Come on lines, they will bend

It just so happens that today's photo not only features three me's, but three of my absolute favourite new acquistions as well: the Herve Leger inspired Bebe bandage dress, my $4 thrifted combat boots and an orange fascinator headband that I bought at The Clothing Show last month (which I can't believe I haven't managed to wear out before last night!). With a piece as skin-tight and revealing as the bandage dress inevitably is, I generally like to grunge things up a bit to keep it interesting, and I'm feeling that I totally achieved that goal with last night's ensemble. Don't you just love it when you have a personal fashion success like that?
Yesterday evening G and I were required at a friend's birthday bash, giving me the opportunity to wear all of my beloved things at once, including my vintage fur coat which desperately needs to make an appearance on here as soon as humanly possible I've concluded, considering I mention it in seemingly every other post. Regardless of the fur-or-no-fur photo content, we had a lovely night.

I do, however, sincerely wish that there were three S's in actuality, as the one that attended last night's party would definitely be at home having a lie-in right now!

Wearing
Dress: Bebe
Fascinator: KC Hats
Boots: thrifted

Bad As They Seem

So I've decided to steal G's plaid shirt for good after mucking about in it all day long today and hence realizing it to be the most comfortable, warm, lightweight and awesome article of clothing I've ever worn. I'm unsure as to how he's going to feel about this considering he probably likes it too, but then again what's the point of having a boyfriend with a majorly extensive collection of plaid shirts if not to take them out for yourself every once and a while?
This morning I woke up asking "is it still cold outside?" completely forgetting for a brief but wonderful moment that it will in fact STILL be this cold and colder for months and months to come. Does anyone have any good suggestions for tropical vacation destinations? The first time of the year I hear on the radio that it will be "minus-whatever temperature" is always a sad day, and this year I also plan for it to be the day I book a plane ticket off to someplace warm for a short while.
G and I are off to pick up a bunch of new furniture we impulsively bought over the weekend and, as far as impulse buys go, I suppose nice furniture is better than yet another dress of pair of boots that I don't need. Or not. I haven't purchased anything even remotely clothes related in about two weeks now and I'll be the first to admit that it sucks.

Wearing
Plaid shirt: G's, American Eagle I think?
Tank: Chinatown
Leggings: Aritzia
Boots: Urban Original
Bag: vintage

Dig Out Your Soul

My self-imposed long weekend is over. As my luck would have it I woke up to the grey Toronto I know and, occasionally, even love: it's raining cats and dogs and my dollar store umbrella ceased functionality on my walk to work this morning (making my hair wet...I hate the feeling of having wet hair) but, lo and behold, I've maintained a cheery disposition. I did have a killer weekend full of more fun than I believe the written word to be capable of expressing, so that could have something to do with my general elation at being alive today.
G and I attended The Clothing Show on Friday which was a half-fantastic, half-disappointing experience. While I am now the proud owner of a inexplicably awesome Anita Pallenberg and/or Gucci FW07-08-esque vintage fur coat and a very amazing orange feathered fascinator headband (for less money than I can easily spend on a coffee run), there were also a lot of vendors which were frankly selling junk, and overpriced junk at that. With the eagle-eye for deals that I have seemingly developed I found everything I wanted to purchase within half an hour of being there, and as such proceeded on home for a cozy evening of homemade nachos and bad television. All in all, Friday night was a win in my books.
The rest of the weekend kind of went by in a blur, but a definite highlight of it was doing Starbucks with Ashleigh of Rantings of a Fashion Addict, who is honestly one of the prettiest, most stylish and genuinely nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Furthermore, we now have a little project in the works now, so keep a look out for that in the coming months!
I've been pretty transparent thus far about my adoration of plaid - it's obviously great that it's trendy right now, but I've loved it all along and will undoubtedly continue to long after its proverbial moment in the sun passes. Similarly, I love, love, love black and always will and I wasn't allowed - again, self-imposed - to wear it last week. Unsurprising then that this is one of my favourite outfits ever.

Wearing

Jacket: Danier

Dress: H&M

Tights: The Bay

Shoes: F21

Purse: vintage

G.

I found the "G" theme more challenging outfit-wise than any of the other Harajuku girls, as Gwen Stefani has represented so many different styles and things over the years that it becomes somewhat challenging to pick one specifically and claim that it embodies her even in the slightest. In lieu of this predicament I made the executive decision to not even try to re-create Gwen's style or anything about her and instead just wear things that I love and feel good in - in my opinion, that's kind of what Gwen is all about anyways, hence the highly individual and personalized fashion choices she's become known for.
I'm aware that a tutu is an odd choice for an outfit post, but I spent a great deal of my formative years in one, and the feeling of being wrapped up in stiff tulle is quite probably one which I will adore until I cease to exist. I've had a penchant for the theatrical for as far back as I can recall, and I highly doubt that my lifelong passion for outrageously fabulous dramatic clothing is going to leave me anytime soon.
The black tights and patent oxford booties are obviously a bit dichotomous with the floral-print cardigan (an homage to "G" the fragrance, which is truly a tropical and sunny delight...but more on that later) and white tutu...but, then again, I'm a bit dichotomous too. I'm a huge fan of classicism and grunge, which I understand totally doesn't make any sense theoretically, but it somehow makes perfect sense to me so I can live with being alone in that theory if I must.
Back to the fragrance: the Harajuku Lovers scent "G" is my personal favourite of the set. It's strongest note is coconut (which I loathe the taste of but am absolutely in love with the smell of) and, as it wears, develops lighter notes of cottonwood, apple and mandarin which are lovely and refreshing when combined with the heavy sweetness of the coconut. More than the fact that "G" just smells wonderful, I also think that it also suits me better than any of the others.
Now this may be my roundabout way of attempting to dodge the 'why it suits me best' part of the equation, but I always feel somewhat uncomfortable when trying to describe myself or my style...it's such a daunting task, particularly in consideration of the fact that I believe no one is capable of seeing themselves as they truly are.
But I'm going to stop myself before I get too philosophical and introspective: I think that "G" is edgy, deep, feminine and unique, which I suppose implies that I believe myself to be these things...so that's just that then.
Today's "G" is the last installment of this past week's Harajuku Lovers theme, which has been marvelous fun for [my] G and I, and has resulted in some pretty awesome photos if I do say so myself - it's quite fun to get a little bit focused and directional with things!
Wearing
Cardigan: vintage
Tutu: my own
Tights: H&M
Shoes: F21
P.S. If you, my beloved readers, have any opinions whatsoever about anything G and I have done on Modern-Guilt this past week it would be absolutely AMAZING if you followed through to this survey where the lovely people who gave me the opportunity to get the pre-release of the fragrances and share it with you are collecting responses and opinions and whatnot, good or bad.

Music.

I've made no secret of the fact that music, above all other expressive art forms, is a massive part of and influence upon my life. I could have chosen a billion different types of outfits (okay, that's obviously an exaggeration) to go with this theme, but I wound up in my favourite leopard print dress, leather jacket and bright stockings...why?...
I suppose if I'm to be entirely honest I like to think that this is what I would have worn had I existed in my current capacity in the mid 90's and was going to watch a Jarvis Cocker gig in a really cool, hyper-mod disco in London whilst downing gin martinis. Or something along those lines.

I will admit that I found it somewhat difficult to encapsulate the concept of 'music' into one, singular outfit. As I have mentioned before, I dress for the music I'm listening to virtually every single day of my life, so to sum all of that up with one garment choice was more than slightly daunting for me. That is, until I came to the conclusion that it simply cannot be boiled down so easily, and that whatever I chose would be but a tiny, minuscule slice of my feelings towards the topic in question.
When taking a whiff of 'Music', the Harajuku Lovers scent, I felt as though the fragrance designer of must have faced the exact same dilemma as I did with my outfit choice. 'Love', 'Angel' and 'Baby' are all pretty straightforward briefs to follow - they only have so many connotations and meanings and types, whereas 'Music' has more than I believe anyone on earth is capable of keeping track of. A directional decision had to be made in order to keep the fragrance from becoming a total mess akin to the various LPs scattered about my apartment floor, and I think that they definitely succeeded in doing this while keeping things somewhat open to interpretation.
From my perspective, the scent of 'Music' is what I would refer to as 'modern bohemian' - it's modern and refreshing in the sense that it's clean and not agedly musky, but quite classic in that it's understatedly floral and pretty as well. It would have been very easy for this one to go sloppily downhill, but as it turns out it's one of my favourites of the entire set and something I will undoubtedly continue to wear for many months to come.
Wearing
Jacket: Danier (yes, I know I caved and that it's black...but I am doing two themes at once here so cut me some slack?)
Dress: F21
Tights: Winners
Shoes: F21

These could be the best days of our lives

I've made no secret of the fact that I'm more than a little bit infatuated with both the music and fashion of the 90's; with this in mind, it should come as no surprise to anyone that I have been completely drawn to plaid kilts as of late. Moreover, Toronto thrift shops have been absolutely chock-full of such garments and I have thus been able to indulge in my fantasy of looking like a not-as-strung-out version of Courtney Love circa 1993. The only unfortunate aspect of this tiny obsession of mine is that the things which I most love to wear are absolutely, 100% impossibly inappropriate to wear to my desk job, which just tends to reinforce my belief that my life begins as of 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday!
Last night was spent "breaking into" (is it technically breaking in if the entrance is wide open?) a really neat looking construction site, drinking this amazingly frothy champagne-ish stuff called Pink straight out of the bottle and discussing hopes, dreams, fears, fantasies and everything else with some of the coolest people I know. It may all sound a tad scummy to be hanging out in a dirty construction area when written so bluntly, but to be honest I find that kind of lack of pretention in social situations to be really refreshing. Who needs to go 'see and be seen' when the only people you're interested in seeing and being seen by are happy to just be sitting under a halogen work lamp on a piece of plywood with you?
More importantly than my existentialist social interaction rant: I have some really, really, maddeningly exciting news to share with you all which I alluded to a couple of weeks ago but am finally very close to being ready to share...as in, like, tomorrow! There are a couple of details left to iron out (to those of you who are reading this and know what I'm referring to - I'm taking care of it today, I promise!), but I'm really thrilled in general for all of the wonderful things that are happening in my life lately. I am, however, of the mind that the universe must require a certain degree of balance between positivity/negativity, because it seems as though the more blogger love that comes my way, the more real-life weirdness I encounter what with random strangers being total rude morons and the like. Not that I'm complaining...just saying.

Wearing

Tank: Chinatown (that 9 for $7 deal really, really cannot be beat)

Kilt: vintage

Cardigan: vintage

Shoes: F21

Bag: Chanel, vintage

Urban Outfitters has been reading my mind.

Below find what is only a brief smattering of the garments and accessories that Urban Outfitters has crawled into my dreams of the wonderful proverbial 'back-to-school' look (that I am probably too old to still care about, but whatever) and actualized so that I may look exactly the way I want to come September 1.

How and when did this happen? The past three times I've walked into Urban Outfitters nothing has particularly tickled my fancy...then I decided to check out their website today on a whim and holy mother of pearl I want, I want, I want NOW! And, more importantly, I can actually potentially afford what I want, which is a rare and therefore entirely joyous occasion for me. Wanting the most FW08/09 Balmain, Ferragamo and Alexander Wang collections is, needless to say, not an attainable goal for me at this point in my life, but this is!

Praise the heavens, and I suppose you all now know where the majority of my next paycheque is going...

Photos, all taken from UrbanOutfitters.com, clockwise from top left: 0815 LovesPeace Legacy Blazer ($104), Lace Up Boot ($88), BDG Double Stripe Cardigan ($48), Heraldy V-Neck Tee ($28), Urban Renewal Shrunken Flannel ($48), Folio Briefcase Bag ($58)

Pictures and things that I've done before

Since I don't particularly have any new or exciting news to impart, today's post is going to concern 5 Recent Observations Upon My Life.

Recent observation #1: The homeless and mentally ill find me very attractive. No, seriously. I cannot count the number of times in the past two weeks I have been accosted and/or 'complimented' by street urchins (what is the politically correct term being used now?) I am still uncertain as to how I should feel about this.
Recent observation #2: I find it impossible to have my picture taken without smoking. Apologies to any anti-smokers out there who are reading this blog. Yes, I do smoke and yes, I know it's bad for me and that I should quit, but I am fidgety by nature, and I find it disconcerting to not be doing anything with my hands whilst attempting to be still for photographs. This is probably something I should work on.
Recent observation #3: I have not listened to any new music in months. And by 'new' I don't mean it had to be recorded and released yesterday - I mean I have not listened to anything less than 10 years old in a very, very long time. Again, this is probably something I should work on, but I cannot seem to find anything new which is worth listening to, and this is probably compounded by the fact that I am nothing if not a creature of habit. If anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way...I truly hate being stuck in a music rut, and I am currently too busy to devote a lot of energy towards discovering my next favourite band.
Recent observation #4: There is no such thing as having enough dresses. Casual, fancy, sophisticated, grungy, jersey, silk, rayon, poly-freaking-ester...it doesn't even matter anymore. I knew I was developing a problem when I seriously considered wearing a plain black hoodie of G's to work this morning (with nothing else besides unmentionables) because I want everything in our closet to be a dress. This is an addiction in the making.
Recent observation #5: My city, my friends, my boyfriend, my summer, my very existence on this planet = entirely 110% awesome.

(N.B. Do you know what else is awesome? The fact that The X-Files movie comes out tonight. Because while everyone else is losing their proverbial shit over this Batman business, I am delighted and thrilled to be witnessing the reunion of the stone fox that is Fox Mulder and that lovably rational Dana Scully. I'm still attempting to devise an X-Files-related-but-still-chic fashion statement for when we make our way to the theatre, I will keep you posted on how that works out for me...)

I wish every one of you a happy, stylish and awesome weekend! I will be cottaging and braving the alleged Hurricane Bertha, but keep your eyes peeled for weekend updates nonetheless.

Wearing:

Dress: AA

Leggings: Aritzia

Shoes: Converse

Necklaces: I felt the need to pile on every single necklace I own last night, so I'm just going to go with 'various' to avoid everyone knowing exactly how many I piled on and henceforth how I managed to keep my head up.

Money, money, money in the bank.

I've been on this awesome self-discovery trip lately (which I highly recommend by the way). Something I've discovered about myself - see how self-discovery works? It sounds complicated but you just take a time-out to find out important and occasionally inane things about yourself, which is beyond cool - is that I really, really don't like spending a lot of money on clothing. I am more than happy to blow my budget on well-made shoes, handbags and having things meticulous tailored by little Italian women, but I've grown extremely disenchanted with the notion of paying outrageously inflated retail prices just to look like everyone else who also paid outrageously inflated retail prices.
It's a separate issue entirely if a garment is well-constructed and of some objective degree of quality or artistry, but I am so freaking sick of the Made in China Ready-to-Wear garbage which is propped up by some fashion vanguard as more 'valuable' than the $4 jersey dresses and F21 junk I buy, even though they look the same and, furthermore, were made in the same goddamn factory.
Perhaps I will feel differently about this matter when I fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a more fashionable, human version Scrooge McDuck and go swimming in a vault of cash in the lobby of my dreamy Scottish castle every morning. Though Scrooge's stylishness is pretty debatable - from what I can recall some of his top hats and smoking jackets were pretty hot. (As a brief aside to any readers that might be parents: seriously, recognize that your child is a capitalist at heart when at 9 years old the character they most identify with on "Duck Tales" is Scrooge - and that, in this case, it's probably a good idea to put on "Yellow Submarine" or something instead.)
But even if I never get my money vault, whatever. Via my self-discovery process I have determined that hanging out next to piles of trash and taking photographs is a lot more fun than most other activities one could partake in on any given day...

Wearing:

Skirt: Urban Planet
Tank: Dollarama - yes, you read that correctly, a dollar store.
Shoes: Nine West
Jewelry: I made it, but got the materials from the Beadery...

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere.

Not having our record player set up yet in the semi-new apartment is beginning to really irk me, as last night I had to settle for listening to the mp3 version of Neil Young, which to be honest just doesn't have quite the same effect. Consequently, we ended up just thrashing about on the guitars and annoying the neighbours, with me playing electric leads over G's acoustic stuff, so a good evening was had despite the vinyl void. G indulged me in yet another photo shoot at some point past midnight, hence the uncombed, flat hair I'm kind of rocking here; as you may see from the picture below, I attempted to cover it with a headscarf, because I'm clever and subversive like that....yeah, or not.
As for 'outfit inspiration' (that feels like a stupid thing to write down, but I can't think of another way to put it so you, dear readers, are going to have to settle with my unskilled and tacky prose for the time being), you can pretty much bet that nine days out of ten I want to look like a member of Crazy Horse's entourage. This intention/infatuation of mine encompasses pretty much everything from liberty print minidresses to Canadiana plaid coats to the outfit of this post and, furthermore, 90% of the items in my closet.

Wearing:
Jacket: Danier
Shirt: the plaid is from Gap Kids (No PST! Sometimes it's awesome being the size of a tall 11 year old boy), and the tank is from AA
Shorts: Moto (quite possibly best, ridiculously cheap jeans ever?)
Shoes, Suitcase & Scarf: vintage

Does this make me really, really weird?

This isn't something I ever imagined myself saying, but I want a lacquered insect carcass really badly. I've always had a thing for weird jewelry, and this is one of those rare moments where I fully resent not having bothered to get a driver's license - I would totally road trip it down to Massachusetts right now to get one of these necklaces.

Is gross-hot the new hot-hot, or am I just odd?

Photo credit: FabSugar.com

I just want to have no place to go.

G and I wandered around the city all day after I went to Saturday morning ballet class (I'm 5 years old on the inside in case you didn't know). Highlight of the day: I picked up the most amazing shoes at Winners which are almost dead ringers for the triple-strap chunky Chloe pumps I've been eyeing for ages  - the ones I now have my hands on are double-strap, have a gold chunky heel and are Juicy Couture, but whatever, they're just as pretty in my opinion.

Nothing particularly new or exciting is going on tonight, but I am going to be G's photography assistant, which is damn pretty cool since he is consistently coming out with photographs which are gorgeous as this one:

Is it just me or does it look somewhat like the photographic version of a Pollock?

Wearing:

Dress: F21

Shoes: The label wore off long ago and I've no idea. Brown's maybe?

Cardigan: Club Monaco

The "walk of shame" becomes chic....

...or so The Times Online UK reports. In Alice B-B's amusing intellectualization of the resurgence of 90's I-don't-give-a-shit-style, she writes:

"Like recession-led 1990s grunge — a grubby response to the big hair and shoulder pads of the greedy 1980s — WOS chic is both a financial and style backlash against boom-time dressing and sanitised head-to-toe designer wear."

Sounds about right to me. I don't think I ever really left this phase, but then again, I do seem to be dead set on time-travelling back to 1993. I've thrown in a couple of street style from style.com's Glasto 2008 feature, just because they're awesome and I see no reason to be any more eloquent than that about the matter.