Sophistique Noir Theme Post - Outerwear!

I LOVE coats! Can you tell? I'm currently making a 60's cape and an Edwardian jacket. I've also got about15 more coats than I posted here. A 1940's varsity jacket, a Victorian cape, an uber modern Japanese coat, 2 brocade 60's dress coats etc... Here are a few!

On the left is my everyday coat. It is black wool and made by Shelli Segal. I found one similar on Macy's website and it is $325! Mine was free! It was given to me by my mum's friend who was moving. I added a hood and a Victorian mourning cameo. I'm wearing it with a silk Alexander McQueen scarf I received for Christmas. On the right is a coat my step-mum sent me last week. She was in Target, took one look at it and thought of me. It has a faux fur collar and sort of a swing fit. On a side note, my mum liked it so much she went and bought one too. Oh boy, twins...

 The fur coat on the left is my "Edward Gorey" coat. Thankfully mine is fake! On the right is my silly 1930's hiking ensemble. Everything is scratchy wool that makes me nuts.

The super long military coat is made by J. Crew. I found one like on their site - $398! Mine is from Ross in Los Angeles, marked down several times because no one there has any use for something like this. People always stop and talk to me about it when I wear it. On the right is a silly little wool & sequin cape by Prabal Gurung for Target/Neiman Marcus. I think I could only wear it in the spring/summer around here. 

Right now it is 9°F. That's -12°C! (I know this is not at all cold compared to say, Helsinki, but is plenty cold 'round these parts) 

On toward my two silliest coats. The red coat is from the 1940's, but I "modified" it to wear to the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. It's all sequins and goofiness. I made the hood from pockets taken out of my mum's red coat. My boots are Rockports from Ronsons, for some reason I HAD to buy them. They're pretty decent rainboots, they make me laugh and they were designed by women's hockey great Cassie Campbell. On the right is my WW2 Ike jacket. It's a dude's jacket, but it has patches (a roaring polar bear) on it from service in Alaska.

Sophistique Noir November Theme - Sweaters!

Yeah sweaters! Living in the Pacific Northwest, one does accumulate sweaters. Here are three of my current favrourites.

 

First up is this sweater from ASOS. This just arrived 2 days before Halloween. It has the strangest short, boxy fit. The first larger one I ordered could have fit 2 of me in it. I still love it though, I have several skeleton shirts, but they are all printed and this is woven.

 I've had this 80's cat sweater for ages. It is unflattering on me, but I still wear it. To me is says "Let's to to Sears and get our portrait done".

 

Last is my skull sweater from Modcloth. I try to limit my wearing of it so those around me do not get sick of it. The skirt I'm wearing with it just arrived from Modcloth as well.  Nowhere is the description said it was a knit fabric - and it is super form fitting, even though I went one size up. I think I look like a sausage about to burst, but my boyfriend gave it thumbs up.

Sophistique Noir's Montly Theme Post - Vintage

 

OK, ok, ok, so I know I took waaay too many pics of my vintage stuff, but once I got going, I couldn't stop. So I apologize for all this junk, but I still blame Mrs. VictorianKitty for picking such a great monthly theme!

Yea Vintage!!!!!

One of my most favourite skirts. My old boss gave it to to me years ago, it is wool & still has it's 50's tags inside. I have a number of 50's wool poodle skirts, but only one giant pocket watch skirt!

 Two of the shelves in my dining room. I cannot fit another thing on them. Can you even see the 1870's Chang & Eng figurine, the Expo 86 bell, the 60's saccharine container & 50's swizzle sticks? I think I need to put a few more shelves & thin this mess out.

 OK, on to some of my vintage clothing. At the left is a mid-1920's orange silk and black lace dress. this fits, but it seems so fragile I am scared to wear it. In the middle is a wool 50's dress I bought at the Sally Ann for $1.50. The copper lace dress on the right is bias cut and I think it is from the late 1930's or early 1940's. Back when I was painfully thin, I wore it to a fancy dinner and people thought I was pregnant. Ever since then I've stayed away from bias!

 The mid 1920's dress on the left I think is made of rayon, not silk. The early 1930's dress in the middle IS silk and is totally fragile. The sort of 1940's dressing gown-ish dress on the right used to look so awesome on, until I ate too much Ben & Jerry's.  :( (not pictured - Victorian blouses, bright 60's mod dresses, 50's prom dresses, Edwardian summer whites, Victorian boots, flapper hats etc...)

 The wall by my tv is on the left. It features framed sheet music, postcards and prints from my editions of 1920's La Vie Pariesiennes. In the middle are are some of my tiny (mostly vintage) books. At the right are the bookcases and wall by my computer. On the bookcase are vintage shoes, hats & a posture brace. That's a framed photo of my grandmother in about 1925. My mother said my house was like Pee Wee's Playhouse meets the Haunted Mansion, so I like to think that - instead of it just being an utter schizo mess.

A few of my vintage dishes - I am very partial to pine & thistle. In glasses I am partial to Scotsmen, curling and bowling.

A little bit of my bathroom, I bought Elvis in a junk shop in Richmond, B.C. in about 1986. I have so many postcards, I like to rotate them in frames, currently I have big bum postcards up. At the right are my vintage clowns. I don't know why I did this to myself, as I am scared of clowns. The little ceramic fellow holds my tv watchin' glasses at night.

Sophistique Noir Monthy Theme - Purple

To my amazement, when I looked through my closet today, I have NO purple clothing! I have three packed closets and no purple. And, after looking at all the lovely posts today, I definitely need to remedy this situation! Such beautiful shades of purple! Smokey gray,  eggplant, almost black purples...

The only purple I could find were socks - 10 pairs of them! Also pictures are my new marie melli undies. I have just discovered this brand, they fit so smooth!

Sophistique Noir Monthly Theme - New Years!

Happy 2013 everyone! It was beyond cold this New Year's which made me want to just sit in front of the fireplace. Eli & I went out for Mexican food, because we had to do something. Because it was so brutally cold & icy, I wore a Pendleton wool skirt that's as thick as a blanket, fleece lined tights and 2 cashmere 1950's sweaters. I also had on a feather headdress, but the clock in the picture below seems to have eaten it.

 

New Years have always been hit or miss with me, staying in or doing something memorable. 

Here are 2 memorable ones:

 

In the photo on the left, I am about 17 and at a rave on the set of Star Trek. A: I do not like raves, B: I do not like Star Trek. It managed to be fun nonetheless. On the photo on the right I am sitting on top of the Pyramid Of the Sun at Teotihuacan outside Mexico City. Later on that night we went to a country club and had like a 10 course meal. You could only reach the restaurant by boat & there were fireworks & games. So much fun!

Monthly Theme Post - Maxi Skirts

 

Hmmm... maxi skirts.... Knee length skirts and I are friends, but maxi skirts an I are not really friends. The only skirt I have that could qualify for this theme post is the skirt to my half mourning 1880's costume. There is a  matching veiled hat, corset and jet jewelry that goes along with it as well. I made it 4 years ago for my mum's big Halloween party. She hired a magician to perform, who tied me up with ropes that fell apart - magically! 

Anyway... back to maxi skirts. One reason I don't like to wear them is that there is an extreme religious group in my area that subjugates women in a depressing way. They are unschooled, unable to go out alone and have to wear these awful skirts. Of course the men are not subject to any of these regulations. They make me sad when I see them, therefore when I think of maxi skirts I think of them.

Outfit Post - November 1 Theme: Hosiery

These are currently my favourite tights, but it is too cold to wear them nowadays, so I layered them over some charcoal gray tights. I think they are Chinese Laundry.

I have way too many pairs of nylons, stockings and tights. Since I've been 11 or so I've been buying vintage stockings at thrift stores. I think I have over 300 pairs by now. Here are 2 storage tubs of stockings. Although they seem overwhelming in number, I'm glad I bought them, you rarely see them anymore. Not pictured are the cabinets, drawers and boxes of modern tights.

Closeup of some nice ones. Some I collected because of their graphics, others because they were oddities. Check out the crotchless, buckle at the waist ones on the right.