New Orleans Style – Part 1

This post is easily 3 weeks in the making. I just can't seem to make time for blogging lately. Ugh. Life. I'm traveling for work in a week and am thrilled that this particular trade show just happens to be located in New Orleans this year. Oh em geeeeee! There are so many pockets of the earth that I've yet to explore, and I'm thankful to get to see at least a little BIT of the world on the company dime. We have plenty of chill-time on this trip, too. Stoked!

So you know I love playing dress-up, yeah? Halloween trumps Christmas in my world. Themes FTW! And since I was somehow terribly ill-equipped wardrobe-wise for Vegas, I'm planning ahead. Dressing the part is a little less straightforward this time around. Vegas = short dresses + tall shoes + glitta, dahhling. Easy (though I failed). But Louisiana? Aside from wearing as little as possible (have you checked out this WEATHER?!), I need to do some investigating on appropriate/thematic style. Of course, this is all just me being a weird-o ("quirky", right?) - any city infected with H&M-itis will likely look relatively every other city suffering from the same, but I'd like to believe there's a hint of unique flavour wherever I travel.

For funsies, I decided to challenge myself with a colour palette. What better hue scheme than one inspired by Mardi Gras? We won't be in Nawlins for the event, sadly. The official colours - kelly green, bright yellow, rich purple - are difficult to cram into one outfit, but if anyone can do it, it's me. I intentionally try to incorporate as many colours as possible into my style-world. I'm hell-bent on abolishing matchy-matchy. Today I'm wearing two pink things, though, and it's killin' me (it's the dog's fault – don't ask). I'm not literally going for a Mardi Gras theme as I shop/pack for the trip, but I'm writing this as a fun exercise.

In Part 2 of this post (coming soon!), I will focus on space-saving packing with smart mix-in-match pieces and my must-haves for hot-hot weather. Basically, my REAL non-fantasy-dress-up travel style post. But for now, let's have fun with this theme. 

The two outfits above, deconstructed, plus some extra Mardi-Gras-esque goodies:

 

Larkspur and Hawk $1300 // Fulton $95

ModCloth.com // Stylebop.com

 

 LPCollection.com $225 // Dorothy Perkins $17

 farfetch.com $500 // Debenhams.com $95

 

J Crew "Minnie" pants $103 each

 luluguiness.com $495 // Marc by Marc Jacobs $420

 Karen Millen // ModCloth.com

 Steve Madden // Madewell

 oasis.com $100 each

p.s. Archie jumped up on the table and stood on the keyboard when I left the room. This was his contribution to the post: wssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

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Whimsy.

I wore a hat to work on Friday.

While it drew confusion ("What is that?") and tons of ribbing from my all-male office-mates (nothing new, really), it actually means I must be in a good mood. And I stayed that way, even after they drew this comparison:

I'm prone to flights of whimsy, and I might be in the midst of one of those. There's something about hats.

(cue nostalgia, switch to italics.)

I feel like watching The Wizard of Oz with my sister in footed onesie-pajamas and fast-forwarding (y'know, 'cause we're watching it on VHS) to all of the singing parts. LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS!

I want to play with My Little Ponies and Puffalumps. Eat Kraft Dinner with cut-up hot dogs (veggie, of course). Make greeting cards with glitter-glue. Giggle incessantly.

I want to collect Jem & The Holograms stickers and trade them for Jelly Bellys and Lip Smackers.

But I'll just rely on my imagination. I suspect that such behaviour would be very unbecoming in a girl of 30-ish, yeah? In some ways, I never managed to grow up. Playing adult, though, can get exhausting (I've never considered myself a full-fledged grown up. When do you know? Is there an initiation? A sign?).

So, while I'm stuck (mostly) abiding by societal guidelines for my almost-adult age bracket, I'll never stop secretly playing make-believe. Like my never-shed baby-fat, I think I just haven't yet shaken that last little bit of my childhood sense of wonder. Sure I'm cynical and crotchety like 90% of the time, but there's still some frolic left in this girl.

In an homage to my fits-of-giggles mood this week, I've plucked a little whimsy from my favourites on Etsy.

Great finds inspired by: dollhouses, dress-up, fairy tales, birthday wishes, sing-a-long, innocence + lime popsicles.

  

What IS this magical little place? (Terrarium, Sea & Asters $25)

 

  Big, bigger, biggest! (Jye big hair bow $35)


Trade'ya for your skipping rope. (Lemon Citrus lip balm set $22)

I need this. I have NO place to put it. No place at all. But I need this. (oversized 'W' by Hinsvik $125)

Oh, hello yourself. (necklace by Piano Bench Designs $47)

Dapper. P.S. These lovely folks also make pillows that look like cherry pies! And PB&J sammies! (Diffration Fiber $26)

All-time favorite scent: grapefruit. Do they still make scratch n' sniff stickers? Confession: I really clicked on this listing for the miniature dog. Lovely attention-to-detail on the product styling! (Prunella Soap  $6.75)

Wee pony! Of my very, very own! Oh, my sister would have DIED for this. I would have made her sooo jealous. (Royal Mint $75)

Washi tape forever and ever. (Pretty Tape $4.50)

Mom had a tin just like this, but maybe without the knob. Often it held cookies. (The Magic Attic
$20)

Matcha marshmallows. Mmmmmmmmm! (Fusion Sweets $10)

Wha? Rings made from SKATEBOARDS? Man I could have snagged a real stud in middle school with this baby. (Seven Ply $22)

Well, OK, off to do big girl things. Like making dinner for my husband and paying bills. Not quite as fun, I'm sure.

Pleather & Lace?

*swoon* 

Beauty or cruelty? [ Christopher Kane dress ]

This is weird. I've been acting as somewhat of an unlikely mentor to a friend who has gone vegetarian in the past year. Unlikely? Yeah, well, I'm a pretty terrible vegetarian. I've learned to adapt in an omnivores' world by flying under the radar: picking things off of pizza, not being fussy about non-meat/meat fraternizing in the pan, playing dumb in the face of poutine (gravy, what?) and taking care of myself food-wise (quietly). I've also been a part-time fish eater, more to make life easier with my fully supportive, yet fully meat-eating husband. Role model material I am NOT.

Then, the question.

My newbie-veg friend asked: "What's your stance on leather?"

Jekyll, meet Hyde. My animal-loving, eco-conscious, (mostly)-vegetarian self does not always agree with my style-crazed, clothes-loving, shop-happy self. They are contradictory. They clash in a resulting ulcer-inducing turmoil. The ever-present inner-struggle: what IS my stance on leather?? I grappled with this for a while, and here is my (wavering) conclusion:

The challenge wasn't in replacing leather with other materials - there are enough options out there. My concern was environmental. I'm as much an advocate of animal rights as I am a steadfast environmentalist (OK, I'm not the best example of either, but I care about both very much). My issue with the alternatives (PVC, pleather, etc.) is that in a lot of cases, they are an environmental nightmare to produce and they never break down in landfills. And, leather substitutes crack and peel easily, forcing me to buy more. I hate waste.

My new-ish shopping philosophy is to "buy less, buy better" so that items last and I am not contributing as much by-product. I try to buy ethically as much as possible - supporting local/handmade, choosing natural/orga materials, snapping up secondhands. Problem: it can be expensive and the options are limited. And I'm prone to last-minute panic shopping.

My veg-dyed green Roots purse is still amazing and I've had it for 4 years. Same with my Canadian-made Jeanne Lottie purse. Also leather. I buy a lot of rubber/canvas shoes in the summer, but nothing beats the real deal for boots & bags. I went the matt+nat route for a while but the peeling and cracking led to too many replacements. That said, it's probably one of the best vegan accessories companies (and Canadian to boot) if you can live with the negative aspects of faux-leather.

The PVC graveyard:

[ RIP old girls...and Nataraj, too :( ]

(Ahhhh. I forget to breathe when I'm rambling defensively.)

Does it make me a very good vegetarian? No. But it's a compromise that I can live with. I can sleep at night (mostly). Do I REALLY need to sacrifice my beliefs in the name of fashion, though. Even if my solution IS (somewhat) eco-conscious?

Well, no.

I admit that I can be smarter about my choices. Here are three no-compromise-necessary style picks that appease both of my starkly different selves. Peace is restored in the galaxy!

1. OlsenHaus Faux leather, in my mind, has become unfairly synonymous with poor quality. This is not at all the case with vegan brand OlsenHaus. I've loved their quirky styles in the past, and I am equally smitten with this season's line-up:

2. Ashley Watson 'Flicker' bag. An even better compromise: recycled leather! Smart design-types are hooking up with manufacturers to turn industrial scrap from say, furniture making, into accessories, etc. Win-win. (In my old bag-making days, I'd do the same with leather from thrift-store skirts.)

3. Etsy, of course. The handmade aspect has a feel-good-ness about it that kinda overrides guilt about pesticide-heavy cotton and animal hides. But there's also a ton of great eco-fashion here too. And totally non-granola. I love this skirt by Toronto-based Simone's Rose (yay, local) - it's organic and super adorbs.