YYZ: A Dress So Nice I made It TWICE!

My friend S turned 30 on Saturday. 

She planned and organized a fun party, complete with live band. 

I planned and organized 

(not very well, as it turns out) 

a new/old dress.

This is the second dress I have made from one of my vintage patterns; 

this time I made it with the circle skirt, in some lovely oldey-timey fabric my wonderful mum bought for me.

I forgot, however, that the first time I made the dress, I altered the bodice because those 50s girls were wearing armour-style underwear that gave them 

TEENY waists 

and 

ENORMOUS boobs, 

proportions that are completely reversed on me.

The dress turned out great. 

The zipper, if I say so myself, looked completely professional, 

as did the lining in the bodice 

(the fabric is very fine and sheer, so I had to line the bodice-- essentially, that meant sewing the bodice twice).

I tried it on.

The boob section was ENORMOUS. 

I had to do it all over again. 

Luckily, my clever mum pointed out that I had plenty of fabric, so rather than taking apart the bodice, I could just make  new one. 

Which I did.

But not before I very very very carefully removed the first one from the skirt-- delicate fabric made for dicey work!

I reattached the new bodice, but the zipper doesn't look 1/100th as good as the first version did. 

Of course.

Now all I need is a fabulous crinoline to really make this dress work! 

(and to make my waist look smaller!)

Here I am, on my way out to S's Birthday Bash:

Dress: Vintage Butterick Pattern

Belt: Grama

Earrings: Meg

Cuff: H&M

 Shoes: (surprise!) 9 West

Clutch: Danier

Thanks, Mum!

YYZ: World View

One of the drawbacks/advantages (depends on the day) of being gobsmackingly immature AND a Scorpio, to boot, is that I often have a very black and white view of the world.

Is it any surprise then that this colour scheme permeates our home and my wardrobe? 

(I even choose black and white flowers for my garden!  I tried colour one year and it just made me edgy and irritated every time I was out in the backyard. Who can relax and enjoy a glass of wine in the evening when the flowers are bugging her???)

Shoes: Target

White denim capris: The sale rack at the Gap several years ago-- a worthwhile purchase!

Empire waist t-shirt: Smart Set

Oddly unseasonable (like the temperature today) cardigan: Costa Blanca

Cuff: H&M

Earrings: Ardene

(This outfit is [yet] another paen to the MALL.... Which is where I can afford to shop, so I should just get over it, already.  Sigh.)

YYZ: Vivienne Worship

Long have I worshipped at the altar of la Westwood and, one day, I WILL own me one of her fantastic, sculpted and structural pieces. 

She is the Queen of Punk but her stuff works for the real world, too. 

I adore the paradox of Vivienne Westwood: her own look is utterly individualistic in a totally age-inappropriate way (and yet she makes it seem completely RIGHT), but her clothes are totally proper and strict and punk, and perfectly age-appropriate for ladies of my vintage, all at the same time.

Best of all, she is a proper couturiere, and takes her metier seriously in a way few  (relatively) accessibly-priced designers still seem to do.

The woman is part-goddess, part-genius, ALL style icon.

And these shoes may just be the clincher in my love affair with the Divine Ms. W:

Melissa
Vivienne Westwood + Lady Dragon Blue with Heart" border="0">

YYZ: But it IS easy being Green!

Right, LHR, you industrious triple-poster! Here are some ideas further to the ones I left in the comment box with respect to the drool-worthy Kelly Green Kurt Geigers. (KG squared!)

Under the heading "So crazy it just might work!":

Think of green as a neutral. 

This sounds odd, I know, but it does work; you'll be surprised.  

Also, it is a sneaky trick for making people think your whole outfit is fantastic: in my experience, the most boring outfit gets the most rhapsodizing compliments when paired with my green shoes... 

(Dang! My secret is out!)

Check out homerun ballerina-- she is MUCH younger than we are, so some of her outfits are just not age-appropriate for the likes of us, but she is the Queen of coloured shoes and her outfits can serve as inspiration: a few age-appropriate tweaks here and there is all it would take!  Also, surf on over to Anthropologie (there is one here now, but I will wait until you come so we can visit together!) and snoop around in their catalogue and look books-- their looks really suit your style and you will find some awesome inspiration.

When I was having a near-meltdown of desire in, of all places, Club Monaco (!) in March, I fell HARD for Kelly Green mixed with pale grey, royal blue, black and white. I am desperate for a belt in the green, as I feel it will be a great pop of colour added into my summer (and winter!) wardrobe.  Sadly, one of my pairs of Kelly Green shoes (yes, I have two) is suede, so I cannot wear those ones in the summer-- what is great about your KG-squareds is that you can wear them all year long! Well shopped!

Finally, when all else fails, stick to neutrals and let your 

fabulous shoes 

do all the work!

(Hmm. The colour of the shoes in my photos is not really "true": they are greener in person....)

PS: Speaking of Liberty, The Workroom just got in a slew of Liberty fabrics and it is taking ALL my self-control not to race over and buy miles of it for use with my vintage patterns! 

On my year off, I am going to treat myself to this from Liberty (well, actually, the notebook, not the address book, but they don't have one on their website at the moment).

LHR: It's Not Easy Being Green

A few weeks back my friend Boris from Prague was visiting us in London. He is a sucker for a well designed shop and unique finds. So, we felt it was a necessity to show him Liberty's one of the essential landmarks of London. Every nook and cranny of Liberty's is lovingly curated. I want to hug it I love it so much.

photo by: lbphotos

Photo: lludovic

In fact, every time I step in to the wooden door's of this department store my heart starts to race sort of like seeing an old boyfriend looking particularly hot (like I ever see any of my old boyfriends -- but you get my the idea). In the case of shopping, my heart only reacts this way when I see the red letters S-A-L-E. But this beauty doesn't have to do anything special, it just needs to be. Ahhh. Liberty's (here it is in its Christmas glory). OK enough about Liberty's - I'll save that for another post. What I want to share is the rather spontaneous purchase I made on the recent excursion to the Mecca of style.

Here goes...

I stumbled (literally I missed the step down) in to the sale section of the shoe section. I expected that even on sale all the shoes featured in Liberty's would be priced for the Upper Crusties and Well-Heeled (not this girl living in Dalston). Well, as it turned out there were a few within my reach. Most I attempted to try on were no longer available in my size (the curse of the girl who wears the average size). I started to get desperate. Would I leave Liberty's AND a S-A-L-E with nothing. Don't say it!

Finally, i found a pair that fit and that fit my pocketbook. Whoohoo! My first clothing purchase from Liberty's (all I've bought before was Christmas decorations)

Here they are in their GREEN GLAMOUR. Now my dilema, what the hell do I wear with green? So, here is your challenge YYZ an YVR and whoever else is lurking. Please either post a post (not a comment) featuring green shoes OR provide links to some shots of good get ups wearing something similar.

Today is the first real day of Spring and these little guys want to be worn. As you'll see from the shot below they are basically Kelly Green (strange choice but remember the circumstances). So, I am looking for inspiration.
It's not easy being green.

(by the way, the shoes are KG by Kurt Geiger)