Erratic Summer Styling
In which I try to balance summer heat and a wicked cold AC with expressing my badassery...and then it all went to casual as the week went on. Plus a surprise Substack guest and a bunch of shopping!
Hello, my friends! Welcome to my little corner of the fashion discourse. Consider me your Gen X fairy gawdsister - I have a closet full of wacky clothes, a decades-curated jewelry collection and all the funneroo shoes, and most of it is pre-loved. I do not dress like other people, and that’s the way I like it! Take up space, be seen and wear all the colour!
Circular fashion is my ultimate aim - I only shop in-person, locally, 95% secondhand (I have a Fluevog thing). I sell - again, in-person only - clothes that didn’t quite make the grade to other fashiony folks, and the money I earn from my sales is my budget for shopping.
I’ve been at this wardrobe journaling thing since I started my blog, Ephemera [insert service announcement below]*, way back in 2008 - every outfit and purchase have been recorded there, along with major (and minor) bits of my life. Here on Substack (since 2024), I share a week’s round-up with you Gentle Readers, and blather on about whatever’s on my mind. Doesn’t that sound divine?
*Hello, I’m Sheila of the blog Ephemera. I like to swear (clutching pearls and fainting couches sold separately), I link ‘cause I love (no affiliates), and I do not use AI - I’ll make my own fucking typos, thank you!
Hey, hey, hey! Amazing how these just keep coming! After last week’s exploration of All Things Goth, I felt like I needed to rein it in a bit and profesh-up my office fits.
Summer Goth
Hello, my friends! Welcome to my little corner of the fashion discourse. Consider me your Gen X fairy gawdsister - I have a closet full of wacky clothes, a decades-curated jewelry collection and all the funneroo shoes, and most of it is pre-loved. I do not dress like other people, and that’s the way I like it! Take up space, be seen and wear all the col…
I mean, I always want a healthy dose of badassery in my outfits, but at heart, I am a rules-monkey so dressing professionally for whatever job I’m doing is something I’m down with1. I’ve been veering into slightly more casual office outfits, as part of my long slow slide into retirement (2 years and yes, I’m fucking counting), but I still need to set a good example for the others.
But what I wear to work is not just “office-coded” or some rigid idea of professionalism. Muahahahahaaaaa…you’ve been warned.
I switched into casual as the weekend neared - stay tuned to see who I met from Substack!2
Ready? Let’s go, girls.
Drapey Mondrian
Top, bottom, shoes, add a jacket or topper for sun coverage/pockets, that’s my office formula. And then throw lots of jewelry at it. LOTS. More than you might be comfortable with, heh heh.
I think I’m actually rather restrained here - nary a brooch in sight! What would Tina Boetto say? I kid, I’m in awe of Tina.
I built the outfit around the skirt which is maxi to the max, and also has this amazing stained glass/Piet Mondrian vibe about it. The colours are separate pieces of fabric, the black lines are grosgrain wide ribbon, AND the back carries the pattern around. It’s not just sold black (barf) or the same as the front. Quality!
I’d intended on wearing the above outfit all day in the office, but after an hour I was FUH-REEZING from the AC.
Not your average office worker! But it’s all totally profesh.
Coulda used a pocket or three.
Office Wear Report Card: Star in the Teams Meeting! A+!
Branded items: The shoes are Vogettes Pina by John Fluevog3. The lapis lazuli ring is by Wendy Brandes (she only made two!), and the silver/crystal ring is by Soul Flower.
Retail report: I bought the shoes new when they went on sale a couple of years ago, and Wendy herself sold me the lapis ring, also yonks ago. Otherwise, it’s all secondhand.
The rest of the silver is mostly Mexican. If you have any questions, just ask (I always reply4).
Leopard Suit
Nothing’s easier than a suit, and I wear this one at least twice a year. It’s memorable, but every few months is perfect in rotation. I have worn the pieces separately, but it’s much more impactful together.
Tuesday is always a busy day in my office, so I like to wear something special for my colleagues. As I said to a VP, “If I get hit by a car, I want Logan to sue the pants off them, because how could you miss me?”
This was really too hot for the outside temps, but I SUFFER for fashion! I lounged around in this fit at Book Club that evening - I also selected the outfit to entertain my lovely literary friends.
Office Wear Report Card: Suit Maven Slays! A+!
Why, yes, I AM giving myself good grades. I fucking rule!
Branded items: The belt is from now-gone local shop Leatherworld. Lion buckle is off a striped cloth belt (I cut it off, tee hee). The convertible heel loafers are by Chloe. Mixed metal bracelet is Jenny Bird. The necklace is Fifth Avenue Collection, sold at Saks. The smoky topaz ring is by Swedish silversmith Anneli Neumann.
Cheeky retail: The belt, and the suit, but I bought the belt locally (it was made here in Victoria), and the suit is a sample from Dots, a locally-owned and operated store that sells off samples from (mostly) European brands.
Pop Art
Speaking of cheeky, Wednesday’s outfit played with office tropes: the shirt and tie, the dress pants.
And then the KAPOW of the bigass Lichtenstein-esque sequined mouth on the zipper cardi. Not your average cardi!
I’ve worn this cardigan many times - all the colours in it go with various pieces in my wardrobe. The mix-and-matchability quotient is high!
Office Wear Report Card: She Runs The Place. A+!
Branded items: Sandals-shoe-booties are by Sorel. The tie is vintage 80s Le Chateau. Earrings by Tania Gleave. Rings by Wendy Brandes.
Retail round-up: I bought the shoes at local shop The Cobbler, where I’ve been buying shoes since I was a teen in the 80s (I also got my butter-yellow Docs there). I selected the red earrings from a few other shades and happily paid the artist’s partner in their Granville Island studio (many years ago). And Wendy Brandes and I go way back - I have owned these rings for 10+ years.
That’s a pretty high percentage of retail, but shoes are often the hardest things to find secondhand (and some people are icked by it). When I do dabble in retail, I do local, ideally owned/operated by someone who lives here.
And…
I bought a pair of shoes at the Cobbler on Wednesday! I had culled a pair or two thrashed sandals in the last year and have been wanting some low-commitment summer shoes. Ideally, leather, nicely made.
Well, these are not that.
They are 100% synthetic but…they fit me perfectly and the colours are DIVINE. They were only $40 and, for the usually very intermittent opportunities when ultra-light footwear is needed in Victoria, that felt about right.
Mom-Day Splat
The weather turned and it got gloomy and about 10 degrees cooler on Thursday, so I had to set aside the outfit I’d planned5, and freestyled it, leading to the best question ever…
What do I want to wear?
I started with the top…patterns are always the trickiest, aren’t they? It’s firmly in a browny-rust mix, with touches of blue, yellow and green. I know I’m gonna wear a skirt, and well, twist my rubber tulle arm, how about the taupe one?
I’ve worn this top and skirt combo before with turquoise shoes/accents, and knew it would also be a good backdrop for wearing some of my jewelry collection. Any excuse to wear the warm tones of 1970s Brutalist copper.
I was prepared to spend an hour-plus on the bus each way, hang with Mom, make lunch and finish our jigsaw puzzle.
I was NOT ready for a pigeon to unload the second I got off the bus. I thought it was rain! Gah! I grabbed some napkins from the CircleK, and dabbed at my scarf, my jacket, my hand, my skirt, my boots…even my purse.
Dammit, bird! I’m an ally! I have Merlin!
Rest assured, a few shots of Folex and light soap and water, and the jacket was as good as new.6
Anyway, this can only mean XXXTREME good fortune coming my way. We’ll see how the weekend goes!
Branded items: Arcadia leather purse. Boots are by 1883 Lucchese. The copper link bracelets, necklace and earrings are all Renoir (the enameled earrings are a sub-line called Matisse). The turquoise/copper brooch and small ring are Bell Trading Co. The Hand Party is by Raphael of Canada.
Crank the Klaxons! It’s a 100% pre-loved outfit! None of it was acquired new.
Gold star!
Substack Meet
OMG, the immense pressure of meeting another Fashion Person in real life! Terra Ishee reached out to me recently to ask about local shops in her aunt’s ‘hood while she was visiting Victoria, and of course I offered to meet up and show her around myself on Friday after work.
You might have caught my note here (that’s where all the pictures are).
I say “of course,” but I realize many people would say, “HELL NO, I am not meeting some weirdo from the Internet, they could be anyone!” but I have a long history of meeting up with my blog readers7.
I always meet in a public place, pass along their contact information to Logan, you know, basic safety precautions…but you also just need to trust that the people who comment and put themselves out there are who they say they are. I’ve interacted with Terra enough to feel totally at ease with meeting her.8
I pondered what to wear to meet up with a Substacker. Hmmm…what am I known for? Fluevogs for sure, and also vintage designer, a little sporty casual, perhaps?
Office Wear Report Card: Sheila likes to do her own thing, but always has fun with what she wears to work. A++++++!
I pointed out everything to Terra like a kid showing off her room, ha ha, right down to the jewelry. I think she appreciated it, and I’m sure I rambled endlessly in long meandering tangents9, as I am wont to do.
I was on my best behaviour and I only lightly peppered my conversation with salty language, and I even engaged with people in stores! Go, me! Oh, while I remember, hello to Annabelle at Cherry Pick Vintage!10
I dragged Terra around downtown, showing her my favourite stores, having quick looks-through (most close early even on Fridays, as Victoria is known for “rolling up the sidewalks at 6pm”).
Branded items: Givenchy scarf. Catalyst Shapers men’s shoes are by John Fluevog. That gold/amethyst ring by Francis Jewellers again. The pink crystal necklace and earrings are vintage 1950s Sherman.
New Review: The shoes are the only new/retail item, and they were bought for me by Logan this past year for our anniversary shoe exchange.
Terra and I popped into Vintage After Death, where my hand hit soft, soft suede while pawing at the textiles on the dress rack. I donned it over my clothes11 to see if it would fit (it did!) and dropped into one of my Patented Poses. The dress was marked down to $67.00 and is from Kitsch Boutique, a store/brand that no longer exists; the inner lining is stamped “Dormeuil England,” which I believe is the actual brand. It has POCKETS!
We had dinner at my favourite Zambri’s, and the time just flew by! I felt like we’d known each other for years. So fun! Thanks, Terra!
Brunch and Browse
This is the outfit I had planned to wear for Mom-Day on Thursday - it was waiting in the wings patiently for a day that wasn’t raining and cold. I wore it out for brunch on Saturday with a bunch of friends, even though it was overcast. Fuckit, I want to wear this!
I built the outfit around my new sandals, and figured that a light-wear Saturday would be perfect to test them: I had a ride to town courtesy of Logan, brunch and then a 3-4 hour shop with a short stroll to the bus home. They were good, although standing/shopping on concrete floors is tough on the feet (the big WIN Store is literally a warehouse, nothing fancy about it).
WIN doesn’t have fitting rooms, so I stripped down to my camisole12, and tried stuff on over that. I had wee sporty shorts under the skirt so that I could pull on pants as needed.
Branded items: Michael Kors leather purse. Silk Marc Rozier scarf. Los Cabos sandals. Jenny Bird leather/chain bracelet.
What’s new, precious? It’s all secondhand except for the shoes that I bought locally a few days ago.
What I Found: I spent almost exactly $100, including cashing in some frequent shopper points for $5.00 off.
Notes:
The pajama set is fun - I’ve been on the lookout for a silk set forever, but they are hard to find in good condition. I won’t be wearing this publicly - it’s around-the-house clothes only.
Golden Bee seems to be a brand that’s been around for ages, and many of the garments online have been labeled “silk” without any supporting labels. My topper has a very faded label that reads “100% rayon” so be careful if you’re searching.
Oh, this Alfred Sung blouse is a BEAUTY, easily the gem of what I found in terms of quality. 100% silk, gorgeous details. It’s meant to be a blouse (she has lost her shoulderpads), but I might wear it as a topper. The cuffs are meant for cufflinks, which is exciting as it means I get to raid Logan’s collection.
The pink woven blazer is from Jack Victor and new comparables are in the $998.00 range (I know, JAW DROP), and was originally sold at Landmark Clothiers in Kelowna, BC. It fits Logan perfectly, but I want it for myself (it has seven - SEVEN - pockets, are you fucking kidding me?) and the external ones haven’t even been opened. It’s GORG.
Me and a caftan, right? I literally put back a pretty poly one once I saw this 100% silk India-made woven paisley creation. It is well-worn, with lots of loose threads - I suspect it has been washed a few times and then not ironed/steamed. A little bit of cosmetic trimming, snip-snips and pressing and I’ll be a BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY in this for the August Winesday Pool Party.
A good small top! I narrowed my focus and checked all white tops in the store (in about 10 different places13) and this one was the best. It’s a useful layering top in 100% cotton, and doesn’t have any wear and tear.
I’m excited to style these up and see how they integrate with my existing wardrobe.
What’s your favourite? What would you like to see styled?
These Are My People
Wow, what a lucky person I am to have all these fabulous people in my life!
And These Are My Cats
They fill me with happiness!
And there we are, another week in the bag. For a not-very-busy week, it ended up being rather full of good times - I’m certainly not complaining.
Dressing for the weather is often a losing battle, especially in the tail end of spring/early summer, as it fluctuates between smokin’ hot and brrr, fucking cold. As I successfully GOT DRESSED, I’m counting it all as a win! Eh, I was profesh enough.
Put a bow on the week, stick it in a drawer and forget about it.
Now that we’ve dealt with that, a moment of gratitude for YOU, dear readers. Whether you are new to me (I hope it was all you feared), a regular or a real-life friend, I appreciate you being here.
Next week! What’s happening next week? Well, we have a Wednesday Canada Day holiday, which is disconcerting, so that will be something to navigate, but otherwise, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Are we good? Yeah, we’re good.
Cheers,
Sheila
Having said that, prescriptive rules that target any group in an unequal way - BULLSHIT. But you won’t catch me with visible bra straps, wearing anything low-cut or too short (without tights) to the office - those are my own personal preferences (and I acknowledge my own privilege), which have evolved over time. You do you.
Unless you saw my Note. Whatever, pretend it’s a surprise!
Ooh, Fluevog’s sale just started, DANGER DANGER… but I have a gift cards! This might be foreshadowing…[edit: nope, didn’t buy anything…yet]
Unless you’re an asshole, and then you get blocked. Buh-bye.
I wore it on Saturday, keep going!
I did wash it all when I got home, including the blazer (it’s machine washable, what! Menswear, I ROLL MY EYES). Thank goodness it was a pigeon - seagull shit is acidic and corrosive. I could tell you a story about how I know that but then I’d have to kill you.
These are all links to my blog: I met up with reader Judy in 2017; Laurie and her family in 2018 (we are still friends); dear friend Ally in 2018 (also still friends!); and I attended a big blogger meet-up in Vancouver in 2015 (that’s where I got those red ball earrings). There have been one or two more, but I can’t remember and don’t feel like digging anymore, fuckit.
Can’t say the same for the rest of you weirdos, she cackled.
WHAT! That sound nothing like me…
When I’m out and about, I often chat with the folks who work in the stores. I was in retail for over a decade, and I know that those little interactions often got me through a day of terrible customers. I usually give out my blog/Substack business card and make a note of that person’s name so that I can give them a shoutout. Who doesn’t like to feel special??
If it fits over my clothes, it will fit me perfectly.
It is ridiculously fun to rip a snap-front top open! I felt like the Incredible Hulk! RAR!
Men’s long sleeved, short sleeved. Workout wear tops. Thrift section sleeveless, short sleeves, long sleeves. Regular/boutique sleeveless, short sleeve and long sleeves. AND Vintage! WIN does like their sections!
What a lucky Substacker to meet up with you! I would be the one doing all the fan girling! I love the skirts this week, especially the Mondrian-esque one. That denim suit is such a showstopper! We have had lots of rain here, too, but now we're getting heat. We have a good old heat dome over us for the next several days. Hurray for AC! Hope your week is really fantastic and I started counting down before two years so you're right on track.
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
I was getting total Mondrian vibes from your skirt, no brooches needed :) Although you made up for it with your copper brooch. I hope this means you'll have an extra lucky month and the cats are adorable as always.