Jaunt Up the Coast
In which I worked a short week, then headed up-Island and over to the mainland. Didja know I live on an island? I do! Oh, and I'm still shopping, but only for Really Good Things.
Hello, my friends, and welcome! Are you new? Come on in, and don’t be shy! All the people here are the coolest, nicest and kindest - I know you will fit right in. What’s in store? How about some outfits of the wacky variety, mostly secondhand, with boatloads of vintage? Let me give you a little inspo of the “If Sheila can wear it, I can wear it” variety! And should you wish for more more MORE pictures of any of the clothes, cats or my “awesome” pictures taken on our trip, you may enjoy my OG blog, Ephemera1, est. 2008.
So! I worked a short week last week, taking off Thursday and Friday so that we could TRAVEL, which is right up there as a thing I do not enjoy, but I do adore my best road-trip partner ever, and the allure of exclusive small-town secondhand shopping made me slightly more enthusiastic. I tried to be picky!
Ergo, we have office fits, followed by my PR Capsule for three days. It might shock you, but I’m a minimalist packer. And I brought home some real treasures!
Ready? Buckle up!
Snake Pleats
I indulged myself in some closet-playtime on Sunday, so Monday’s outfit was fully pre-planned and ready to go when I groggily made my way from shower to dressing area in the morning. So damned early…
Nothing ground-breaking here - top layered under a dress plus spectacular boots.
I’m ruthless when it comes to making decisions on my clothes. This blouse felt horrendous on my skin - it caused the opposite of joy2! Nope!
I’m still good with the dress. Phew.
So much better. Ahhhh…this coat, it pleases me.
It’s light enough in the mornings now that I can go back to being Incognito and stare at people instead of avoiding eye contact3.
Branded items: Vera scarf. 7th Heaven Mega Racers by Fluevog. Whiting & Davis coil cuff.
The boots were bought new (they’re on sale now, just sayin’) with a shitload of gift cards. The scarf and amber ring were both bought new back in the 80s and 90s, respectively so could be classified as Homegrown Vintage.
For those enamoured with my coiled snakes, the name you want is Whiting & Davis. What to look for: The stamp should be on the underside of the head, and should be crisp, and the tails and heads should be sharp (soft details may mean a reproduction cast from an original). The coil should be fairly tight, but can be re-bent carefully, and the “scales” should have minimal gaps and feel smooth. It should fit snugly and the head and tail should lay against your arm, not stick out.
Beware of modern mass-produced versions; I paid $10 for my necklace and around $30 for the black bracelet (both 80s/90s repros), but negotiated for $75 for the triple coil (the real deal, somewhere in the ‘20s-50s) at a vintage fair.
Caveat: I’m not an expert by any means - I buy good quality in person and do the research when I get home.
Teal and Gold
As I was pawing through my jackets seeing how I was doing with my backward hangers on Sunday, I spied this teal suit nearly hidden between two other jackets - this is why I turn the hangers! I would have missed it entirely.
I felt super-profesh and sharp. Gotta love a suit!
I totally cheated and just rolled with a single colour for everything that’s Not Suit. Teal and gold are so pretty together. LUXE.
The star in the sky beamed down on me but I forgot my sunglasses. It was still very cold (for us! 3 degrees is cold! it’s a damp cold! shut up!).
The coat has a faint camel stripe pattern on it. These details are important!
Branded items: Parkhurst beret. Ralph Lauren gloves. Super Fine Cardinal shoes by Fluevog. Alexis Bittar “tooth” bracelet. Earrings are by Chan Luu. Necklace is J. Crew. Glass/brass ring is by Raphael of Canada.
I bought the shoes new around 6 years ago4. Ruth Fluevog (John’s wife) has a pair and so does actor Doug Jones, which makes them extra cool. They are one of my most frequently worn pairs of dressy shoes - I’ve worn them 37 times!
Burgundy Bookends
Stop the presses! It’s light out in the mornings again! This means I can treat you to one of my patented Stair Pictures. Our building has an external staircase with natural light, and many years of practice out there have led me to….The Stair Pose.
What in the hoo, now?
I’m actually balanced on the front edge of the step, with my left arm holding most of my weight, like a plank. Legs off to the side and crossed to create a visual diagonal, and voila! I look natural in a two-dimensional picture, but it looks weird as hell in person.
And yes, I have been caught out here a few times by various neighbours!
I know y’all don’t come here for the pictures5 - it’s all about the clothes - but I do think about my poses, and have refined them so that I can get into position within the 10 seconds of my point-and-shoot camera’s timer.
Anyway, this is a lazy bit of outfit planning - a simple bookend of colours around a badass skirt. Tweed! Studs! It’s a Fuck Off Skirt.
The coat joins the very small number of outerwear pieces that can accommodate those ginormous ruffled sleeeeeeves!
Branded items: Silk scarf is Pierre Balmain. Club Monaco leather/cashmere gloves. Boots are the Baroque Velasquez by Fluevog. The pewter cuff, bracelet and earrings are by Robert Larin.
The boots were another anniversary gift from Logan, bought retail back in 2012. Other than that, it’s all secondhand.
Here Endeth the Work Fits
As always, if you have Thoughts, Questions or Queries…to the comments, my pretties! Fly! Fly!
A Fucking Jaunt
I’ve been making a biannual trip to Powell River (PR henceforth) since I met Logan in 1995, so it’s a very familiar place to me. As a City Girl, I’ve learned that being extra-fancy in PR is pointless - it’s a former logging/paper-mill town and while it’s had a boom in recent years, it’s even more casual than Victoria.
Anyway, I know how to pack for a jaunt. I can do more minimal than this, but we had a car, so fuck it, why not take a few extra things?
Just to orient y’all on my part of the world, here’s a map. If you’re keen on seeing loads of pictures of logging trucks, trees and scenery, including west coast ferries, I always do a Bigass Trip round-up.
It’s about 200 km as the crow flies, but instead we have a perilous strip of single-lane highway6, followed by long stretches of black-top7, and then a 1 hour, 15-minute ferry ride8 to the mainland. It takes forever to get anywhere when you live on an island.
I looked like this whenever I ventured outside - just picture me with different t-shirts on each day - and was easily the dressiest person anywhere I went.
And here are my usual things. No need to invent the wheel here - I just pile on the leather cuffs and pointy bits (more “fuck off” things, ha ha, I sure go in with a good attitude, don’t I?).
Branded items: Michael Kors purse, Monet brooch, Roeckl gloves, and Missoni x Target scarf. The boots are the Groovy Huysmans by Fluevog. The pendant necklace is by Robert Larin.
The hat was a gift, as was the belt. I bought the shoes new, but the rest is all secondhand.
Ready to see what I actually packed?
Branded items: All Saints cotton sweater. Kelco Leather skirt. Fluevog socks. Forever 21 faux fur jacket (AKA the Grape Ape). Scotch & Soda wool dress.
Notes:
One of my many vintage nylon slips. Buy these if you see them, they wear like iron and are the best underlayer ever. They also make great dresses/skirts.
I wore the black tights every day. The burgundy ones were a packing misfire - didn’t need ‘em at all. The socks were also a miss - I wore the pink ones on my Friday shopping trip and hated the look (which didn’t stop me from wearing them; I just made a mental note not to do this again).
Band tees: Except for the Mother Mother voodoo doll design and the Banksy exhibit souvenir (both thrifted), my band tees were bought new at the shows. The Alice Cooper is the oldest, from 20089. I was at that Mother Mother show, but didn’t buy a tee at the time (yay for thrifting it!). I sleep in these each night, plus they are badass.
Cotton sweater and vintage suede skirt. I brought the sweater as a “fancy” item to wear out to dinner. I usually pick one cool skirt and that’s the single piece I wear every day when I travel for short periods (under a week).
Coat requirements: Fun/badass/pockets. Done!
House clothes. You will never see me in these. I only wore them for hanging out at night in our hotel room, and they were my extra “treat” due to having car space.
Shopping!
And here’s what I found! I teased the Schiaparelli scarf and the Elmo jacket in Notes to great acclaim - thanks, everyone!
Kool Things Vintage: Schiaparelli scarf ($42), Public Enemy pin ($5); silk Gustav Klimt “The Kiss” scarf ($6); “Welcome to Berlin”10 scarf ($6). I also bought L the vintage Amon Amarth tee for $13 and the Rush tee for $30.
The Economy Shop: Esqualo NWT top ($3); Soruka recycled leather purse ($5); Serge Saint Yves scarf ($1). I handed them a tenner and said, “Keep the change.”
Willow Rose Boutique: Anthropologie NWT faux leather silver skirt ($79); Surrealist nylon asymmetrical brown skirt ($39); Adidas Flower Firebird track pants ($59); “Elmo” Maeve coat ($99, but I had a $50 gift card from my brother-in-law so it was $49 for me!).
A couple of stores weren’t open when I passed them, but next time - there has always been great secondhand shopping in PR, and it’s something I always look forward to11.
Our trips are “surgical strikes,” a long time to get there12, an evening and daytime visit, with dinner, then back onto the ferry and another long trip home. It’s exhausting and a fucking trip and a half, but it’s family, you know?
Gotta do it.
But I have the best companion, my one true blue. We sing along to the albums we pre-picked, discuss anything and everything, including music, words and language and all that stuff you never have time to really get into. Road trips are the best for reconnecting.
These are My Kittens
It was our first time leaving the boys, and we hoped they would behave for cat-care buds Cat and Ross.
They barely missed us, the rotters!
And that week just FLEW by, didn’t it?
My friends, thank you for being here, for your kindness and comments and hearts and restacks. I’m grateful to have you.
I’m way behind on my newsletter reading, having sacrificed that time to an actual book13, but eh, that’s life. I’ll get there, and I’ll be wearing something fabulous, count on it.
Cheers,
Sheila
Yes, this is where my handle is from. Deal with it. It is what it is. And welcome to Footnote The Firste - in addition to copious footnotes (at least 15-20 per post), I am also a sweary swearerson, there is no fucking AI in my content ever, and and AND, there are polls. Please vote. Or not.
Sadness? Despair? Apathy? Not-Joy.
I really don’t like interacting with people unless I choose it (or I’m being paid to, as in my work
Correction! Logan bought them for me on our annual Anniversary Trip to Vancouver in March 2019. I bought him a pair right back - it’s what we do! I still have a few things from that shopping trip: the Stella McCartney bomber jacket and the Ambush jewelry.
They’re shitty! I know! It’s part of my CHARM.
The Malahat Drive! Scaring the crap out of locals for 100+ years.
The Island Highway, the island being Vancouver Island, not to be confused with Vancouver the City, which is NOT on Vancouver Island, but is on the mainland of BC (British Columbia). Also, it’s Victoria the city, and Victoria Island is in the Arctic. Got it? There will be a quiz (no, there won’t).
I badmouth the ferry to Vancouver/the mainland (“ferries are for chumps!”), but I love the ferry to PR. It’s usually full of small-town folks and pee wee hockey teams.
This is a present for Yvonne, who used to live in Berlin.
L’s dear mum has dementia and that’s never going to have a happy ending, is it? She introduced me to shopping in PR back in the late 00s and while she hasn’t been able to go with me for many years, she loves seeing all the pictures of what I found, and reminiscing about our past trips.
Like I said in the title, it’s a fucking jaunt!
The Power by Naomi Alderman, which I gave 4/5 - a fun read!
Love the way you pack! I try so hard to pack light except when we're driving. Then, it's no holds barred because there's so much room, right? Flying is another matter, indeed. Of course, there's always the problem of lugging the luggage along. Eh, what we do for fashion! I always love your posts on Powell River. I didn't realize how long it took you to get there.
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
Wow love all your finds, especially the scarves!! 😍😍 cant wait to see how you style them Sheila, my spring style resolution is to start wearing my own collection!