Plaid, fur and bows in my hair...brought to you by my current 'Mad Men' obsession

I'm feeling awfully peppy this morning thanks to the Daylight Savings Time switcheroo (yay for an extra hour!) that occurred this weekend, though I do have much reason to be peppy beyond that considering the wonderful couple of days just had. It was, by all means, a typical weekend in the life of S and G, but nonetheless a great and much-needed one.
I'm currently feeling very inspired by the 1950's glamour in Mad Men, which may account for the cutesy shift dress, fur-collared sweater and general 'properness' I decided to go for today in my ensemble. At a cool $3 price tag, this preppy plaid Gap dress is one of my favourite thrift store finds ever, and I absolutely want a dress in its style made in every tartan check and pattern under the sun...come to think of it, it's not irrational to take it to a dressmaker more talented than I at such things and have them do this, is it?

Much like black latex leggings, it seems as though very few individuals in Toronto have caught on to the knee socks trend, though in all honesty I find this to be slightly more understandable given the mercurial nature of our current weather situation. Generally speaking, when it is warm outside it is too warm to be wearing knee highs, and when it is cold outside one can pretty much forget about having any exposed skin out with the exception of one's face (and that's what giant tubs of Nivea are for, my friends).

Today is one of those rare and wonderful days of total and complete fashion freedom, where personal style is not determined by how uncomfortable one is in certain garments thanks to the neutrality of the weather! And, on another note, I've come to the conclusion that I need to locate a craft store so that I can make hair bows of this sort in every size and colour imaginable, because $5 is just too much to pay for one no matter how much I may love the way they look.

Wearing

Gap plaid shift dress from the Salvation Army's '50% off day', which I believe most every woman on the planet should have in some form because it's Just. That. Awesome.

The overpriced but amazing hair clip bow is from Claire's.

The knee socks were a great find at the College Street Winners for only $4!

Juicy Couture pumps, which look kind of like the Chloe triple-strapped ones I've lusted over for what feels like forever, are also from Winners.

The fur-collared knit cardigan is 'personal vintage'- translation: it's been kicking around my closet for longer back that I can remember, but only because I feel as though it's one of those timeless fashion pieces that would kill me to not have anymore.

Floral Minidress Friday

It warmed up enough today in the city for me to not have to wear sixteen billion layers of clothing, meaning I had nice excuse to wear my vintage floral bubble dress, which was shoddily hemmed into a bubble dress by yours truly. Although this piece is more of a summer trend item than a winter fashion, I love it and will try my darnedest to provide it with the versatility that, as a bright floral minidress, it seemingly lacks.

Today's attempt at such styling versatility brought me to pair my Pedro Garcia leather boots with the American Apparel esque but-really-Urban Outfitters latex leggings that I've recently grown so fond of. Regardless of how saturated the fashion blogs may be with shiny leggings, I've noticed that no one in this city really seems to know that they exist yet (and they therefore gawk at me when I stomp around in them), so for the time being I don't feel too redundant in the sphere of Toronto women's clothing. Plus I felt like the winter-appropriate leather boots combined with the black latex leggings really gave a Victoria Beckham in Antonio Berardi feel to the whole look, which couldn't possibly be a bad thing in my mind.

I suppose I just could not help myself - ask anyone, I've always been a magpie and thus attracted to shiny things - but I did, of course, cover up with my similarly shiny black pleather Guess coat, which I believe was purchased all the way back when I was in the ninth grade. My fashion immaturity at that young age aside, I still like the coat and find it useful - for example, I feel as though it added a weird, I'm-a-futuristic-goth-who-also-likes-floral-prints vibe to today's ensemble which, I'm not going to deny, thoroughly pleases me.

Anyways, I'm off for a [hopefully] more relaxing weekend than the last which was, as previously stated, spent generally rushing about town...filming, concert-going, brunching, depleting my bank account at the Bloor Street Holt Renfrew and, in general, being awesome-but-exhausting. Remember that some work performed on the site yesterday did, unfortunately, result in the loss of all of you lovely bloggers on our blog roll, and therefore if you would like to be added or re-added, please leave a comment or give us a shout at modernguiltblog@me.com and we will be more than happy to oblige!

Best wishes for the most respectively fabulous weekends ever to each and every one of you, and of course catch up with us on Monday morning to see how I managed to spend all of my money Friday through Sunday once again!

Wearing
Franco Sarto boots...a gift from the wonderful G, naturally.
Guess coat, which would probably be more accurately referred to as plastic rather than pleather, but who's counting?
Vintage floral dress, found at one of the many Toronto thrift shops I frequent...
Urban Outfitters leggings.

Russian fur hats, vintage lace-up boots and layers galore = I am a happy camper!

It's no longer "okay without the wind chill" or "tolerable without gloves" kind of cold in Toronto, it's just properly and entirely cold; this may mean slight physical unpleasantness, but I must admit that there's a part of it which thrills me as well - if you are a vintage fur lover, as I am, you probably get where I'm coming from. I possess a collection of gloves, hats, scarves, furs and all of those other wonderful winter fashion staples that is not easily rivaled, and now that I'm consistently waking up to weather that warrants the donning of such pieces, it truly feels as though a whole new wardrobe has opened up to me overnight.


Likewise, the fact that I've been wearing up to seven articles of clothing at once lately is strangely fun. Contrary to popular belief, it is not that easy to find seven [or more] things in one's closet, no matter how jam-packed such closet may be, that are relatively consistent in their style. Perhaps this is of my own doing, as I find it difficult to shop logically and therefore tend to get whatever I like as a stand-alone piece without giving much thought to the matter.


This is but one of my self-inflicted fashion issues to reflect upon…perhaps a spot of meditation/mental clarity could help, but I somehow doubt I'll get around to that when there is much fun to be had in a mountain of handmade scarves and vintage hats.


Wearing
My fur hat and leather bag are vintage
My blue dress was found in a random mall outlet store ages ago
My wool sweater is from American Eagle, though it's not visible in the pictures
The tights are Hue brand
My leather lace-up boots are vintage and, moreover, one of my favourite thrift store finds in recent history

Oops...

Hi everyone,

I was working on the site today and I deleted our blog-roll link thingy by accident. If you were on it or, for that matter, would like to be on it, please send an email to modernguiltblog@me.com or post a comment and I'll add you as soon as possible.

Cheers,

G

Windy winter weather and wide-legged jeans

I've concluded that the high-waisted and wide-legged J Brands I purchased during my weekend spending binge are the most perfect pair of pants in the world, and moreover they're seriously making me re-consider my bias towards dresses and tights in the colder months. Could this be a first in the realm of trousers for me? Only time will tell...
Speaking of this weekend, I also attended a Toronto Blogger's Brunch set up by the lovely Anthea of Clothes Line Finds. It was definitely one of the coolest events that blogging has brought me to thus far, and I thoroughly enjoyed conversing in 'real-time' with Anthea, Ashleigh, Danielle and Marta. I very much hope to have similar events set up in the future to continue the informative and interesting discussions we had!
G and I have quite a bit to get accomplished today, though I will admit that I am feeling ever-so-slightly under the weather and am currently daydreaming of laying in bed surrounded by a pile of magazines with a cup of chai tea in hand. Nonetheless, I'm going to pull myself up by my figurative boot straps (as I'm not actually wearing boots right now) and get on with what should be a properly productive day. Plus I'm pretty pleased that I get to wear all of my furry little parkas and long-sleeved 1960's blouses again, which cheers me up enough to get out the door and do what needs to be done.

Wearing
Blouse, shoes, bag: vintage
Jeans: J Brand
Parka: Aritzia

The vintage furs are finally coming out of hiding...

It feels like forever since we here at Modern-Guilt have done a 'normal' post. And while it's obviously only been since last Thursday, there is nonetheless a part of me which has missed our daily outfit photos in that interim period of time. That being said, I cannot express how thrilled G and I are at the overwhelmingly positive response to yesterday's mini-documentary post. We are considering doing more videos in the future, and will definitely keep everyone posted as to when another may rear its head onto the site.
Speaking of Modern-Guilt: The Video, today's photos are naturally the photos taken during such video's 'photo shoot' section, which is without a doubt my favourite bit. It's rare that I get to see G and I as we actually are, and as such it was a huge joy for me to bear witness to what is for all intensive purposes an outsider's perspective on us.
In other news, I will fully admit to the fact that I have somehow slipped into a state of complete and utter disregard for my spending ban…as a matter of [shameful] fact, I spent four hours in Holt Renfrew on Sunday afternoon purchasing everything from jeans to jewelry to a new jacket for G. I've no idea what came over me, but I did for a moment feel as though I had gotten the need to spend, spend, spend out of my system...
That is, until I happened to pass by a Coach on my walk home, noticing this beauty in the window. I can state with no hesitation that I have rarely, if ever, been a big fan of Coach bags, but if this one isn't my own personal version handbag perfection then I really don't know what is. While it's understandable that it may not be everyone's cup of tea, I can assert beyond any reasonable doubt that it my entire pot of tea and scones and everything else that makes tea worth having. Seriously, how amazing would this look with my winter furs?! Argh. I know, I know….I'll stop now.
Beyond the above little consumerist rant of mine, life is going swimmingly well (however, just in case there are any benevolently wealthy benefactor readers out there: please, please, please send the bag to me? Please?). Prior to my Holt Renfrew spendthrift binge on Sunday I did indeed attend a lovely Toronto Blogger's Brunch, of which I plan on giving a detailed recounting in tomorrow morning's post, as this one is already getting super long-winded, even for me…remember what I said about having missed 'regular' posting?
Once again, huge thanks to each and every one of you that left us a lovely comment on the video which we worked so hard on. Your support and love is appreciated more than either G or I are capable of expressing (which is saying a lot, particularly in my case).

Wearing
Coat, shirt, boots, bag: vintage
Jeans: Urban Planet

Technologically-adept...kind of, maybe?

Today's real post will be up shortly - I've been experiencing highly frustrating technical difficulties with Blogger this morning and, regardless of how hard I try to 'clear my computer's cache/cookies/whatever', the truth is I've no idea how to use this machine...I am, after all, a fashion blogger, can much more proficiency with technology than this really be expected?

A new development, however, dictates that perhaps I am not as technologically-challenged as I have previously considered myself to be, as this is my first post as a MOBILE fashion blogger with the assistance of ShoZu!

Blogging while bored and waiting in line at Starbucks? Yes, please!