hunting and gathering

Images from: If You Seek Style

14 Days of Outfit Inspiration from Zara, NastyGal and Asos.

Ab. Fab

Searching For Perfection

For about 6 months now I have been bitching and complaining about how I need a new bag. Any ear that would listen would get a full spiel about how I just can't settle on any one bag - how not anything will do. This bag needs to be perfect in every possible way. It must be leather (as much as I love animals, I really hate fake leather. It looks cheap... and it's too disposable. I want to have this bag forever. I want to pass the bag down to the children that I may or may not have. I want it to be perfect) it preferably will be either black or brown or most ideally both black and brown. It will have two straps, cross body and shorter for when I want to carry it with a pathetic limp arm like Paris Hilton. It won't be overly structured, because I am not overly structured and it will be a good, medium size to fit what I need while not encouraging me to go overboard and put my shoulder out.

Anyway, the search has brought me to many but few are good enough for me to just go for it and make it mine. Nothing is speaking to me loudly enough.

Until today. Today I got an email from Anthropologie, and while I find their clothing lately to be too much on the embellishment side - too many ruffles, too much embroidery, too girly. I do, however consistently love their bags. Beautiful patterned linings, soft buttery leather, and always providing a number of good slouchy options that fit my ever growing list of needs for my perfect  bag.

These are the options as of late. (in order of preference)

While I was searching, I went to Asos to try to find some other options... although it really doesn't fit my criteria, I just think this is kind of beautiful and wild.

Above and Beyond

Shoes: Aldo, Pants: Domino, Nokomis, Black Merino Sweater: Club Monoco, Thrifted, Gingham Top: Dace, Nokomis

Finally treated myself to some new winter wedges. After buying these shoes a while back,  I have a new found love for wedges and being tall. Fantastic. Stella seemed to like them too....



DAY FOUR

Silk Button Up: Vintage, Lace Slip (underneath): Vintage, Green Moto Pants: Zara, Suede Lace Ups: Vintage, Glasses: The Observatory

 Whatever I lacked in vintage from the day before, I surely made up this day. My silk top and great suede booties are from the Value Village I raided in Victoria. Whew. What a day we had there. I had to re-pack all my bags at the airport to fit all my new steals in. I can't believe someone was throwing these shoes out! Or so I thought..... but after traipsing around in them all day - I think I may understand. Off to soak my barking dogs I went, but it probably won't stop me from wearing them again. No pain no gain ladies.

Also, everytime I wear my hair like this I think to myself "I'm a Pony!" on account of a girl I went to University with would pile her hair up into a friggen fountain on the top of her head... and everytime she would jog down the halls and up the stairs we would all chant "I'm a Pony!"- I just can't move past it.

Savings

Whoops! Day Four will have to be reserved for Monday - when Im back at work! The suspense is probably just killing you, isn't it?

DAY THREE

Fringe Cardi: F21, Silk Top: F21 (altered by me),Shiny Leggings: F21, Boots: Frye, Gravity Pope, Red Lipstick: "Sephora Rouge", Jewelry: Vintage and Millicent Designs

Holy Moly! I clearly should be sponsored by Forever 21... ahem. It's an unsual day that I am head to toe in clothing that has no vintage representation. Oh well, I guess the giant ass ring from the Antique Mall in Edmonton must count for something, right?

Oh. Right. The Ring (& my smeared Rouge) c'est magnifique.

DAY TWO

Sweater Dress: FCUK (thrifted), Leather Belt: Vintage Deborah, Tights: The Bay, Woven Boots: Corso Como, Ebay. Earrings: Millicent Designs

I brought Stella with me to work!! Just a girl in her favourite colour combination of Cognac Brown and Black, her camera and her bestfriend.

Four Days

DAY ONE

Wearing: Crop Top: Artizia (thrifted), Highwaisted Trousers: Vintage, Judith. Heels: Audley Almond Toes, Gravity Pope. Jewelry: Millicent Designs and Vintage

I gave myself a challenge this week - I decided as I only have 2 weeks left in this beautiful building I work in, that I would do an outfit post every (working) day this week. I always find outift posts of people's everyday wears to be the most interesting. Nothing overly fussy here, just what I throw on before I run out the door to go to work.

HBC

Since knowing I was going to move out of the country, I started to feel nostalgic of all the little things I always took for granted. Being from the prairies I'm used to the vastness of canola fields and lonesome hay bails, but recently it's been harvest season here and I don't think prior to this year I have really noticed. On my weekly pilgrimage down Highway 2 I noticed the farmers hard at work tilling the fields in the dark. A giant machine all lit up plowing through the dried up land, so much dust turning up I could barely see 3 feet in front of me on the adjacent highway. It really made me realize how crappy my own work ethic really is compared to these guys. I have some mad respect.

Anyway, on my last trip West I went to the Hudsons Bay Company in downtown Vancouver with my best friend, Amber. I remembered seeing this amazing Bay Blanket jacket as done by Canadian designer, Smythe on the cover of Fashion Magazine during the Winter Olympics last year.There is nothing more quintessentially Canadian than the striped wool blanket associated with Museum dioramas showcasing Natives trading with the British. I was really excited to see it hanging on the racks in front of me and had to try it on.... now, if only I had some extra dosh sitting to around to make it mine. 

The Resistance

It seems every year I forget how much I love autumn. I will venture to say it wont be around much longer here in Alberta, but I am excited at the prospect of it potentially still happening in New York when I get there. The reason for my love of this season is my uncanny ability to dress like a 1940's french spy. Growing up, my grandfather only allowed me to watch British Television programmes in the evening... mostly because it was the only TV he could relate to at the time (I should state that now, at age 84, he loves shows like Desperate Housewives - or "the desperate women" as he calls it). To this day a show called, Allo!, Allo! still flashes into my mind. Whenever I put on a beret and some leather gloves, I feel like I channel Michelle "The Resistance" Dubois and try to fake my best french accent. Something about fall makes it feel perfectly acceptable to wander around looking mysterious and like you're up to something - perhaps it's all the layers and high collars leaving everything under exposed?

All I Can Do

images via Livet Hemma

It`s officially official... R and I are moving to the Big Apple!

To try to offset the panic attacks I get thinking about packing my life up in boxes and scrubbing baseboards until my hands start to bleed, my current focus has temporarily shifted from the Fashion Blogs to the Design ones. My inspiration and excitement to re do a (small) space and start from scratch (we are selling all our belongings) keeps me balanced and away from sitting in a pile of old, unopened bills and sobbing (what the hell do you do with old bills? Can I really not just recycle them? Should I really be terrified of identity theft?)

Anyway, enter this blog I found called LIVET HEMMA which is basically a (very beautiful) promotional blog for Ikea - albeit in Swedish, so I have no idea of what they are saying. Now, I'm generally not a big proprietor of `temporary` furniture made of particle board that doesn't last the test of time and is far from environmental - but there is something to be said towards the convenience of being to able to start from scratch in one store and not go poor doing so (also, they deliver! No boxes on the subway!) and knowing I can find some great, creative ideas for storage is a relief. Having said all that, I do still feel the pang of nostalgia attached to vintage pieces and their ability to make everything else just shine, and hell, they are made from wood so my fleeting heart can just paint that shit when I get bored! In my mind, it`s just like fashion - the use of old and new, highs and lows and creating a diverse, eclectic look is really important and makes for visual interest. However, my irrational fears of bed bugs riding into my home in the cushion of a chair will make this look difficult, but I'm definitely up for the challenge.

Here are some other note-worthy design blogs worth a gander:

Adore
Coco & Kelley
This Is Glamorous
Apartment Therapy
Design Sponge
Loony

Thanks

Im heading off to my cottage this weekend for Canadian Thanksgiving. There is nothing more special to me than the feeling I get when Im laying out on my pier with the extreme silence covering over me like a blanket, so Im super excited to get out there! Thanksgiving always marks the last weekend we spend out at the cabin, so it is mostly filled with days of raking leaves, bringing in the water line, and other general manual labour - so I anticipate my laying around time will be very limited. We also have to rush back to Edmonton for my friends wedding on Sunday (10.10.10 wedding date! ohhh sneaky!), so it will be a busy weekend!  This summer was marked with a number of Ryan's friends getting hitched and me trying to not get embarrassingly drunk in front of strangers, so Im really looking forward to letting loose in front of my friends and just celebrating.

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Canadians!

Head Banging

image via Natalie Off Duty

Recently I have been obsessing about getting bangs. I guess this should not surprise anyone as I have mentioned on here a few times about my attraction to hair. Anyway, perhaps I just need a change but I can't stop thinking about hacking my hair off and embracing a thick fringe. It seems every photo I look at all I see is hair... Im like a 30 something with uterus pains everytime they see a baby in a stroller. I look back at photos from 3 years ago when I had slight bang and I dont feel particularly fond of the overall look... back in the day my bangs were on the thinner, less dramatic side. Having said that, I now crave something to set me apart from the masses, something a bit more "editorial". The only thing holding me back from marching into a salon and telling my girl to go crazy, is the fact I have curly hair and Im lazy. It's a rare day that I blow dry, straighten or even brush my hair so this hippie middle part with curls works really well for get up and go lifestyle. What do you guys think? Bangs on a girl with curly hair? How much work is this going to be, really?

Flying In Style

Leather Jacket: Vancouver Find/Beaver Collar: Vintage Store, Phoenix/Blingy Belt: Consignment,Vespucci/ Jeans: Domino, Nokomis/ Clutch: Vintage, Value Village.

I love the trend of the Aviator jacket that is going on this season. I have always had an odd attraction to the look of furry collars and cracking leather. I love the way the look screams old time adventure...I guess the idea of flying an old rickety plane with a long scarf on seems rather exciting to me.

I have had pretty great success at finding a great aviator jacket that is about 10 sizes too big for me on the racks at Value Village. Until the day I find another jacket that actually fits me my leather jacket with a sheared beaver collar buttoned on will have to do.

Oldie but Goldie

Photographer: Laura Margaret Ramsey
Assistant: Dusty Miller
Stylist: Miranda Watson

MUA: Olga Onulov
Hair: Pure Form Salon
Models: Veronica Ostermann & April Kargard of Mode Models


The first Parlour Magazine shoot Laura Margaret Ramsey and I did last year... it was the start of a really great love affair!