victoria park

On Saturday, my first weekend in my new flat (I'll try and get some pictures and introduce you soon enough) I ventured out alone, enjoying the solitude in the sunshine. It was one of those cool but sunny days, when you just want to reach out and embrace the sunlight. And you can see me doing just that in a few pictures!

And I know I'm florescent white. It took me about five minutes to lose my tan! And yes, I considered that putty colour I had before to be a tan!















Enjoying the changing colours...


I am Canadian after all...




Outfit:
dress (as skirt): Vero Moda
cardigan: Topshop
boots: Timberland (about 12 years ago, hehe)
jacket: Smart Set (stolen from my sister, or let's say traded)
scarf: gift from student
earrings: Spank (in Vancouver)

last day in guadalajara

These are my last pictures from Guadalajara. That's not a promise or anything, because I'm sure I still have some in a random folder, and one day when I'm lazy or busy... however, from now one, we'll be transitioning into London!

These were taken on my last day, when I was feeling contented and nostalgic at the same time. And I was saying goodbye to my lovely vintage bicycle, which I don't believe I've introduced you to before, despite riding it every week down the closed streets on a Sunday morning (a great recreational initiative in Guadalajara). I was so sad to leave it and its lovely green colour and "1977" sticker. Usually my bikes have function over form; this one was the opposite. I know that stuff isn't so important in life, but sometimes it's hard to let go of nonetheless. Still, my boyfriend managed to sell it for more than we paid for it, and I did turn a little against it when it pulled a thread out of my dress. Don't you hate it when your vintage bike attacks your vintage clothes? Hehe ; )

Ah well, adios bici, and Mexico. It was fun.















Outfit:
dress: vintage
shoes: Aldo
cardigan: Current
sunglasses: from Sanborns

style icon: sherlock holmes

I was rather gratified at how many people appreciated the Sherlockian coat I posted on my wish list, and at how many people simply said, "Sherlock Holmes is awesome." I can't even tell you how much I agree! I've loved Sherlock Holmes since was 12 years old; the stories, various of the TV and movie adaptations, and as an extension, I always had a great appreciation for late Victorian styling.



Sherlock Holmes was, at his core, pretty counter-culture. True, he worked at times for the British government and the royal families of various European countries, but for him it was the problem that drew him to a case, not fame or remuneration. He had a disdain for many of the things Victorian society held dear, fainting women had no hold on him, and he was deeply eccentric (shooting a pattern into the walls of the flat, obsessively loving opera and boxing). And he was usually damn stylish, whether dressed as the quintessential English gentleman, or lounging around in a bohemian dressing gown, perched on a mountain of cushions, smoking his third pipe of the night.


Jeremy Brett in his famous portrayal for Granada Television, with Edward Hardwicke as Waston


Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in the recent, modern day interpretation Sherlock. Has anyone else seen this? It's sooo good! And speaking of coats, wouldn't you love to have Sherlock's? It apparently caused such a stir that the company reissued it after the series aired. I'd quite like to have it myself, but unfortunately it's over £1,000, so that won't be happening.


Holmes unmoved by the trembling lips of the fairer sex, though Watson never was.


In his classic deerstalker and cape, only worn for visits to the countryside however. In the city, Holmes was immaculate (usually) in the many layers and shiny top hats of the Victorian era. The above two images are original illustrations for the stories by Sidney Paget.


Of course, Sherlock Holmes became kind of a default Hallowe'en costume for me. Here I'm about 14... (and isn't Shona the best witch ever?) ; )


and again in 2008...


And finally, Holmes and Watson with Miss Violet Hunter (played by a young Natasha Richardson) in "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches," which left me with a life-long mission, to find my own electric blue silk dress!

brrrr

So perfectly Sherlockian!

She's cold today boy! As my jog to the shop to buy soup just reminded me, I'm going to be needing a winter coat sooner rather than later. I had a quick glance around the shops last weekend in search of one, but left outraged.

Why outraged? Well, in 2003 when I was in Glasgow, I bought a winter coat from Topshop. It cost £50, which I thought was a fortune (the Canadian dollar to pound exchange rate back then was about 2.5, so it was kind of a fortune). The coat was bright red, awesome, and 80% wool. It still is all of those things, actually, it's just in Canada at the moment.
Last week I found that the coats they were selling in Topshop were all about £95, less awesome, and only 50% wool (50% some other rubbish). Maybe with the much better exchange rate I'd be paying more or less the same, but the average British person wouldn't be. Ridiculous. And all affordable coats these days have crappy wool-contents. And I'm a girl who gets very cold. So.. what to do?

Well, nothing at the moment, but here are some of my unattainable cold weather dreams...





Hearts and Hands coat, Gloverall Cape, Vanessa Bruno Atte coat and See by Chloe coat, all from Urban Outfitters (the UK one is so much better than the American one)

I wouldn't say no to one of these either:

These sweaters are hand-knit in Vancouver by Granted Clothing. Every year I go back to their website to drool over the new designs. They take inspiration from the Cowichan sweaters, originally made by First Nations people (and which seem to be really popular these days). However, the family that runs the company are Canadian with Japanese roots, and the designs that are woven in can be inspired by Canadiana, Japanese culture (Japanismo?) or just be a bit random (last year they had a sweater with palm trees and another with flamingos).

I'd also quite like a mustard yellow coat or one in a kelly green shade. Any suggestions?

are you looking at me?

Behave yourself... because sometimes the trees really do have eyes... hehe. ; )

I realize that probably none of you believe that I'm actually in England at all, since I'm still uploading pictures of Mexico, but I'm actually really glad I had so many stockpiled. In addition to my continued homelessness (ending tonight), my camera is out of action due to my accidentally deleting the memory card last week. The photos are recoverable, but... oh, it's a long story. Anyway, I won't be showing you pictures of sunny October Greenwich until some time in November, and in the meantime I need to go buy a new memory card.

It's a shame that I didn't have a camera this weekend actually, because the weather here is absolutely beautiful. Seriously, it's been like Guadalajara, but without the humidity and storms!

Anyway, these pictures are actually from Guadalajara, from my endlessly photogenic former neighbourhood (Avenida Libertad, I miss you)!













Outfit:
jeans: Zara
t-shirt: Smart Set
shoes: Blowfish
earrings: from Mexico City
sunglasses: Toronto airport years ago---I think!

kindling a fire

My boyfriend always gets me the best birthday presents, which always leaves me in a complete quandary about what to get him (and I generally fail miserably on this). This year's amazing present (my birthday was earlier this week although I got the present earlier so we could both play with it) was a kindle. Woohoo!

I expect some of you are a little anti-kindle, as I know many people are very pro-book. There is something delightful about the physical presence of a book; it's smell, the experience of turning the pages... On the other hand, consider it from my point of view: I've moved several times in the last few years, frequently to places where English books are hard or expensive to come by. The airlines are cracking down more and more on excess baggage. You can download books onto a computer but then you have to contend with the backlit screen, which destroys my eyes. The kindle solves these problems, and on top of that, I've been able to download most of my academic articles for university onto it this week, and read them on the tube without paying for printing! I love my kindle!











Outfit:
shorts: oysho
top: smart set

And I never would have believed I'd be saying this, but I kind of miss my orange and yellow living room!

canadian autumn

No, no, no, I'm not in Canada. That would be too much travelling in two weeks, even for me! Today's planned post was about lovely Greenwich in London. That was before I tipsily deleted my memory card. My boyfriend has sent me a crash course in file recovery and I'm hoping that works... In the meantime, however, I was feeling especially Canadian yesterday. October is always a month I associate strongly with my homeland, and I'm already sighing over the thought of missing Thanksgiving next week. Sigh.

Anyway, my dad recently sent me these photos. They were taken at the lake where my grandfather lives, and show an Ontario autumn in all its multi-hued glory. (The first one was taken through a screen window, hence the peculiar texture).