All the Frills: Purse Edition

I got me a fancy new purse (and by “fancy” I mean I got it at H&M for under $50). Time will tell if it holds up long term (I’ve had mixed luck with items from H&M) but it definitely feels pretty sturdy and I’ve been using it to lug an unhealthy amount of stuff to and from work daily for the past week and, so far, I’m really happy with the quality and construction. Plus it’s just so darn pretty…

Weekend Reading:

• Remember that movie Troop Beverly Hills with Shelley Long? I loved that movie when I was a kid. It’s embarrassing but the folks at Vulture hit me right in my nostalgia zone when they compiled this ranking of all the 80s-tastic outfits that Ms Long sports in that film.
  
• This is hilarious – the British Embassy was forced to apologize over a tweet celebrating the anniversary of the British torching the White House in 1814. I guess 200 years was too soon.
  
• Vulture then again hit the nail on the head and gave me a good chuckle with their Great Moments in Dystopian Knitwear. Which is genius.
  
• A roundup of the world’s most beautiful libraries. I feel very spoilt to have spent a considerable amount of time in 5 of them.
  
• A photographer translated what scientists know about climate change into a series of beautiful, stark, disturbing images.
  
• Let’s make fun of Anthropologie furniture!

Living a Life of High Glamour

Worn to work for a very long day of meetings, followed by an evening at home working on my paper for the upcoming Western Conference on British Studies. I really do lead a life of glamour, no?

Pants: RW Winter and Co / shoes: Aldo / blazer: thrifted, Calvin Klein via Value Village / top: H&M / necklace: Monserat de Lucca via Shopbop

All the Frills: Home Bar

My new philosophy on life is that no home is complete without some manner of bar cart. Also, having one has enabled me to finally have a fitting place for these awesome glasses that my mother gifted me many years ago.

Weekend Reads:

• Any Jane Eyre fans out there? This one’s for you!
  
  
• 82 of Oscar de la Renta’s best looks.
  
  
• For my US readers, want to both chuckle and be outraged by attacks on women’s rights in your state? The fine folks at Lady Parts Justice have you covered with this series of videos.
  
  
• I’m not sure why we should all be so impressed when a man self-identifies as a feminist (not that it’s bad or anything, it’s just that I’m from the “women’s rights are human rights” school of thought and I don’t hang with dudes who don’t identify as feminist so I guess I see it as something that should be a given, rather than an exceptional and laudable trait) but these guys do label themselves thusly and that’s always a plus. I’m also nursing somewhat of a big girl crush on Mark Ruffalo, so bonus!
  
  
• Do people putting two spaces at the end of a period drive you batty?
  
  
• Stevie Nicks need a new shawl, and she’s holding a competition for people to design her one. I’ve never been so sad that I don’t knit in my life.
  
  
• Gloves!!!! Like insanely elegant gloves!

Ain't No Party Like a Blogger Party (That's Not Actually True)

Recently some Edmonton bloggers got together for some dinner and this is what I wore. I did about 20 outfit photos but when I edited them I realized I had a weird facial expression in every single one except for the ones where my face was obscured. But I liked the outfit and wanted to show it anyways, even though the photos all turned out rather shabbily. Just pretend you can see my face and that I’m smiling. Although, full disclosure, I didn't actually wind up wearing the shoes to dinner (they get a little trying on my feet after a few hours and I was going to dinner right after an 8 hour work day so I opted for flats instead).

dress: Silence and Noise / cardigan: Pins + Needles via Urban Outfitters / shoes: Aldo / watch: La Mer / bracelets: Aldo / necklace: Emitations

I Should Have Gone to Medical School

Worn on a recent casual Saturday for running errands…have I mentioned how much I love this shirt (those who know me in real life are aware that I am constantly joking that I’m a doctor, but not the good kind)?

jeans: Kensie / shirt: Buy Me Brunch / shoes: Toms / sunglasses: Coach / watch: Swatch

All the Frills: The Wall o' Diplomas

One of my favourite things about being out of an apartment and into a more spacious house is that I finally have enough wall space to display all my framed odds and ends. And that includes my diplomas, which I’ve been packing around in a box for the last several years – in the case of my BA for about 10 years as I earned it in 2003 and never really had room to hang it, until now). So now I can hang them up in all their glory – the BA and MA, the second MA, the MPhil, and the PhD. Mostly it’s just a daily visual reminder of time I’m never getting back….but that’s still worthwhile, right?

I love that the Yale diplomas are entirely in Latin. 

Weekend Reading

• This lawsuit over a monkey selfie is just soooo weird. And funny. And sort of thought provoking on the topic of copyright law.
  
• This article about a guy arrested for impersonating a ghost in a cemetery had me in stitches last week. I think it was that the reporter dutifully wrote “he was saying ‘wooooh’ ” that got me.
  
• I agree so strongly with so much of this Buzzfeed list of signs that you are not that great at being a typical lady (well, what “society” (read: mostly some men) thinks being a lady consists of).
  
• The zoo of the future!
  
• Is anyone else sort of weirdly angered by how terrible the remake of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles looks? I know the original wasn’t exactly a cinematic masterpiece but it was campy and fun and a part of my adolescence (my friends and I still joke about that movie) and the remake just looks idiotic and not at all whimsical.
  
• I don’t know why I find this report of an otter attacking people so distressing, but I do.
  
• This is one of my favourite things to happen on the internet all week. Even more than Jezebel calling out Gawker (Jezebel’s owner) for not doing more to prevent harassment in their “comments” section, I love the level of solidarity and support that gets expressed by commentators, many of them Gawker employees.

Conferencing

I like to think of this top as my conference/academic job interview top. I cannot count the number of times I’ve worn this to deliver a paper on something related to early modern England or to the annual American Historical Association’s conference where the first round of interviews for most academic jobs take place in hotel rooms around the rest of the conference. I know for certain I packed it on my most recent trips to Washington DC, LA, and Connecticut for precisely those purposes…and I’ll be bringing it with me to the Western Conference on British Studies in October (my panel proposal was accepted and I've drafted the paper....now begins the process of refinement and practicing the delivery of said paper). Tucked into some slacks or a skirt and paired with a blazer it just looks so right.

(and, yes, I am a tad sunburned in this photo...damn you summer!)

top: c/o OASAP / pants: Dynamite / shoes: Target

The Forgotten Dress

I keep forgetting that I own this dress. Which sounds weird, I know, but it’s true. And then when I’m rummaging through my closet looking for something else I hit upon this dress. It’s a nice little surprise.

dress: H&M / cardigan: Target / boots: Geox via Value Village

All the Frills: Current Favourite Lip Colours

Today on All the Frills I’m featuring my favourite lipsticks of the moment.

This MAC lipstick is the most perfect shade of nude/pale pink that I’ve ever found.

I tried this Wet n’ Wild lipstick on a lark (hey, it was right by the check out at the grocery store) but I’ve fallen in love. The colour is radiant and once it’s on there, my lips are red for the whole day.

This Maleficent lip gloss is from the MAC Venomous Villains collections a few years back, and it’s been a longstanding favourite – I just love the vampy, witchy shade (and the packaging). 

Weekend Reading:

• This piece on feminism is brilliant, please read!
  
• I am officially obsessed with Brian Moylan’s recaps of the Real Housewives of New York City over on Vulture. When I was in grad school, as a way to decompress after all the serious intellectual work we were doing, a small group of friends and I would religiously watch all the Real Housewives of Various Places over snacks and wine. And I’ve carried the habit with me post-graduation. Moylan, who bills himself as a Real Housewives anthropologist, has been cracking me up lately with his recaps. They are just too good. Next up is for me to check out his earlier work on the subject over at Gawker.
  
• This display of poppies to commemorate WWI at the Tower of London is breathtaking.
  
• A lovely round up of vintage wedding gowns – you know, to start the weekend off in style.
  
• Anyone else freaked out by sharks? Fun story, I watched Jaws with my parents when I was about four and then three months later we took a family vacation to Hawaii and I refused, flat out refused, to go in the water. For the entire trip. It was the first of many vacations that I was to ruin….but I feel totally justified in my reluctance to swim in the ocean.
  
• Vanity Fair has released their annual “best dressed” list – who’s excited???

Croquet Anyone?

Last week my office closed for a few hours so we could all go outside to the quad on campus and play croquet! It was an awesomely fun afternoon at work but I think wearing booties with even a small heel compromised my croquet skills a bit. It was worth it.

dress: H&M / booties: Target / leggings: American Apparel / sunglasses: Aldo / necklace: Aldo

AC...Thank Satan!

Have I told you all yet how absolutely thrilled I am to now have central AC in my house? Seriously one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. Now I can actually spend time at home and not be total miserable in the summer…which is exactly what I had been doing here when the thought occurred to me to snap a few photos.

pants: Zara / shirt: Vero Moda / blazer: F21

All the Frills: Spikes and Skulls

It should come as no surprise to any of my readers that I sort of have a thing for spiked jewelry. I love me a good spiked necklace. I own quite a few but these three are my absolute favourites (seriously, how cute is the skull one?).

Weekend Reads:

• This history of the caftan is amazing. If you need me I’ll be out caftan shopping.
  
  
• I love this piece about homes built out of spite.
  
  
• The woe that might befall you if you wear a Canada t-shirt.
  
  
• I like pizza as much as the next gal but this is downright disturbing.
  
  
• All the brands ever mentioned in Sex and the City (this is pretty great).
  
  
• For the Simpsons fan. I use every single one of these in conversation. Constantly.