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.