashmere and write about it. OK?

Zip It

Thanks Geri, for posting the best boots I've seen all year. The fact that they are probably stilt-like to walk in, in no way undercuts their outrageous sexiness.

Y'all, feel free to send me a pair for Valentine's :-) No, really.

New Year's Eve Wear

Most NYEs, we have our great friends Steen and Nicole over for some fondue and debauchery. It's very enjoyable and quite casual. And it obviates the need for a sitter. Which as you know can bankrupt you on New Year's Eve.

Mind you, were I the kind of girl who went to fancy champagne parties, this is most certainly what I'd wear:



The tuxedo top of this dress is silk, the skirt portion (to which it is attached) is wool.

In case you are wondering why I haven't posted some lovely image from the web, well, La Belette called it when she said that Club Monaco represents itself wretchedly online. Truth is, I couldn't find an online photo. I had to go to the actual store, whip out my cell phone, and shoot this for y'all.

Which, btw, they didn't like. As if I cared.

Three Lamps I Want and One I Already Have

I used to have a lamp like this one (above) only it was from Ikea and probably cost 12 bucks. It lasted a decade at least, and it cast starry shadows on the wall...

I do enjoy shadow-casting column lamps, apparently. This one reminds me of an office tower.

Alas, don't get too excited by this one. It's still in the prototype phase. Honestly, I have no idea how I'd work this into my minimalist home but I would find a way. Because it's hilarious. (The kid might have to use it as her bedside lamp. Is that questionable parenting??)

This lamp, by Pablo, is happily mine. Except I have the clear plexi base and white shade. The quality of light it casts (on very cool dimmer) is unparalleled. It's chic, clean and it works anywhere.

Oh, and it's affordable (for "design", you understand, not abstractly). In Canada, where I bought mine, it was $140.00 CDN. I've seen the same one online, on sale, for $100.00 USD (for the small one). Of course, intl. shipping to Canada being what it is, between the exchange rate, shipping cost and customs, the online lamp would have cost me at least $140.00 by the time it got here. So I've got to be grateful to have found it at a store down the street.

Top 3 photos are courtesy of Freshome.com.

I Want This

On Friday I was browsing through Club Monaco and discovered this soft, wool-blend gem. Imagine my surprise on finding a pic of it on Daily Outfitting also... Thanks Sal for pointing me in the direction of this blog.

PS: CM has numerous pieces in this awesome shade of red. Slim turtlenecks, sleeveless Ts (with interesting fabric embellishments), a fantastic jacket, a great skirt.

Seriously, get your butt there now before this whole collection sells out. It's the best offering I've seen from CM in a long time - and you know how I love this place.

On the Hunt

Thanks to fashionambition for introducing me to Susannah Hunter's insanely beautiful handiwork. If you happen to have £770 burning a hole in your pocket, pls. go purchase this bag and post about it to make me sick with jealousy...

Susannah Hunter Shopper, handmade leather bag, silver fittings, velvet lining, inside pocket

It's Like Fashion For Your Backyard!

Alas, that is not my gorgeous garden. Thanks to Nicole for snapping this lovely picture on a garden tour we took last summer of a neighbourhood in TO known for great gardens. And, if you can believe it, this house wasn't even on the tour! Since then, I’ve made the image my screensaver and every time a colleague sees it (s)he assumes it’s my garden and then I have to disclose that it’s not, which makes me feel like crap because I’m one of those modern idiots who suffer from status anxiety and who desperately, irrationally, wants a garden that looks like that. I should mention that the house above would probably sell for close to a million dollars in our housing market. Sheer insanity.

Those of you who know me know that I have spent the last 8 years threatening my husband with divorce over the hideous state of our backyard and his unwillingness to work with me to improve it. He feels it is beyond repair – unremittingly ugly by virtue of its positioning and that which abuts it (the excuse for a satellite dish holder cum pigeon farm on the one side, the untended overgrowth on the other and the “laneway” – a strange TO phenomenon - on the third side. Laneway is code for wretched alleyway in which people indulge in alcohol abuse and garbage scattering – I mean “throughfare for parking one’s car at the back of the house”.) I feel that if you throw 12 grand at something the size of 3 postage stamps, there is always hope. Call me an optimist with a line of credit.

Finally, in a moment of lucidity (or insanity, depending on your take), I researched and hired a landscaper, worked with her to develop a design, and advised my husband – unilateral afterthought-style – that we were about to do “a little work”. And I am thrilled to tell you that over last week and next, my backyard is undergoing its own version of a makeover a la “The Swan”. We’re talking the garden equivalent of new teeth (hideous chainlink fence replaced by pretty wooden one that’s tall!), lipo (excavation of Dandelion Village, as I like to call it, to be replaced by tall grasses, flowering trees and beautiful beds), botox (hardscaping with flagstone and rocks from the lake district) and rhinoplasty (a new deck).

It occurs to me that you imagine a backyard of such dubious positioning must be attached to a house that isn’t much better. In deference to my aforementioned status anxiety, let me assure you that my home is really quite nice. All Victorian with tall ceilings and good bones and attractive – if eclectic – design. And that downtown TO neighbourhoods are very heterogeneous: beauty here, squalor there. So I’ve just been walking the line!

My intention is to take some artful photos (code for: ask my husband to take some artful photos) of the finished product – though I’ve been warned new gardens are not lush at first. Has anyone out there undertaken a landscaping do-over? And, if yes, please advise how it has improved your outlook / changed your life / made you an uber-hostess overnight.

Check Me Out!

Just back from a great weekend vacation with my family, about which I will post over the next few days... There's one particular fashion experience, bordering on the surreal, that I can't wait to tell you about.

However, exciting news du jour is that Super Kawaii Mama has made me over high-style here. As mentioned, I won a contest a couple of weeks ago and here's but one example of how Ms. SKM would dress me up:

What I love about this - aside from the me-centricity and FANTASTIC pieces - is that SKM has really taken my shape and my needs into consideration. Any of the outfits she worked up is ideal to go from work to fun, from early morning to hot-as-hell afternoon. And the delicious eclecticism with which she's paired things echoes my own. I like to call it "crazy put together". Perhaps the French (or Australians) have another way of saying it.

Oh, and though I didn't mention this to her, anyone who actually knows me knows that I am pale as death and I NEVER leave the house without sunblock 30 and a huge-ass hat. So how ESP-stylist is she?

At any rate, I am so thrilled to have had the chance to see some new looks, just for me, I might not have considered. BTW, if you are short and curvy, they may be just the thing for you too...

For your viewing pleasure (and my own), I'm going to see how I can work some of these ideas into my wardrobe - mindful of budget, natch. Thanks again SKM. I'm so appreciative of your creativity.

In a Perfect World: What I would Wear Today

Thank you, lovely and creative Cordelia, for tagging me to do this fun game.

The Rules:

1. Choose runway pictures from ANY season you like and choose 3 outfits for Day, Evening & Party.
2. Briefly explain why and state the name of the designer & which season the outfit is from.
3. Tag 3 other bloggers once you are done and let them know by posting a comment on their blog.

Pls. note: I choose to interpret C's guidelines in a perfect world scenario i.e., one in which I have no particular practical wardrobe requirements. In fact, on the day on which I would choose to wear these items, I'd be on high-style holiday in New York!

Day Look

For shopping at Barney's and Henri Bendel, I will need to seem as if I can afford all they have to offer! So I would wear this gorgeous Dior tulip day dress. (Regrettably, I can't remember what season this is from...)

(Early) Evening Look

For evening, at some fabulous NY restaurant recommended by WendyB, I would wear this Celine (Resort 2008) dress. It's slick but tasteful. Like I could be the wife or the girlfriend:

Now to Party, I would change into something like this:

Outfit Credits (seasons unknown, sorry): Jacket - Night by Day Birger et Mikkelsen, Shoes - Top Shop, Bag - Alloy, Jeans - Abercrombie and Fitch, Erin Skinny, Top - Rick Owens Lilies Cap Sleeve

I'm a casual party-goer. I want to wander the streets and see what grabs me. One of my many fantasies concerns me walking into a house party and pretending I'm friends of a friend when I actually don't know a living soul. Idea is to see if I can fly by my wits. This is my brand of adventure. And girl's gotta be able to run, under those circumstances!

(PS - Sorry for the crappy Polyvore design. This is my first time attempting it and there's more to it than you might imagine...)

Tags

I think everyone should take a stab at this game. It's fun, fashionable and FREE!

Specifically, I have to tag my go-to fave Enc of observationmode. Spend money mentally, E.

I'd also like to see what Tavi, the sassiest, coolest Style Rookie ever (sorry if this word isn't in vogue anymore, Tavi!) to show us what she likes.

(Not so) secretly, I'd be blown away to see what Queen Michelle at Kingdom of Style would choose to wear. Sure, she's superblogsuperstar with mega street cred, but it can't hurt to tag.

Que Sera Sera

Well, the lesson of today's H&M moment (brought to you by the Indecisive Purchasers Association, Southern Ontario Chapter) is that you've got to strike while the iron is hot. (Ed. Note: If we'd paid them a bit more, perhaps our agency might have come up with a slightly more au courant way articulating the key message, what with the 18th century blacksmithing lingo being a bit old school.)

But I digress to evade the point, that being that the dress was no longer available in my size. There were, in fact, (TO readers pls. take note) 2 remaining on the hook. One was a size 4 and the other a size 6. While I wear a full ranges of sizes from a 4 to a 10 - depending on the cut, the day, water retention, effectiveness of foundation garments, the whim of the goddess - this dress was cut small - and not as stretchy as you might imagine given that it's jersey. The arm pits were very high, turns out, which is why the 8 was perfect but the 6 just slightly too snug.

I like to think that my dithering, in its own way, has united fashionistas the world over. And it didn't cost me any $$$.

PS: Somehow I managed to find 4 other dresses I didn't dare try on:

• A sleeveless, drop waist, knit dress in a strange metallic hue that seems vaguely grey (colour not optimal)
  
• An adorable sleeveless (thick spaghetti strap) lemon yellow cotton dress. Fitted bodice, full skirt. Very wearable on many bodytypes. It also came in tomato red.
  
• Jersey cotton dress - maybe too thin - think T shirt - in an adorable retro shape (built-in bow at the waist), excellent collared ovalneck. The weak link, so I tell myself, is that the colour was a bit wan. Which is not good in yellow.
  
• Marimekko sleeveless dress with 1-inch straps. Also fitted bodice, full skirt. Great pattern - the redder one, not the browner one - structured fabric, flattering to the midsection.

A lot of bloggers have been down on H&M lately (lord knows, for years I did not get this place at all) but today I could have bought 12 things there, easy.

Alas, I'm taking a page from Enc's book and I'm walking away. That's for y'all who think I have a shopping problem. And for the wallet.

Today's Post Gets an Update!

Wow. Occasionally, we have to bow at the altar of community...

Let's take a moment to acknowledge Fruchtzwerg for the fashion forensic phenom that she is as we behold the H&M dress I so ineffectively described in my last post:

I truly have no freakin' idea how she managed to a) figure out what the hell I was talking about below and then b) find it online in 3 minutes or less. It's poetry, I tell you!

So whatcha think?

And here's a post about something I didn't buy...

Shocking, I realize.

So, to close the loop on the 20 minutes I spent at H&M - which have since netted me paragraph upon paragraph of blog fodder - I did find one other thing I really debated and hesitated over, before deciding finally to leave it behind. Of course, I haven't stopped thinking about it since and it's probably long gone, which is just as well cuz a girl can't buy every little thing she tries on that looks cute.

Maybe I should tell you what it is, since you may not have ESP when it comes to random items at big box boutiques. Also shocking.

The item in question is a bubble-shaped, jersey sack dress ($39.90)- what an attractive preliminary description - sleeveless with an ecru tank at the top which converts, just above the bust, into a tulip shaped, knee-length affair. Oh, the tulip part (essentially the whole dress) is hot pink. With flat, pleated ruffles (there must be a technical term for these) postitioned off-centre along the left side of the front of the dress.

I know, it sounds hideous. And it was so avant garde I couldn't decide if, in fact, it was hideous (on closer consideration, I think not). It was compelling on one level - perfect for a hot summer day, appropriate for work, fine if I were 6 months pregnant - yet also begging the question "will I live to see this coming and going - ahem - more relevantly on twentysomethings all season long?". I tried to find a photo of it online, but could not. That made me wonder if it's really not all that trendy. Do they do a limited line of things at H&M so, for example, in Canada there may only be 50 of those floating around? Don't laugh.

Strangely, given its pricepoint, it felt nice. The drape was really good. The length was perfect for my legs. It managed, in its sackiness, to make all my limbs look long and slender.


Does anyone out there have this dress or know about it? If yes, I'd love to hear more...

Fool's Gold

OK, I love this ring so much that it has truly taken all my self-control not to buy it online this minute...

Moreover, it's royally sanctioned!

If I weren't spending zillions of dollars landscaping my backyard (don't ask), I would so be ordering this online right now...

The Hunt is On

OK, this eve, on my way out to an amazing dinner with my husband (because my kid is at a sleepover!!!), I did a bit of window shopping. Didn't buy any shoes (yet) but I did find these, which I'm thinking about:



PS - You should know that this is not my usual style of shoe. This is my friend Hilary's usual style of shoe (Camper, kind of flat, cute and girly). She does happen to be more than 7 inches taller than me, though. It's just that the leather is so almost black, but blue. And so shiny, but not over the top. And so walkable for miles at a time. It's also $190.00 in Canada. I think, even with shipping and border taxes, I might get it cheaper online, esp. with the US dollar being what it is.

Enc: Any feelings about this one? (Don't be shy, now. It's not like I've bought it.) Thanks to all for their insightful red shoe ideas. I'm going out again tomorrow to see what else I can drum up to suit the spring which, please weather fairies, is around the corner. There is, no joke, 6 feet of snow on my postage stamp sized lawn.

Could These Be The Shoes I Need?

FaceHunter Photo

I don't know. They're a bit shiny, but I love the heel and the t-strap and they might just be a good juxtaposition with my Sasson McCardell-inspired shirt-dress. Hell, I love the whole freakin' outfit. If only we knew from whence any of this stuff came.