Updates and such...

Modern-Guilt is now twittering away. You may be asking yourself 'how many more things can S possibly be addicted to on the internet?'...and the answer is I've no clue, but this Twitter business is extremely fun. So yeah. There's a link to it here and on the sidebar if you ever feel like knowing what's going through my head at 2 a.m. on a Monday night.I've been tagged by the lovely Sueper of The Sueper Blog to share with ya'll the contents of the gigantic satchel full of receipts and gum wrappers that I carry around with me (more commonly known as my purse). The contents are more or less staples of anyone's purse, and are as follows: concealer, Dr. Pepper lip gloss, office and apartment building access cards, headphones, wallet, keys and suede gloves. The only integral thing that this photo lacks is my iPhone, and that would be for the very logical reason that the only thing a camera cannot see is itself (one of my favourite lines from the book Robot City which I've been trying to figure out a way to re appropriate into the blog for the past couple of days...yes, I am a huge sci-fi nerd).
I leave this tag open to anyone who wants to complete it! I hope that a lot of you do, as I'm sure most of you out there have much more thrilling purse contents than mine.

Before I sign off for the day I just want to wish you all a very, very happy Thanksgiving. We here in Canadaland celebrated it all the way back in October, but if you're reading this and you're American (or residing in some other country which celebrates it today...I can't say I'm that well-versed in international holidays) then know that G and I are wishing you the loveliest of days! In all fairness we wish that for you every day, but today is Thanksgiving so why not voice it publicly for once.

Patterned purple tights and a black dress at night

I totally didn't intend for the title of this post to rhyme, but the fact that it does nonetheless pleases me. A few days back my gorgeous, lovely and thoughtful mom came for a visit, armed with the basket full of brand new tights of every colour and pattern imaginable (perhaps that's an exaggeration, but she did bring a lot). As I've stated before, anyone who knows me well knows that winter does not exactly deter me from wearing skirts and dresses on a regular basis, and as such tights are a necessity for me to live my day to day life happily and comfortably; the fact that I can get creative with such tights and, as is the case of today's outfit, even have them be the focal point of whatever I'm wearing is just one of the pros of my tights bias.
This little black Erin Fetherston for Target dress was purchased almost one year ago to the day on a trip to Michigan for American Thanksgiving. I've determined that it is entirely impossible for me to go to the U.S. without visiting at least two Targets along the way, and this unfortunately always tends to remind me of how bleak life in Canada sans Target is.

I'm a big fan of this dress (and the rest of the $500+ haul I pulled out of such suburban Michigan Target), and was glad to have the opportunity to wear it last night when G took us out for a romantic pizza and wine extravaganza at a nearby Italian restaurant. We did, of course, take photos on the way - G really seems to be mastering this new 'night photography' business, and I must say it's quite fun to carry around a big external flash and witness the befuddled looks of passerby wondering what I'm doing standing there with it in an alley doorway! Fortunately for us, most people are too self-interested and/or too cold outside to really care.

Wearing

- The black babydoll dress is Erin Fetherston for Target. And, while I'm on the topic of designer collaborations with chain mass-retailers, who else had a mini-stroke when they heard that Matthew Williamson is next up for H&M? I believe I've mentioned in the past that I don't line up for things, but this announcement is seriously making me reconsider my stance on the matter.

- I forget which brand purple floral printed the tights are, and I've already thrown out the packaging they came in. Oops.

- The black platform shoes are vintage. I really, really have a thing for black platform shoes.

- My large white quilted bag is, of course, the Chanel that I seemingly cannot go a week without using.

DIY Bleached and Destroyed Jeans + Keith Richards' face on a t-shirt

I now present to you what is perhaps my second DIY success ever (the first being the studded boots in yesterday's post of course). While bleaching a pair of old, cheap jeans is admittedly not the most difficult DIY in the world to complete, I am nonetheless proud of myself for actually doing it without entirely ruining them...then again, the point was for them to be entirely ruined, so perhaps I succeeded in that? I don't know, and moreover don't feel like playing semantics with myself this morning.

These jeans (which I am now madly in love with and want to wear all the time) are the result of spending Saturday night at home with a cheese grater, jug of liquid laundry bleach, bucket and and a sponge. And before you ask: yes, I actually do enjoy Saturday night 'arts and crafts for a 3 year old' as G likes to call it, regardless of the fact that I've reminded him time and time again that a 3 year old shouldn't really be handling a two litre bucket of bleach.

I've had this Keith Richards t-shirt for ages, but unfortunately rarely wear it as a result of it being from what I like to call the Toronto version of Hot Topic...a shop called Black Market, located on Queen Street West. While Black Market does sell a certain amount of proper vintage clothing, the rest of their wares consist of mass-printed 'punk rock' tees which are, by way of their very creation and place of origin, not punk rock at all. So it's kind of a lame t-shirt by all means, but from time to time I certainly cannot resist the appeal of a young Keith Richards' face staring up at me from my t-shirt drawer.

In other news, I've determined that I do not own enough winter-appropriate clothing. I can't keep wearing tank tops and tiny, thin sweaters under wool coats and expect to not freeze. A thirfting trip for a pile of chunky knit sweaters and various sweater dresses and whatnot is definitely in order. Because yes, it's still cold here. And yes, it will continue to be for approximately forever, or rather, until it's not anymore. Getting more specific than that is just depressing for the time being.

Wearing

The jeans are initially from Urban Planet and cost $19, hence the reason I bleached, ripped and generally felt free to destroy them as I did.

The t-shirt is, as already mentioned, from Black Market.

Converse shoes, obviously. I've really been feeling the high-tops lately and am considering buying a pair, but understand that it would be reasonable to hold off on this as their thin rubber soles are the coldest and slipperiest thing imaginable in the winter. Damn you winter and the limitations you impose upon my clothing and footwear choices!!

The black oversized hoodie is G's, and I'm unsure as to where it's from. I don't think he likes that I take his clothes all the time, particularly in consideration of the fact that 90% of our closet space is alreadty taken up by my stuff...

Wearing grey on the weekend...

It's hard to believe that the weekend is over already, as I spent the majority of it holed up in the lovely comfort of the apartment under a blanket with Cup-A-Soup in hand. It's safe to say that I'm feeling 99% like myself again, so any sacrifices made in my 'exciting weekend activity' time were justifiably made towards the greater good of not feeling like death warmed over for the rest of the week.
Today's photo set was taken yesterday on my first excursion out of domestic comforts all weekend. If I wanted to get all pretentious and philosophical about things I would say that I'm wearing all grey to represent the middling state of my health at this point in time, as I am feeling neither black nor white and instead residing, emotionally and physically, in an ambivalent and undecided state. Alas, I am not pretentious or [generally] philosophical when it comes to clothes, so what I'm wearing basically comes down to the fact that layering is necessary in the cold/these clothes are comfortable for a walk about town/I like the colour grey - and there you have it, my outfit inspiration happily has essentially nothing to do with anything at all!

To expand upon the subject of clothing a little bit further, as it is, for all intensive purposes, the driving force behind this blog, I completed a couple of wicked cool DIY projects this weekend while bored and couch-ridden. One of them will definitely make its appearance on here tomorrow, so stay tuned for that...I'm generally not so good at DIY, but this one turned out particularly awesome if I do say so myself. I'm still unsure as to how I feel about the other one I completed (it involved a bunch of silver paint and way too much time on my hands), but I'm certain it will make its way onto me at some point or another, wherein you can either laugh at my kindergarten-level painting skills or be impressed by my ingenuity....I'm somewhere between the two at the moment.

Wearing

The grey sweater is from Zara.

The grey dress thing is from a random Yonge Street shop. And I really need to stop buying so much stuff in such shops.

The grey cotton tights are Hue, and I have been veritably living in them lately. So. Darn. Comfy.

The pleather studded boots are initially from UP, and were DIY-ed (successfully) to be studded as shown.

My red satchel is Adidas.

My long black wool toggle coat is an Aritzia purchase from last year. I hate that I have to wear this thing every day again, but what can you do.

A vintage fur coat (a.k.a. the warmest thing I own), and the boots that I promised myself I would never wear...

Not only is it reaching horrendously cold temperatures around here, I've also unfortunately come down with a bit of a flu, which is somewhat evident in these photos if you note the puffiness around my eyes and nose. That being said, I still had a great evening. G brought home Little Big Planet for me (and I'm not usually a video game person, but this one is seriously too cute for words, and the music in it is great) which I've quickly become addicted to, and when I decided that I needed to get out of the apartment for a little bit, we walked down the street and bought a couple of albums I've been eyeing and, of course, took a couple of photos along the way. All in all, I really don't have anything to complain about!

This photo set is real-life as opposed to fashion in the sense that what I am wearing has far more to do with practicality than anything else. As you can see, many of the streets here in Toronto are currently sheeted in ice, making creative footwear choices next to impossible unless I'm taking a cab to somewhere indoors or, similarly, carry my 'good shoes' in my bag until I reach my indoor destination; this brings me to my justification of the Ugg monstrosities currently residing on my feet - they're warm, I don't slip and fall in them and the fact that I dislike them on an aesthetic level results in me not getting upset when they're damaged by various outdoor elements. And I walk basically everywhere I go, so these are all entirely necessary qualities in a shoe for me. So before ya'll go and judge me for wearing them, please take a moment to think about my struggle.

Moreover, taking off my coat for a few quick snaps out in the cold is not currently an option lest I have a desire to die of pneumonia, which I don't. Thankfully I have a bunch of warm, cozy, functional coats that I love and believe to be stylish, the vintage white-gold fur that I wore last night being my favourite one of all. What I love most about this coat is the fact that I can wear a pair of black trousers or jeans with it and still look put together, regardless of how not put together I may feel. The true mark of a great item of clothing is, in my opinion, that it always makes you feel good - in which case my vintage fur undoubtedly qualifies with flying colours.

My plans for this weekend consist of nothing more and nothing less than getting tons of rest, acquiring new outfits for my poppit on Little Big Planet, and drinking as much hot lemon water as humanly possible (not only is it good for me, it's also the most delicious warm drink in the world). And I'm looking forward to it more than I have any weekend in quite a while, because I know that it's exactly what I need right now. I hope each and every one of you goes and has the weekend you want and need as well, and I look forward to coming back on Monday and catching up with you!

Wearing

The white-gold fur coat is vintage.

Underneath the coat I'm wearing a DKNY thin-ribbed black turtleneck.

The black trousers are from Guess, and are surprisingly wonderful.

The black boots are Uggs.

I've no idea what brand the black gloves are, but I do know that they're unbelievably warm and soft.

My favourite party dress and Givenchy-inspired layered necklaces

It's not often that I get the opportunity to wear this dress, but when I do it's always a great time and last night was no exception. The reason I'm all fancied up is that G and I attended a send-off/farewell party for a very close friend who will soon be going halfway across the country for an indefinite but surely extended period of time; as such, the event was somewhat happy and sad all at once, but there was a lot of happy in there, so I'm counting it as a technically 'great time' anyways.

So I've determined that this dress is, without a doubt, the best thing I have ever found on a Club Monaco sale rack, and unknowingly so at the time of purchase. When it was bought by yours truly two years ago I merely liked the drop-waist 1920's Gothic ballerina style of it (do those terms even make sense together?) and the sale price, as I remember desperately needing a party dress that day for a reason which escapes me now. I didn't even try it on, but then again I rarely do when shopping.

Two years later, and this dress continues to be one of my favourite things in my closet. The crumply crepe-like bubble skirt (you can seriously manipulate it into whatever shape you want it to be!), the various shoulder straps, the sheer overlay...there's a lot about this riff on the LBD that pretty much shouldn't work under any circumstances, but somehow it does and it's fabulous...or at the very least I feel fabulous in it.

As you've no doubt noticed, there has been an increasing amount of indoor photos recently, due to the fact that it looks like this outside:
Not only is this causing a lack of outdoor daily outfit photos, it's also making me congested and unable to breathe through my nose properly. My, my, how horribly jealous I am of all of you Australians right now, what with the beginning of glorious summer and whatnot.

Wearing

The black chiffon, crepe and silk party dress is from Club Monaco.

I'm wearing tons of various necklaces, all of which are from one of the following four places: my mom's jewelry boxes, vintage shops, made by me, or H&M.

I've no idea where my little white socks are from.

The black patent platform wedges (a.k.a. my favourite shoes of all time) are from H&M.

The vintage 70's maxi dress finally finds its way out of my closet...

While I do enjoy wearing all-black (as I did yesterday, and the day before that, and the one before that one as well...you get the point), it's nonetheless really fun to sometimes go in the entirely opposite direction of that and just pile on the colour. This is particularly the case when the days are getting right into the heart of a thoroughly dark, grey and depressing Toronto winter, and a little pick-me-up in the form of an amazing psychedelic print dress is much needed.
This is one of the dresses that I briefly alluded to acquiring last week, and of which the only slightly problematic thing is the length; it skims my ankles but does not quite cover them, making shoe choices, at least in terms of the shoes I own, extremely difficult for the time being. I feel like a pair of brown leather riding boots would work semi well, but since I don't own anything even remotely akin to riding boots as it stands, I merely have my imagination (and potentially really useless and bad sketches of what I'm visualizing) to count on when attempting to make such decisions.

I'm currently reading Patti Boyd's autobiography, which is not only insanely inspiring on the fashion end of things (between her, Anita and Marianne, it's impossible to decide who had the best wardrobe), but it's also the stuff that rock n' roll fantasy is made of and for that reason alone I love it. I will admit that I was not a normal child in the sense of having had posters of boy bands on my bedroom walls...I was far more into cut-out photos of young Eric Clapton from magazines.

This unfortunately did not do wonders for my early social life, but regardless, my long-standing crush on Cream-era Clapton has stood the test of time, and the fact that Patti married both George Harrison and E.C. is a fact that I have always, always been insanely jealous of in a weird, nostalgic kind of way. Naturally I missed the boat on pretty much everything I am jealous of Patti for having...so if I can't live it, I can live through it vicariously, right? And this is the reason this book of hers is perhaps my new favourite thing ever.

Wearing

The dress is vintage, acquired at the St. Lawrence Market a couple of weekends ago and finally worn for the first time last night.

The little gold flats are from Forever 21, and are unfortunately the most uncomfortable shoe in the entire world.

The brown whip-stitched leather purse is vintage.

My lapis lazuli and gold necklace was give to me by my mom, and is without a doubt one of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry I own.

No new tale to tell...black from head to toe with my new wedge platforms

It feels like eons since my last post, even though by all means it hasn't been that long. Nonetheless, I dislike the brief hiatus from internetting and promise to not let it happen again!
First and foremost, my seemingly-useless trip to H&M to check out the Commes de Garcons pieces last Friday afternoon (how I even thought it remotely possible for there to be anything left, I don't know) turned out to be extraordinarily fruitful for me. The insanely tall black patent wedge platforms that I'm wearing in these photos were just dying to be bought by yours truly, and I haven't really taken them off for any extended period of time since. Regardless of the fact that they're open-toed and not necessarily what one would call winter-appropriate footwear, I can definitely feel a new shoe obsession coming on...for one, they elevate my feet enough that any precipitation on the ground becomes completely irrelevant, which is nice.

The acquisition of the wedge platform awesomeness contributed to the wholly wonderful weekend had, which was busy, busy, busy and cold, cold, cold as all of you Torontonians out there are surely well aware of. One of the significant highlights of the weekend was seeing the first snowfall of the year on Saturday evening while at a party a.k.a. the only snowfall that is magical and gorgeous...after that they just become restrictive and depressing.

In the spirit of being honest and transparent, I will put it out there that today's photos are not entirely accurate, as they were actually taken on Sunday morning, hence my gigantic hair and even more gigantic sunglasses - remember how I mentioned we were at a party on Saturday night? Yeah, so this is one of my most comfortable go-to outfits, and since I haven't been feeling all that creative recently in the spectrum of dressing, it's basically what I've been wearing in some form or another for the past few days, add/minus blazer, hat, t-shirt, shoes, etc. I definitely blame my full-of-stuff-but-empty-of-inspiration-closet for this state of affairs, and am therefore in the process of DIY-ing as much as humanly possible for shake things up a little bit.

Wearing

The over-sized black wool sweater is from Roots, and it's actually G's.

The t-shirt underneath which you can't see is from the band Darker My Love.

The leggings are Aritzia...the usual.

The super wicked hot black patent platform wedge shoes are from H&M, and I implore them to make more in every colour under the sun.

P.S. I somehow ended up on HERE, the Web Fashion Awards, which is undoubtedly one of the cooler things that's ever happened to me as a blogger. Check it out...oh yeah, and vote for me if you so please :)

Photo-less

Good morning all of you gorgeous people out there,

Due to a few small technical difficulties we're currently photo-less, but that should be fixed by a bit later in the day.

In the meantime I just wanted to...
a) let you all know that I'm alive, and
b) wish everyone a very happy Monday!

xo
S

Better off as the fool...than the owner of that kind of heart.

I've been tagged by two of my favourite fashion bloggers out there, Taghrid and Merkovsky, to list 6 unimportant things that make me happy, and consequently pass the tag torch to five other bloggers. Without further adieu, here goes it...

1. Walking home from work and listening to a-wicked-good-song-which-I've-carefully-selected-to-perfectly-encompass-my extremely-specific-mood-in-that-very-moment on my iPod is one of my favourite moments in my day.

2. Yahoo Answers. Whenever I need a pick-me-up I look up something random on Yahoo Answers and am immediately inundated by hilarious/misguided/ignorant/offensive/etc. answers given to questions (n.b. I also found out that sponging a 3 part water + 1 part vinegar mixture onto salt-stained suede shoes will make them look as though they are brand new again, so occasionally I learn something useful there as well....it's almost always by accident though).

3. Marker-like writing utensils. I would hand write with nothing but thin-tipped Sharpies for the rest of my life if it were even remotely possible.

4. Keith Richards' guitar solo in the most epic rock n'roll song of all time - Gimme Shelter. If this song doesn't make you feel like walking into a really cool and sexy dive bar while being cool and sexy and dancing and then getting into a fist fight or something...well, I don't know, but I DO know that I just don't get the way your brain works.
5. There are truly very few feelings as good as finding something absolutely amazing at a thrift shop for little to no money. I know that this is a disgustingly obvious thing to say within the fashion blogosphere but I just can't help it, it's true!!!

6. [I'll preface this one with stating that it doesn't really qualify within the bounds of this tag, as it's not unimportant at all...it nonetheless makes me very, very happy, so I've made the executive decision to include it anyways] Every single time my iPhone beeps and it's a new comment from one of you amazing, amazing people out there in internetland. In all seriousness, no matter how awful of a day I'm having it, all of you with your kind, astonishingly lovely words something which I can guarantee to always immediately brighten my mood! So thank you to each and every one of you.

I tag the following gorgeous people (who, as far as I know, have not yet completed this tag):

Anthea of Clothes Line Finds
Chauss of Je Ne Sais Quoi
Jacquie of Jacquieshambles
Fashion Pariah
Ashleigh of Rantings of a Fashion Addict

Wearing
The wool figure skating sweater is yet another item from my closet which was hand knit by my evil grandmother. I'm aware that the purple and orange colour scheme and completely obvious pattern of it are ever-so-slightly garish, but I nonetheless cannot help but love this sweater. As cliche as it sounds (and IS), this sweater reminds me of a much simpler time when life wasn't messy and complicated and fragile and dependent on anything more than whether or not I landed the majority of my jumps on the rink that day (and apparently I'm feeling grossly sentimentalist today, so try to ignore this diatribe of mine if you may?)
My new favourite jeans. Dark wash denim, wide-legged, J Brand - does it really get any better than this?
Shoes are an old vintage find. They're mega-platforms, so they tend to be the obvious choice with any pants which I haven't bothered to have hemmed yet.

Bohemian Lumberjack? The plaid and fur, more plaid and fur, etc.

Good morning dearest blogosphere! Now I've no idea what my intentions were with this particular look other than that it was freezing cold outside yesterday (hence the unflattering layering) and that I desperately need to get my hair done STAT (hence the weird headband thing which can best be described as an unsuccessful attempt at making my hair situation less bad). Regardless of what the intentions may have been behind this, it was indeed comfortable, kept me warm and didn't turn out as horribly visually as I fully expected it to, which is always a plus, no?

I've decided that I definitely need to take a trip back to Gap Kids where this delightful plaid button-down was initially found, as it seems to me that it's the best of its kind that money can buy (which is veritably awesome, because as I recall it cost about $18 at full retail price). It's truly the perfect plaid shirt in every way: the length, the weight, the colour...I could go on and on, but I'll try not to bore you to tears with my professions of love towards this shirt. Bottom line, I love it.

G and I have so much on the go right now that it's somewhat overwhelming, but rest assured that none of it is in an even remotely negative sense so, if anything, it's an overwhelming satisfaction and happiness with life, albeit a very, very busy one. One of the bits of good news I have to impart is that I have somewhere to wear my new dress tomorrow night, so you will all be seeing it very, very shortly! As for the rest...well, all in good time!

Wearing

The red plaid button-down shirt is from Gap Kids, and definitely one of the can't-live-without-it items in my closet.

The faux fur vest is vintage.

My leggings are from Aritzia, and are quite possibly the most comfortable, durable pair of leggings to ever exist.

The mukluks are mukluks, and were purchased from a leather shop on Yonge Street. As far as I know they don't have a brand, but they could potentially for all I know. Word of advice: if you live in a place where it snows and gets cold: purchase these and you will never have cold, wet feet again.

Utilitarian Chic: breaking up the monochrome with pink tights and a cozy hat

The grungier and more dilapidated an area is, the better the chance that G and I want to take photos in it. Such is the case for today's photo set, and it worked out inadvertently brilliantly for us; there's something very post-communist Russia about wearing an expensive fur hat in an abandoned tennis court...
The weekend was entirely wonderful, the pinnacle of which was unearthing two mindblowingly amazing 1970's patterned jersey maxi dresses at the St. Lawrence Market yesterday morning. The first is from Saks Fifth Avenue circa 1974, and I have a nagging suspicion that the second is an actual Ossie Clark...oh, and both were acquired for a cool $35 sum total! The woman selling them obviously didn't recognize their value, but that works for me so I'm not going to complain even for a moment.

I know that it's unbearably geeky to admit to this, but I'm going to anyways so you can make fun of me later in the comments section if you must: the first thing I thought of when I awoke this morning was the aforementioned dresses, and moreover was sickeningly excited to run over to my closet and look at them in all of their glory. They're currently hanging in what I like to refer to as the closet's 'place of honour', which is where all of my new purchases that I'm to-die-for-in-love-with are placed prior to the first time they're worn.

Anyways, more on what I'm actually wearing today, as the dresses are quite obviously too special to be worn on a predictable Monday (I assure you that their coronation into my wardrobe will be far more grand than that). The black and white flats I'm wearing were purchased earlier in the week out of nothing less than complete desperation on my part, as I had been stomping about the city in 4 1/2 inch heels for hours upon hours and had stupidly forgotten to put flats in my bag before I left the apartment. Thankfully for me, Urban Behaviour exists and sells adorable little shoes like these for no more than $9.99 a pop.

The rest of today's outfit is pretty standard for me, but I will admit that I do enjoy breaking up my usual head-to-toe black ensembles with fun coloured stockings like these fuchsia ones. What I enjoy even more, however, is a gigantic mug of coffee early on a Monday morning...

Wearing

I own a million black turtlenecks, but this wool knit DKNY one is by far my favourite of the bunch.

The black skirt is actually American Apparel's high-waisted Interlock skirt/dress/thing pulled up to be a tube dress.

My fuchsia stockings were purchased at Winners, but are the Hue brand.

The ballet flats, which strangely remind me of a delicious chocolate-dipped macaroon were an Urban Behaviour purchase.

The little box handbag is vintage Ralph Lauren, and something I love but definitely don't find the opporunity to carry around often enough.

My fur hat is vintage.

Sky-High Shoes and Straight-Legged Jeans

Ah, 'tis the end of the work week! Make no mistake, it's been an absolutely lovely week, but I am nonetheless very much looking forward to having a couple of days without a billion and one things to accomplish.
The asymmetrically striped top I'm wearing today is a recent purchase from one of the many fast fashion shops on Yonge Street, and as such cost a whole $4.99. It is clearly not of the most admirable garment quality that the world has ever seen, but it is kind of totally awesome when paired with a black leather jacket and stovepipe jeans on a warm November day such as today has turned out to be.

Geekily enough, this whole ensemble brings visions of Elvis in 'Jailhouse Rock' to my mind, which could account for the fact that I seem to be trying to escape/enter/tear down an immovable metal fence in front of an expensive downtown condominium, as per the photo above. While I would prefer to make like Elvis and be playing a wicked retro guitar while sneering sideways at passerby, I only have so many resources at hand throughout the day and must make do with awkward fences for the time being.

Anyways, enough about my fashion worship of Elvis and limited ability to emulate his obviously inimitable coolness. Before you all go off to enjoy your undoubtedly fabulous respective weekends, G and I want to just thank every single visitor, commenter and supporter of Modern-Guilt. We hope you all have the most amazing weekends ever, and we of course look forward to seeing you all back here bright and early on Monday morning!

Wearing

The striped jailbird top is from a store which I don't believe has a name, and sells countless garments made out of the cheapest jersey in the world....you know the kind, every city has them.

The jeans are by Lux, and were purchased at Urban Outfitters.

The patent oxford ankle booties are from Forever 21.

My favourite leather jacket is from Danier.

Peacoat and Jeans: sometimes simple just feels right.

Not every outfit I decide to wear on any given week is going to be the pinnacle of cutting-edge fashion, and I believe today's post is particularly indicative of that. While it's not the most creative or inspiring thing I've ever put together, I will put it out there that I like it and feel like myself in it, and that this which, to me, is the most important aspect of personal style.

Make no mistake about it, I do love trying out editorial looks, creating concept shoots with G and occasionally even going about my daily business in a massive fur coat, six-inch platform boots and a Daphne Guinness inspired headpiece. Dressing up can create a wonderfully engulfing fantasy in even the most mundane of tasks for me, and a life without fantasy or imagination is not one that I can even fathom leading. If you've never walked through the aisles of a grocery store in your most outrageously fabulous clothing while picking up cans of 60 cent soup and green bananas, you truly don't know what you're missing...well that, and we most likely have very little in common with one another.

All of this being said, some days simply call for jeans and a peacoat, and yesterday was one of such days. Without a shade of sarcasm or self-doubt I can firmly state that I didn't actually want to be wearing anything that wasn't this yesterday - which is shocking, unusual and rare, because I virtually always want to be wearing something other than what I'm actually wearing. The red velvet peacoat always seems to lend a nice pop of colour to outfits in the fall and winter months, and the heavily beaded sweater underneath is definitely one of my new favourite vintage finds. Neither are the most exciting fashion pieces in the world but, as stated, some days they just don't have to be to make me happy.

Wearing

Red velvet peacoat is from Target's kids section.

The thin white muslin blouse and beaded ice-blue sweater are vintage.

I've no idea where these bootcut jeans are from as they were purchased eons ago and the tags were ripped off.

The brown suede ankle booties are inherited Hermes.

Bell bottoms and a cloche hat on a rainy day

Okay, so I possess quite the collection of hats and have always enjoyed wearing them. In fact my Grade 4 homeroom class bestowed upon me the nickname of 'Blossom' (does anyone remember that show?) because I went through a year-long phase of wearing a hat every single day without fail. I suppose that not being able to do anything in moderation comes with the territory of having an addictive personality, as I do, but I nonetheless find it amusing that this aspect of my personality surfaced in the context of donning a chapeau at such an early age.

To be perfectly honest, I will admit that my perpetual hat-wearing of the past few days is more likely than not due to the fact that I desperately require a hair touch-up. Speaking of which, I find it curious that people (well people in..you know, non-internet life) seem to feel as though they are more than entitled to comment on the state of my regrowth - in Starbucks, at work, wherever - I seem to encounter such people at least once a day. Which brings me to the question: am I entitled to just walk up to people and let them know that they have split ends or an unflattering shade of eyeshadow on? And do they actually think that I have no idea what my reflection looks like and merely have not noticed the unsightly state of the top of my head? Argh.

Okay, I'm done ranting and would prefer to move the rant over to this jacket, which is currently running my life. In general I've noticed that I'm really gravitating towards cropped sillhouettes right now, and this recently-acquired vintage suede jacket is basically outerwear perfection as far as I'm concerned at this very moment in time. The gorgeous scotch coloured suede is in pristine condition and I've found it to be a nice departure from my usual black, as it still kind of goes with everything.

Wearing

Black Hudson bell bottom jeans, purchased on my Holt Renfrew shopping extravaganza '08 of two weekends ago. I like them because they're seemingly almost trousers, but qualify as jeans too...really, who doesn't love multi-functional clothing?

Black H&M men's baggy double-breasted sweater, which I've concluded I want in every colour under the sun because it's one of those fall fashion items that never seems to not be useful in some way, shape or form.

Vintage suede cropped jacket, purchased at my new favourite Toronto vintage shop, 2nd Necessity on Queen Street East.

Vintage platform shoes which make me tall enough to not need any of my pants hemmed, which is a win and of itself.

White quilted Chanel vintage purse that I need to stop carrying quite so much, which is problematic for me because it seems to match just about anything and everything.

The navy blue cloche hat is a Winners find.

Tartan tights, a wool hat and an oxford shirt on a lovely November day

The weather permitting my preferred dress sense the past few days has been lovelier than I can express! Yes, we've now seen knee high socks two days in a row, but there's something about this look that reminds me of pre-teen skateboarders in the suburbs...though I am not suburb-dweller, nor have I ever [successfully] ridden a skateboard in my life. Notwithstanding the aforementioned turn of events, I'm still falling for the Alexander Wang grunge chic look, as clearly evidenced by outfits such as the one I have on today.
The vintage Gucci horsebit loafers I have on were one of those entirely perfect and wonderful thrift shop finds; the kind that one can never predict but, regardless, always remembers as that time at the secondhand shops when everything was sublime and exactly as one has dreamed of things being. Unfortunately I've had no such experiences recently, but this does not tarnish my faith in the vintage stores of Toronto - at this point I find it justifiable to chock it up to everything being 'in-between seasons'.
Speaking of the vintage Gucci loafers which I adore...there are may things which I find odd about myself, but one of the most significant ones is that I often take just as much pleasure out of a $7 striped button down oxford found in Chinatown as I do from the most coveted designer items. In all honesty I'm not actually all that excitable when it comes to trend pieces or the most expensive/exclusive/whatever fashion item there is on the market at any given point in time.
After all, such things are extraordinarily fickle in that they change within a matter of mere months, and don't necessarily retain the value which is falsely placed into them in the first place. There is, of course, the exception of extremely classic items which have a style and quality about them that will never age or tarnish, and I'm not a silly enough person to disregard this; I merely consider it to be a seperate issue entirely.
Speaking of inexpensive fashion victories: the white wool beanie hat I'm wearing was knit for me by my evil grandmother, and hence cost me nothing. That point aside, I've yet to find a store bought cap (or 'toque', as more quintessential Canadians than I would call it) which is as comfortable and versatile as this one, and for that reason I doubt I will ever get rid of it. Seriously, what doesn't a hat like this one go with? The answer to that question currently remains elusive in my mind...Wearing
From the top down...
The white wool beanie was handmade.
My striped, button-down oxford shirt was a $7 Chinatown find, and has that slouchy menswear-inspired fit that I love so much.
The black pleated miniskirt is Billabong. Yes, you heard me correctly, I said Billabong...is this any more acceptable if I bought it at a Goodwill? No? Didn't think so. Okay, whatever, I still like it.
The Harlequin patterened knee high socks are yet another 'personal vintage' piece. I've no idea when or where they entered the depths of my closet, but I do know that I have had them forever.
My Gucci horsebit loafers are vintage.