hits of the spring

Or, Oh! the never-ending pain of very expensive white dresses!


from Liebemarlene

So, the weather is still distinctly spring-like around here, but it's June, that means I refuse to wear tights as a matter of principle, and it must be time for a spring wrap-up. Top prize goes to Rhiannon, above, of making my white eyelet-loving heart do a little dance, but there was lots of stiff competition.

I simply envy:

from A Curious Fancy and Kennedy Holmes

I've had both of these saved for so long. I save pretty much everything Ragini posts; it was only a question of deciding which look to showcase. And Kennedy's 1950s beaded cardigan is pretty much the perfect spring layer: light, fun and warm!

Perfect Simplicity:

from The Other Emily and Tick Tock Vintage

Spring and summer are all about simplicity, but for me, summer is loose simplicity, and spring is slightly more structured. I loved Emily's neutrals paired with perfect peach espadrilles, and Veronika's seamless chic and blouse with the lovely neckline

Crop tops and funky sunglasses:

from It Girl, Rag Doll and The Styling Dutchman

I'm still not sure how me and my stomach are going to fully embrace this look, but somehow, it's going to happen. I really want Emily's John Lennon sunglasses and both girls tops.

Shifty:

from Mousevox Vintage and Tipa Tipa

Rachel looks lovely in a colourful shift and oversized hat, and Monique really goes the extra mile in this beautiful dress, perfectly accessorized, that she wore to her bridal shower.


from Lulu Letty
Last but not least, I think Maria's monochrome dress+wall+pug look speaks for itself!

how i long to look this summer...

I'm not much of one for thinking of outfit inspiration before the fact (anyway it's too depressing if you can't buy anything) but I bought a magazine for the first time in ages the other day, and a couple of ads jumped out at me for being just. so. perfect.

Above is from Orla Kiely. I think I'd need everything to make this work. The neutral toned dress is pretty great, but is taken to a whole new level by the yellow shoes (I've been wanting yellow shoes since 2004) and the mint ice cream coloured bag. And the dinosaur. This look wouldn't work at all without the dinosaur. ; )



And then inspiration from a less likely source. I've never been into United Colour of Benetton's clothing much, but I'm loving the look on the blonde girl. Buttoned up cotton blouse, neutral toned jumper, Spanish-espadrille style flat shoes in a bright colour...



The same ingredients for success, but with awesome candy-coloured skirts as well. I can so imagine swishing around Barcelona dressed like this. Of course, it kind of depends on where I spend the summer. In Barcelona or in Canada, all these would be perfect. If I stay in London, I'll probably be dressed like this:

(from You Must Create's lookbook)
Which is still a pretty great look, don't get me wrong! I guess it's set to be a fail-proof summer... : )

changing room lurkings: Desigual

Changing room lurkings is back! Longish-time readers may remember when I went to Urban Outfitters and tried on all the tba dresses I couldn't afford, and blogged about it. It was strangely therapeutic. I still couldn't afford them, but after blogging about them I felt like I didn't need them after all, I'd already "had them" in a way. And these days I'm inclined to think of them and sniff "£150 and it was still polyester velvet--hrmph."

So today we're going to that powerhouse of Barcelona fashion, Desigual. For some reason, Desigual gets largely ignored by bloggers, who prefer the infinite blandness and frequent poor quality that is Zara (cough, and 'sorry,' to the devoted Zara fans...) But I kind of love Desigual. It's crazy, colourful, clashing, and if the label said "Marc by Marc Jacobs" instead, it wouldn't be much of a stretch and everyone would be drooling over it. But my favourite thing about Desigual is that in their clothes, your chipping red and green Christmas nailpolish is no longer a lazy afterthought, it's the only reasonable manicure to have. So there! ; )

First up: I have too many coats already....


But I could probably make room in my heart and on the back of my door for this one. It's electric blue, I'm mad for plaid, the buttons are multicoloured, and the various coloured safety pins could be romoved. I'm all for colour in the winter; otherwise I kind of look like warmed up play-dough...



I definitely have too many dresses but...


Three patterns, an innumerable array of colours, sleeves... Unfortunately, there are three Emilys in the above picture and not one of them gets to take home this dress, due to mad inflation at Desigual in the last few years. Bah.


I'm not even a hearts person, but for you I would make an exception.

See you all again on New Years' Eve, when hopefully I will have a rough draft of paper #1, at the cost of a few more wrinkles...

imaginary costume party

Art print, available here.

So it seems I am invited to a Halloween party, which, damn it, means finding a costume. I'm thinking of wearing this gingham dress and going as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Although I still don't have any ruby slippers!

Meanwhile, I'm entertaining myself by planning an imaginary Day of the Dead themed party, and the outfit for it...


Silk satin and silk organza sugar skull dress, available here.


Calavera mary janes or a Til Death do us Part ring, anyone?


I think this elegantly ghoulish carry-bag should keep my vanity in check for the evening. Available here.

And you better believe I would decorate with these guys!

changing room lurkings

I don't know if anyone else has been sighing over the dresses from smallish label tba to the same extent that I have. Until recently, it was internet lusting only, but I remembered that the UK Urban Outfitters stocked a selection, and made a point to pass by one last week. Since I had my camera, and since it's likely the closest I'll ever be to those dresses, I thought I'd give you a "publicity vs. reality" tour. Oh, and I know the photos are not up to my usual standard, etc. etc, but I was in a changing room after all!

The three guinea pigs:


First up, the white silk dress:

I have to say, I was actually not impressed at all by this dress in person, definitely not to the tune of £180... It says it's 100% silk but certainly didn't feel like it, and overall was strangely stiff and had a shape of it's own, which didn't have much to do with my shape. And it was just so peculiarly large and poofy. I like things that are "doll-like" in theory, but there's a difference between doll-like and looking like a doll. I could imagine being sent away from the Christmas dinner table to stand in the corner in this dress. Most odd.

The pom-pom dress:




This dress was a whole other story. I wasn't expecting to particularly like it, but I just loved it. The skirt is heavy black velvet that rises and falls in an inky wave when you spin, and the top (though clearly a bit sheer) was a nice colour that didn't wash me out, as neutrals often will.

The blue velvet dress:




Sighhhhhh. I'm really in a velvety mood this year (I think I've always loved velvet, but there hasn't been any nice velvet to be had since about the 90s...) This dress was a dream, heavy yet bouncy, gorgeously collared. It even comes in burnt orange on Asos... And there was masses of fabric:


Both the pom pom and the blue velvet dress had me doing mental arithmetic to the tune of, "if I don't eat for say, a month..."

However, I've been saved from such drastic measures. Just this afternoon arrived a lovely vintage 1960s black velvet dress, which I ordered on Etsy before I left Mexico and have been waiting for an address to send for it. And the best part? It was only $33... : ) Good things come to those who search!

brrrr

So perfectly Sherlockian!

She's cold today boy! As my jog to the shop to buy soup just reminded me, I'm going to be needing a winter coat sooner rather than later. I had a quick glance around the shops last weekend in search of one, but left outraged.

Why outraged? Well, in 2003 when I was in Glasgow, I bought a winter coat from Topshop. It cost £50, which I thought was a fortune (the Canadian dollar to pound exchange rate back then was about 2.5, so it was kind of a fortune). The coat was bright red, awesome, and 80% wool. It still is all of those things, actually, it's just in Canada at the moment.
Last week I found that the coats they were selling in Topshop were all about £95, less awesome, and only 50% wool (50% some other rubbish). Maybe with the much better exchange rate I'd be paying more or less the same, but the average British person wouldn't be. Ridiculous. And all affordable coats these days have crappy wool-contents. And I'm a girl who gets very cold. So.. what to do?

Well, nothing at the moment, but here are some of my unattainable cold weather dreams...





Hearts and Hands coat, Gloverall Cape, Vanessa Bruno Atte coat and See by Chloe coat, all from Urban Outfitters (the UK one is so much better than the American one)

I wouldn't say no to one of these either:

These sweaters are hand-knit in Vancouver by Granted Clothing. Every year I go back to their website to drool over the new designs. They take inspiration from the Cowichan sweaters, originally made by First Nations people (and which seem to be really popular these days). However, the family that runs the company are Canadian with Japanese roots, and the designs that are woven in can be inspired by Canadiana, Japanese culture (Japanismo?) or just be a bit random (last year they had a sweater with palm trees and another with flamingos).

I'd also quite like a mustard yellow coat or one in a kelly green shade. Any suggestions?