Getting Cozy

In addition to serving as an excuse to trot out all my favourite jackets, fall is also perfect for my equally ridiculously-sized sweater collection. Like this little number, which is a size too big but was $5 at Value Village, so score!

jeans: Simons / sweater: found at Value Village / shoes: Spring

The Cape

I think this dress may be the most perfect thing I own to pair with my cape – the pattern on the sleeves just adds such a nice element of visual interest.

dress: Philosophy / cape: BB Dakota / shoes: Zigi SoHo

All the Frills: Necklace Edition

I adore this spiky, sparkly necklace and I weirdly often go months and months without wearing it because, in all honestly, I often forget that it’s there. Does that ever happen to you?

Weekend Reading:

• I’m still grieving over the election (and also upping the regular donations I make to groups in the US, like Planned Parenthood, that I’ve supported since I moved there in 2006)…although my thoughts now are turning to how to best support all my dear friends engaged in resistance there.
  
• Okay, I really want to read the book that the academic interviewed here wrote about the peculiarities of medieval and early modern church interior and exterior design.
  
• The manner in which these two moose met their respective unfortunate ends is just nuts.
  
• This story, "I Started Wearing a Fedora to See if it Would Ruin My Life," is worth reading for the title alone.

The Coat of Dreams

I feel like a movie star from the 50s in this coat – I can’t totally explain why in a coherent way but that’s the feeling I have it in. It’s a pretty dynamite feeling…

dress: Zara / boots: Aldo / jacket: New Look

Joyful Shawl Dances

I’m ready to do a bunch of Stevie Nicks style shawl dances in this plaid scarf…which may actually be my true calling (shawl dancing that is).

dress: Simon / booties: Camper / jacket: ASOS / scarf: Joe Fresh / necklace: the airport (seriously)

All the Frills: The Paint Job

After talking a bit of a break from glitter for several months (mostly because it’s such a pain to remove), I’ve fallen hard again for glitter nail polish jobs. And I’m just obsessed with this silvery grey colour – it seems perfect for late fall/early winter.

Weekend Reading:

• Want to get bummed out with a brief history of American child brides?
  
• From the Atlantic, the iconic Hillary Clinton.
  
• I love a good historical shipwreck.
  
• Want to see some truly hideous royal portraits?
  
• And finally, because it’s true.

Blessed Be Jacket Weather

Okay, I’ll cool it a bit on the jacket posts after this…but I seriously love this jacket, get happy every time I put it on, and loved wearing it out for a hike in the snow on a recent Saturday.

jeans: Simons / jacket: H&M / boots: Steve Madden

Welcome to the Cardigan Party...I'm the Only Guest

I picked this cardigan up in Scotland (I basically brought home an entire extra suitcase filled with clothes from that trip) and it is every bit as warm and cozy as it looks.

jeans: Simons / shirt: Joe Fresh / cardigan: New Look

All the Frills: The Book

Today, because I can barely contain my excitement (and it's nice to have something to be joyful about given the events of Tuesday night), I’m featuring both the design of the cover of my book and the little blurb describing it that will appear in catalogues, books displays at conferences, etc. I can’t hardly believe that this is all finally winding down…I’m seriously going to need to find something else to do with my time now.

Weekend Reading: 

• Okay. It’s been a rough week with the US election. A really rough week. I think I may be in mild shock that the country I called home for almost a decade could let this happen. It’s crushing to know that so many people think so little of progressive values and of so many of their fellow countrymen that they could let this let happen. This election was a backlash. Against women, against minorities, against the LGBTQ community. Maybe it’s not so surprising that such a thing would happen, but it’s crushing nonetheless. I continue to celebrate the pantsuit however. And I always will. And this is another good piece that captures a bit of the sadness I now feel.
  
• Costume history buffs, here’s a great little history of an infamous dress worn by Marilyn Monroe.
  
• I don’t think I’ve ever really loved an actress as much as I do Tilda Swinton. Bask in her glory!
  
• This is a great article on the various means by which the image of Medusa has been deployed to indict female involvement in politics.
  
• Some interesting insights on a novel approach, at the time, to the care and treatment of mental illness in nineteenth-century America.

Coat Excitement

Remember what I said in my last post? A lot of crazed excited utterances about snow, yes, but also a thinly veiled threat to be posting a lot of photos of jackets.

Well, I meant what I said.

I recently booked a day of vacation from work and used it to work in my local special collections library (sometimes I just get the urge to handle some really old books or manuscripts; I’m funny that way). They don’t really have much in the way of manuscript holdings for my period at the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, but I did get my hands on a 1633 edition of John Stow’s Survey of London and happily spent an afternoon ensconced in the warm glow of a reading room, in the silent company of other scholars, engrossed in it.

pants: RW and Co / jackets: H&M / shirt: Switches (an amazing band) / boots: Steve Madden

All the Frills: Halloween!

Every year at this time I get really bummed that Halloween is over…I just love it so much! Anyways, this year I went as the Princess de Lamballe, after her death of course (and, predictably, everyone assumed I was Marie Antoinette but that’s okay – I got the fun of educating everyone I met about the life of the Princess).

Weekend Reading:

• Wow, who knew bridesmaids in China had it so rough?
  
• This little video of how Nietzsche gets frequently used, and frequently bungled, by Hollywood is great.
  
• From 1865, the five stages of inebriation.
  
• I’ve always found the story of the Lovings an incredible one and can’t wait to see this movie.
  
• For shame Harvard, for shame.

Winter is Nigh

Get ready for a series of posts about winter coats! Because, guys, it snowed here recently (although then it did mostly melt, but whatever). And I am LOVING it. I adore cold weather and snow and just all those things and I am soooo happy that winter is here ... and I get to start wearing all my favourite jackets!!!!

jeans: Simons / coats: Vince Camuto / shoes: Spring

Stress Reliever

This is sort of old news now but I recently found out that my book has cleared all the hurdles with respect to approvals that it needed to and will officially be published by the University of Toronto in the fall of 2017!!!!!

This project has been in the works since 2008 and I beyond excited that it’s completed. I think it’s a pretty fair statement that publishing a book is a goal for anyone who has done a PhD in a humanities-based discipline and I am over the moon that I can check it off my bucket list! As soon as the euphoria of all this passed, I realized with panic that my editor now needed everything (as in the final version which I was ¼ of the way through doing a final edit on and still needed to finish reading a 300 page book and then add pieces of it to the manuscript; all the images I wanted included, with licensing/reprint rights which I didn’t yet have; and the acknowledgements)…everything!!!! So I spent three days straight locked in my house, eating garbage, living in sweats, and working my ass off to get it all done.

Needless to say, I needed to unwind a bit afterwards! Worn out recently to see two of my favourite bands, Switches and White Lung play. It was an amazing show!

boots: Geox / leggings: ASOS / jacket: Wilfred / shirt: Simons / necklace: Monserat de Lucca