Busy Beaver

December 8, 20148 Comments

I’m in the midst of a very busy month (who isn’t?!) – I have two dance shows this month, so I’m at rehearsals every evening for the next little while, on top of work and trying to get my act together for Christmas – so I am especially excited when I get out of the house to just do something because I want to. On Saturday Meaghan picked me up and our plan was to head to the Distillery District Holiday Market, however, we clearly didn’t have our thinking caps on because it was very busy. The kind of busy where you could drive around the neighbourhood forever trying to find a parking spot to no avail. We ended up giving up on that idea and just heading to cherry beach to snap some photos and enjoy the sort of mild weather. It was a short excursion, but excursion none the less, and one I desperately needed, because I find during my very little down time I am just marathoning Buffy and being as lazy as possible, which is fine, but doesn’t really make for a social and productive human being.

I’ll have to cut this short today because I’m in a bit of a rush. But I hope you all had a lovely weekend and aren’t feeling too stressed about this holiday season.

*photos by Meaghan

Dress: vintage via 69 Vintage
Blouse: thrifted
Coat: vintage via Toronto Vintage Clothing Show
Toque: H&M
Boots: Samantha Pleet x Wolverine
Bow tie: handmade

Updon’t

December 1, 2014December 1, 2014Leave a comment

My hair being worn in any way other than down is a rare sight. If I’m being honest, I don’t much like the way I look with my hair up, but that feeling flip-flops. When I had short hair I didn’t mind having an exposed neck, and quite often when I was growing it out I would just throw my hair into a top-knot and go about my day (the top-knot was way better than the weird length it was at). But now that my hair is long it has become a pseudo-invisibility cloak of sorts. It hides all the things I am a bit self-conscious about (forehead, ears…), silly things really, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way sometimes. The other reason that my hair often stays down (or in a side braid) is that my hair is thick. When I’m at dance rehearsals I won’t even bother trying to put my hair up and out of my face because inevitably it will fall out after 2 minutes of moving around. The only way to ensure my hair will stay put in a bun or pony tail is a whole lot of hairspray and bobby pins galore. So what’s with the low bun in these photos then?! Well, sometimes after I take photos I realize my hair was covering some interesting and pretty details of my outfit. I really didn’t want that to be the case with this cardigan. I’ve been wanting to photograph this vintage dream for awhile and I originally thought I wouldn’t do so until around Christmas time…but well it’s close enough now, and there is no rule saying I can’t dress it up with a fancier holiday-inspired outfit later on like I intended. I’m still unsure how I feel about this low bun – although it’s still sort of on the safe side since it’s covering the things I always try to hide – I doubt it will become a go-to hairstyle for me, but I’m really glad my giant mane was not in the way of getting some nice photographs of the beautiful bead-work on this 1950s mohair cardigan.

*photos by Ryan

Cardigan: vintage via Carousel Antiques
Blouse: thrifted
Skirt: vintage
Coat: Vintage via Gisela and Zoe Vintage
Shoes: Sylvie and Shimmy
Scarf: H&M
Purse: vintage via Public Butter
Tights: old ballet tights

If The Shoe Fits

October 27, 2014November 11, 2014Leave a comment

Shoes are another item I don’t buy often. I own a lot of shoes, but most of them don’t get worn on a regular basis (and were bought years and years ago when I used to buy things just for the sake of buying something). In some respects, I am a hoarder of shoes. I have a very hard time letting go of them, so the huge shoe rack I have filled is mostly made up of shoes that I keep solely for “what if one day…” or for photo shoots I’m styling. I have the same few shoes in rotation on a day to day basis, and you see those on here quite often. Those shoes are the ones that I sought out after I saw them floating around the internet and fell totally in love (that’s sort of how I buy shoes now, I must be riveted by them first). The same goes for this pair I’m wearing. I follow a lot of local shops on instagram, one being Sylvie and Shimmy, a quaint boutique located in my old neighbourhood, Parkdale. I saw these shoes, (and another pair I ended up buying) on their instagram and knew I had to pop by. I was in luck that day. They had one pair left of each shoe, and both were my size, so I guess it was fate, or something like it. I now pretty well only by shoes I know will get a lot of wear, and slowly but surely I will hopefully start to let go of (or sell) the pairs that are collecting dust.

*photos by Meaghan

Blouse: H&M
Skirt: vintage via Public Butter
Coat: vintage via Gisela & Zoe
Shoes: Sylvie and Shimmy
Tote: H&M
Socks: Target

Tie Your Scarf On Tight

October 16, 2014November 11, 2014Leave a comment

I almost forgot about these pictures, or rather, I wasn’t actually planning on ever sharing them. For whatever reason, I didn’t much like most of the ones we took, which happens from time to time. But here we are. Ryan snapped a couple shots of me while we were on our way to Thanksgiving dinner, bundled up in our coats and scarves. I always get excited on the first day of the season when I get to wear a scarf. I have a lot of scarves, although, only the same few get the most wear. But I’m sort of a scarf fiend. If I enter a thrift store with the intention of finding a new scarf, I usually come away with a few (they are only like $2, can you blame me!?) I used to be like this with bags/purses. Surprising right? How often do we see me with a bag/purse on this blog?! Almost never. I still own quite a few bags (some really nice ones, might I add), but I tend to only use 1 or 2 purses on a regular basis nowadays, so I often discard my bag for photographs. This is something I would like to change. I used to be able to find a bag I liked in most stores I frequented, but I don’t much care for the purses I find now. I prefer vintage purses, but they tend to be on the small side, and for me, I cram a lot of things into my purse, so a large purse is necessary on most days. I’ve been searching and searching for a large tapestry bag for quite awhile now, but to no avail. In the meantime I have bought some smaller ones, that I adore, but they don’t get nearly as much use as this faux-leather tote bag, which is a shame because I think a tapestry bag adorned with kitties is far more interesting than a plain black tote bag.

*photos by Ryan Coat: vintage via Toronto Vintage Clothing Show
Scarf: thrifted
Dress c/o eShakti
Socks: Target
Shoes: Seychelles
Tote: H&M (similar)

Marco Polo

September 15, 2014November 11, 20149 Comments

I must admit, I am wholeheartedly excited about dressing for Fall right now. It’s really so fun to unearth pieces you have had hidden away in your closet for months (or buying new pieces, teehee). It has given me the breath of fresh air that I so desperately needed. Now, this pinafore, oh this pinafore! How do I love thee, let me count the ways. It has horses/polo players on it and is made from re-purposed vintage Ralph Lauren fabric. Cool right!? I wanted this pinafore from TLO when it came out last season, but someone snatched it up before me online. I’ll save the long story of how it came to be mine, but Casie, who was the original owner of this gem, gave it to me (we got to know eachother through instagram, and just so happen to both live in Toronto). The clothing gods shined down on me that day (or more like the angel Casie, thanks Casie! you doll!) I’m pretty excited to style this baby. I opted for a print on print look this time around. I swear to you, when people say you should buy basics to go with everything in your closet, ie. neutral colours, plain… they didn’t know what they were talking about. This thrifted Joe Fresh button up has been a god send to me, and a real wardrobe staple. It goes with so many things in my Fall/Winter wardrobe, it is silly. Anyways, this outfit feels like me. I love pattern mixing, which I barely did any of during the Summer, for whatever reason. I’m excited about this weather change right now…but I’m sure that feeling won’t last long.