A Favourite Designer

One of my favourite local designers is Susan Harris.  She uses discarded clothing, and, sometimes, other discarded fabric items, such as curtains, bed linens, tea towels and tablecloths, to fashion new clothing.  Definitely green, which alone is a good reason to consume the clothing.  But, if I am to be honest, I purchase Susan Harris Design pieces because of their aesthetics.  I find them stunningly beautiful.   And, I just love the different prints that adorn the clothes.

As for the particular outfit that I put together today, the Spring 2010 Marc Jacobs ready-to-wear collection was a clear source of inspiration.  When I first saw the collection, one of the pieces in my wardrobe that I immediately thought of was the Susan Harris Design dress.  The idea to pair the Susan Harris Design sweater with the dress came later, when I saw the sweater about a month ago at the Spring One of Kind Show and Sale.  The idea to add into the mix the Susan Harris Design jacket came just yesterday, when I wore the jacket with another outfit.  The idea to wear the Susan Harris Design arm warmers came today, right before I left my house.  Sometimes I am truly amazed at how outfits are conceived.  And, a little scared, because it all seems to depend on serendipity.  What if, one day, things just stopped coming together?

 

On a different note, I have not forgotten that today was a monthly colour challenge day and that I was supposed to wear blue (the colour for April).  A part of me is starting to give up on the challenge.  What was I thinking?  When it comes to getting dressed, my nature is so "anti-constraints".  Right now, I can't even promise a blue make-up day.

jacket: Susan Harris Design, old

belt: Gap, old

scarf: ?

arm warmers: Susan Harris Design, old

blouse: Gap, old

dress: Susan Harris Design, last season

sweater: Susan Harris Design

leggings: Gap, old

socks: H&M, old

boots: Fluevog

Looking Back

After I had gotten dressed this morning and had merrily set out on my way, en route to the subway, I started to wonder whether I had just put on the same outfit that I had worn on Monday (albeit in a different colour scheme).  And, if I had, did it really matter?

At a slightly higher level, I am also starting to wonder where exactly I am going with my clothes this Spring and Summer.  It was my intention to try out the same theme that I was working with throughout the Winter -- the "Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" theme -- but it is becoming apparent to me that I am moving more in the direction of a Western theme -- cowboy boots, western-style shirts, plaids, stripes, western-style belts, denim jackets.  This is a theme that I am familiar with, having already worked with it a few Summers ago.  There is no reason why I couldn't work with more than one theme, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the Western theme might take over.  I am a bit disappointed.  I don't dislike the Western theme, but I was looking forward to something different and new for me.  It might be fair to ask why I don't just push myself towards the new theme.  The answer is that I need to go with what feels right.  And, right now, the Western theme feels right.

Going with what feels right is also why I may have put on today the same outfit that I was wearing on Monday.  To answer the question, Does it matter?  For me, no, it doesn't matter one bit.  I can't ignore what feels right.

coat: Urban Outfitters, old

scarf: ?
blouse: Club Monaco, old
vest: H&M, old
skirt: Urban Outfitters, old
jacket: Susan Harris Design, old
tights: Old Navy, old
boots: Frye (from Get Outside)

I Wake Up and it Dawns on Me

Can a blue red work with an orange red?  You bet! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  It never ceases to amaze me how in the wee hours of the morning, different shades of a colour (in the case of today, red) really look like they are from the same family when they actually aren't.  I don't know whether it is because of poor lighting in my house -- I tend not to like bright artificial lighting, at any time of day but particularly in the morning -- or whether it is because I am never fully awake until about one hour after I have left my house.  When I finally get into some good natural lighting and am fully awake, it dawns on me that I may not be wearing matching shades of a colour.  Sometimes I care, sometimes I don't.  Today, I realized that I "accidentally" put together some blue reds with orange reds.  Today, I absolutely, positively did not care!

jacket: Gap, old

scarf: Zara, old

shirt: Gap

skirt: Gap, last season

sweater: Zara, last season

belt: H&M, old

boots: Frye (from Get Outside)

Imagining Outfits

When I started this blog, it was my intent for it to be a record of outfits that I actually wear, not of outfits that I put together just for the blog.  This isn't to say that I haven't included pictures of clothes that I didn't wear but just photographed for the purposes of this blog.  I have done this, for example, when I wasn't happy with certain clothing choices and ought (in my esteemed opinion) to have worn something else (that is, when I have had, what I have called, a "wardrobe mishap").  In addition to wanting the blog to focus on my actual fashion and style experience, time is an issue for me.  It takes relatively little time to photograph what I actually wear on a given day.  It takes considerably more time to photograph additional outfits.  Although I wish I had all the time in the world to dress up and take photographs of the results, I don't have endless amounts of time on my hands.  At the moment, blogging is something I do for fun.  It is an "extracurricular" activity; I have a full-time job (and a part-time job on top of that).  Today, I had a bit more time on my hands than I ordinarily do.  I couldn't think of any other way that I would rather spend that time than to add to the outfit I actually wore today to show an outfit that I might wear.  The outfit that I actually wore today is shown above.  The outfit that I might one day wear -- the imagined outfit -- is shown below.  Unlike the "actual outfit", the "imagined outfit" is something that I might wear on a day when my work activities call for a jacket or suit.  As an aside, there is a little bit of vintage in the imagined outfit: the jacket.  I love the closure on the jacket.  And, the colour couldn't have been more perfect.  Yay!  As another aside, I think the coat that I wore today has reached new favourite status!  Double yay!

coat: Beebop and Wally, last season

blouse: Club Monaco, old
skirt: Gap, old
vest: Preloved, old
jacket: vintage (from Sally Jane Vintage on Etsy)
tights: ?
socks: ?

boots: Fluevog

Yoga Girl

When my day consists of going to yoga, getting my hair done and returning home (to do a whole bunch of chores around the house), I definitely favour, what I call, "going to yoga wear".  This isn't clothing that I would wear to practise or teach yoga (other than restorative yoga), but it is clothing, typically sold by yoga clothing companies, that I would wear to go to and from class.  On a day like today, being comfortable is usually my primary goal.

coat: Lululemon, old

hoodie: Lululemon, old

wrap top: Lululemon, old

dress: H&M, old

leggings: Lululemon, old

socks: H&M, old

boots: Hunter

necklace: ? (purchased at a past One of Kind Show and Sale)

Balenciaga to the Rescue ... Again

When Balenciaga's Fall/Winter 2006 collection was shown, I knew that it would provide me with inspiration for business wear.  And, indeed, it did.  I acquired a few Balenciaga-inspired suits (or Balenciaga knock-offs) that year.  I still love the collection and rotate two of the suits that I bought through my business wear collection.  One of these suits I wore at the beginning of March.  The second one, I wore today.  In the past, when I have worn today's suit, I dressed in black from head to toe.  Today, right before I left the house, I got the idea to wear the plaid tights.  I had so much fun with them, particularly when people pointed at my legs and exclaimed, "I love those!"  I included photos of the suit with the wellies (it rained again today, so I needed the wellies again), as well as photos of the suit with the ankle boots, because I love the look of the "suit with wellies outfit" as much as I love the look of the "suit with ankle boots outfit".  The first outfit makes me feel like I should be in the country walking though fields.  The second outfit makes me feel like an "artiste".  Fun, fun, fun!

suit: Zara, old

blouse: Bedo, last season

tights: ?

socks: H&M, old

wellies: Hunter

boots: Fluevog, old

Here is the inspiration:

Image from style.com

The Transit Pass: A Monthly Colour Challenge

I wouldn't call the colour scheme that I was wearing yesterday a plum/purple colour scheme.  I would call it a burgundy/wine colour scheme.  But reflecting on it, I can appreciate how it might be seen as a plum/purple colour scheme.  The predominant colour in today's outfit (leaving aside grey, which I don't see as a colour -- to me it is a neutral) is purple.  It's strange to me how now that I no longer (voluntarily) have to wear plum/purple outfits, I can't seem to stop wearing plum/purple outfits.  It will have to stop soon though, or at least on four or five days in April.  It is now time to reveal what the plum/purple outfit challenge/test/experiment was all about.

In March, after I mentioned, twice in two weeks, that the colour scheme of my outfit matched the colour scheme on my monthly transit pass, I got to thinking about how interesting it might be to challenge myself to follow a fixed colour scheme at least once a week (no rules against following the colour scheme more often), with the colour scheme changing every month.  I then thought how much more interesting it might be if the colour scheme that I had to work with was selected by someone completely independent of me.  This, of course, led to me to ask, "Why not let the monthly transit pass dictate the monthly colour scheme?"  How much more independent of me could I get than the transit authority (or, more accurately, the unknown individual who picks the colour scheme for the monthly transit pass)?  The plum/purple outfit challenge was a test to see if I could do it.  There was a little bit of discomfort with having to wear a particular colour scheme, but, on the whole, it was fun.  So, the test being a success, the monthly colour challenge is on.  The colour for April is ...  blue!  Look for a blue outfit at least once a week in April.

coat: H&M, old

dress: Gap

sweater: Zara, last season

leggings: American Apparel, old

belt: Old Navy, old

socks: ?

boots: Frye (from Get Outside)