33. Shopping, Montreal
June 29th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
During a picnic I had with some friends in Parc Lafontaine, one friend asked me if I had gotten any good shopping done while in Montreal. My (sad) reply was that while I had done a little bit of browsing at a few stores here and there, I hadn’t been able to find anything interesting. Her reply — and another friend at the picnic, who also lives in Montreal, agreed — was that it is actually fairly difficult to do good shopping there. Perhaps you, the reader, will tell me that I am wrong, but I am simply saying that my shopping expeditions were unsuccessful.
Some notes:
- The one store that I was excited to visit, A La Deux, no longer exists. I had heard that it was a treasure trove of clothing from the 20s to the 40s at affordable prices, and that it was owned by an eccentric old man — basically, it sounded like the perfect store for me. However, after walking for half an hour to get there, Anna and I discovered that the building had been converted to a salon. Obviously I should have called beforehand, but it was still a disappointment.
- CUL-DE-SAC, at 3966 boulevard Saint-Laurent, is a cute enough secondhand boutique. I couldn’t tell which of the clothes were vintage and which were new (this was a problem I encountered at many vintage boutiques in Montreal). Eventually I grew tired of wading through the millions of polyester dresses and headed for the bags, which were plentiful, reasonably priced and, for the most part, attractive. I bought three things on this trip: a Gertrude Stein book, a shirt for Chris (see below), and a bag at CUL-DE-SAC. I had a little bit of a sick feeling after leaving the store because I couldn’t tell if I had just made a Desperation Purchase, but I do think I like the bag.
- Preloved (4832 boulevard Saint-Laurent) is occasionally sold at Urban Outfitters. Well, if you go to Montreal, you can go to Preloved’s boutique, which I found a much more enticing experience. The salespeople were friendly and chatty without being overbearing, and Anna and I happened to go on a day that they were having a Summer Sale, so Anna scored three super-cute articles of clothing for less than $100. Considering that much, if not all, of their clothing is handcut and made from vintage fabric, I thought that she made out like a bandit. I bought a buttondown shirt for Chris, which he thought was “overwhelming” when I showed it to him back at the apartment, but duh, who writes a fashion blog in this couple? Just kidding. I might borrow it and wear it for myself.
- Local 23 (23 rue Bernard Ouest): Very cheap shoes, cool posters, not much in the way of clothes. Anna got a Battlestar Galactica tote bag.
I had to remind myself several times on this trip to not fall into the trap of LUTH: Least Ugly Thing Here. This often happens when I’m thrifting, and spells T-R-U-B-B-L-E.
ETA: I put up my Etsy store, which currently has only one thing in it (a dress). You can find it at my Etsy store.
32. Home Again (& It Feels So Good)
June 29th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
The thing about coming back from vacation is that settling back into old routines feels positively fantastic — or can, anyway, and I’m lucky enough to have come home in time to be able to go to the Sunday farmer’s market. Chris and I brought our giant octopus bag and loaded it up with goodies, including eggs with bright orange yolks, a purple cauliflower, tomatoes on the vine, and handmade mushroom ravioli; upon returning home, Chris spent half an hour arranging flowers (which I find fantastically sexy) while I unloaded groceries, washed/cut celery and prepped a basket of bright-red strawberries. We did all of this while Girl Talk played on the stereo (I’ve noticed that word about Feed the Animals is spreading fast), and we did a little dancing, too.
The last few summers of my life have been extraordinary, perhaps to make up for the health problems I tend to have the rest of the year, and this summer has been no different. I have more time to myself now; I’m getting more work done.
In other news, I also set up an Etsy store. There are two amazing dresses in particular that I hate to part with, but that I think would look better on someone else (one from the 40s/50s, the other a cocktail dress from the 60s). I’ll put up more information about that when I’m done listing things.
31. Dance Dance Dance/Bows/Of Montreal
June 21st, 2008 § 3 Comments
There’s a dance party tonight in SF that I’m sort-of co-hosting as a goodbye to all of us who are heading off to MFA programs this fall. It promises to be chockablock with drunken gyrating and intimate farewell confessions — and then Chris and I plan on crashing for a few feeble hours of “sleep” before taking the rapid transit to the airport in the morning, from which we will depart to Montreal.
To unpack: Dancing! Blogging! Montreal!
In terms of my dancing outfit, I haven’t quite figured that out yet. The heel off one of my favorite pair of boots snapped off recently and I had them emergency-fixed by a local, burly, non-smiling cobbler so that I could bring them on the trip. For the most part I’ve got my make-up on already — as you can see in the above picture, I was going for a lesser version of JEM — and assembled a bow-tie headband, as inspired by recent posts by Rhiannon and the gigantic, fabulous bows of LouLou Loves You! The slim metal headband slid right through the loop on the back of the bow-tie. I doubt that anyone will be able to see the bow without paying close attention, but I like the subtlety of it, and now I know to keep my eye out for cheap, loud bow-ties to contrast with my black hair.
I hope to do some vintage shopping in Montreal, but as of now have no particular destinations in mind. If you know of any, please do shoot them my way! It would be very much appreciated. And finally, this Saturday post is meant to replace the regular Sunday post, with my apologies. I will be flying all day tomorrow and I doubt I will have the energy or the material for blogging. Chris and I plan to be gone from June 22 through June 28; although I don’t anticipate being able to post while on vacation (and will be bringing the film, and not the digital, camera), one never knows. In the meantime, thank you for reading, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty to share when I come back.
30. White T-Shirt Days
June 20th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
It’s about one hundred degrees here right now and, with no A/C in our apartment, I’ve often found it best to lie around in some combination of a white t-shirt and something-or-other. (The investment of the season: three cowl-neck Kova & T white t-shirts — one L, two SM.) But how best to wear this simple wardrobe staple?
Emily Larned, book artist and zine star from back in the day, has helped to create an awesome fashion spectacle in the form of Lookbook 54. At the pre-order price of $30, this full-color, 116-paged set of Lookbook 54 (plus Lookbook 54 Companion) demonstrates 54 ways to wear a white t-shirt, from glam to punk to avant-garde to hip-hop, all styled with the aid of simple household objects such as safety pins and duct tape. Totally inspirational, and incredibly DIY. (image from Red Charming)
29. The Bai Ling Mystery
June 18th, 2008 § 3 Comments
Okay, I admit it! I check my WordPress blog stats, sometimes on a daily basis. And it is through this stat-checking that I discovered that a not-small (at least, not-small in proportion to the audience this bitty fashion bloglet has) number of readers have been making their way here from actress Bai Ling’s blog, where she posts pictures of herself in faraway lands and updates her fans regarding her latest movie roles and cast parties.
Upon viewing her blog, however, I can’t for the life of me figure out how people are getting from Point BL to Point FFW. She has no links list, so far as I can tell, and nowhere has she mentioned FFW — not that I would expect her to. After trying to solve the mystery last night and getting nowhere, I wound up pontificating on the deep spiritual connection between Bai Ling and myself. (Although I did just watch her in the cinematic masterpiece that was Southland Tales last week.) Perhaps the fashion gods were trying to tell me something through Blog Stats.
Bai Ling is, in a sense, a fashion icon. Well, this point is debatable — but as far as the Go Fug Yourself ladies are concerned, Bai Ling’s outfits are so barftastic that they deserve an entire section. Sample quotes: “I love how much Bai appears to enjoy creating the illusion that she is [a] half-human, half-exotic endangered species moving through its own wildlife preserve,” or “I enjoy making fun of your outfits and when you’re gone, I really miss you and hope you haven’t fallen into hardship, hard times, or the evil clutches of someone who doesn’t understand that your eighteen personalities are a hilarious delight and need to be nurtured appropriately.” (A brief aside: I’ll read GFY sometimes, but it’s not that interesting to me — sure, snarkiness is fun, but making fun of Bai Ling’s outfits feels too easy to be truly hilarious, and the adventurous are almost never rewarded.)
And is Bai Ling adventurous? Surf any page of her “fugged” outfits and you’ll find that the answer is yes. Giant spidery lace ensemble? Check. Tiny babydoll tee with mysterious message? Check. Band-Aids as fashion accessory? Check. Is it aesthetically pleasing? I think a lot of people would agree that she’s beautiful; it would be easy for her to toss on a designer gown and call it a day. But that also probably wouldn’t be nearly as fun.
So it’s true — I don’t dress like Bai Ling, and I probably will never dress like Bai Ling. But The Bai Ling Mystery has reminded me that fashion is about taking risks, having fun, and trying new things. And sticking your tongue out once in a while.
ETA: The Bai Ling Mystery has been solved, thanks to a friend and reader. For the purposes of this post, though, I’ll leave it a mystery…
28. Outfit of the Day – 6.16.08
June 16th, 2008 § 3 Comments
- Dress – vintage, bought from Plumeria Consignment
- Sheer orange tights – Taiwan
- Gold sandals – thrifted
- Bracelet – prayer beads from East/West
- Watch – 1924 winding watch from eBay
