Sweater Fail

A couple of months ago, I got up all early to get some of the Missoni for Target goods. I had seen this sweater in the ads and on the web site, so I thought it was a must have:


Plus it looked fantastic on models and celebrities:


See, I've worn it twice and I feel that I look like I raided Bill Cosby's closet.



Actually, this look would be an improvement...

Etsy Loves...First Edition

I'm not particularly artistic or crafty myself, but I certainly appreciate it in other people - and Etsy is a super place to shop for such things! Plus, you get to deal one-on-one with the designers, who truly value my shopping addiction, and in my experience, have been amazingly nice and accommodating!

Granted there is a fair amount of chintz-y stuff (which is showcased in all of its hilarity on Regretsy!) but if you're brave enough to wade through it, there is some pretty fantastic fashion to be found.

Some of my favs:

Carol Hannah: http://www.etsy.com/shop/carolhannah

Not only has she shared the stage with Tim Gunn on Project Runway, she's also super nice and a tres talented designer! Some of my purchases:


Coup: http://www.etsy.com/shop/coup

Amazing t-shirts for the horsey set! Also, the amazing gift wrapping is worth the price of the shirt :) I own and have gifted too many to post 'em all here, but a sample:


Purusha People: http://www.etsy.com/shop/purushapeople

The most comfortable yoga pants. Ever. And they're not those crazy too-long pants that I trip over with my short little leprechaun legs! Plus the designer is lovely to deal with :)



xoxx Muffie

Formal Wear Emergency and Coupon Glory

A last minute invitation to plus one at a fancy dress party a couple of weeks ago struck me with terror because, of course, I had nothing to wear! I think the last time I wore a long dress was high school prom, and while I squeezed myself into that black strapless number it was, to say the least, unflattering. So with 24 hours until said event, I grabbed my mom and headed to our local mall - which, at the best of times, is uninspiring.

Her first suggestion was Le Chateau - and while I realize its no longer exclusively trashy club wear as it was when I was growing up, its still not really on my radar. Plus, their return policy sucks - store credit is no good for a impulse shopper like myself. The first option made me look like a tragic figure skater. But, in a lucky dress destiny moment, I found a reasonable dress that would work - the only one left in that style and it was my size (see left, but in navy) Navy is my new neutral and it was vintage-esque and sparkly, which is attractive to the raccoon in me!

My new nine west neutral pumps (I was so late to get on that trend train) worked perfectly! Although after walking in them for three hours - what do these events have against chairs - I was ready to burn them.






My new online shopping bestie is retailmenot.com - coupon codes (that work) galore! I've saved 20% on a couple of orders that I was totally unaware of coupons being in existence for - plus they tend to be valid on Canadian orders. Love!

That's what you get for (shopping) in Vegas

So next month I turn 30 so to celebrate, five of my closest friends and I went to Vegas! 29 was a bit of a rough year (actually 28 wasn't wholly spectacular either) so we clearly needed to celebrate my making it through the wilderness (mostly) unscathed.

I'm not a Vegas virgin by any stretch of the imagination, but since this was my first trip there with the girls, shopping...and well, Chippendales (thanks Deborah) was a logical attraction. When one is about to turn 30, the most logical place to be shopping is...Forever 21. Yeah, I flew five hours to buy fashions I could have driven half an hour to find! Going with my "dress your age" theme, I bought a sensible navy blazer:




And followed it up with a dress fit for a small child (but in oh-so-trendy coral!):





Mine did not have the belt, nor do I intend to wear ankle socks with it - although they look plenty cute on this model (I would be sent back to grade 7 if I tried to pull this off)...


Cirque, Chipotle, Chippendales, the Flamingo pool on opening weekend, drinking for free at Tao, Forever 21 and my amazing sister and fantastic besties make one hell of a Vegas vacation!


xoxx Muffie

What I'm Reading

Every now and again I buy something that is not a shirt, pair of shoes or a handbag and when I'm looking for a non-fashion shopping fix I usually head to Chapters! My taste in literature is in all honesty, not very highbrow - Sookie Stackhouse and Stephanie Plum have a good amount of space on my bookshelf. However, in this case, I heard Ann Patchett's State of Wonder reviewed on NPR and was so intrigued, I bought it, read it in a couple of days and thoroughly loved it! The story and characters are beyond intriguing...and the South American rainforest setting gave me an almost Southern Gothic vibe with the connections and intricacies of "place".

Also, the book is rather beautiful - get it now ;)

Repeat Offender: Forever 21

This time I shopped at Forever 21 online, so I cannot even claim an impulse shopping experience. This time the haul consisted of three pair of leggings (in grey, navy and chocolate, which have oddly been hard to locate without lace on the bottom of the legs) and:



I've been on the hunt for a red polka dot blouse as if it would be the one item to complete my life. I'm hoping these two will work together with a red cardigan and/or black blazer...if not, at least Forever 21 has a reasonable return policy (and free shipping)!

I'm Coveting...Jason Wu for Target

I confess that I adore Target - even the fact that they won't ship their adorable designer collaboration fashions to me in Canada has not dampened my love for the store (although it has made me eternally grateful to the member of my dad's golfing foursome who very generously allows me to use his U.S. mailing address).

I stalked Target stores and the web site to purchase Tucker, Tara Jarmon, Temperley, Thakoon and Proenza Schouler items and woke up at an obscene hour to get a couple of Missioni sweaters so am understandably excited to shop the Jason Wu collection! I feel so very Michelle Obama...

The fact that the ads feature a Prince-esque black cat only makes me love it all more! A few of the covet-worthy pieces below.

The trench:



The dress:

The cat tote I will never use, but inexplicably, must have:

So y'all know what I'll be up to in the wee hours of Sunday morning!

Fashion Resolution Fail

So I decided to try and dress "older" this year in order to try and reverse the trend of being consistently mistaken for a high school student (or one in junior high on a bad day). While it may sound like a good thing, its very hard for someone to take your seriously when they think you're a sixteen year old with a very advanced vocabulary...

So what did I do? I went to Forever 21 with all of the other tweens and purchased the following:

I then added insult to injury by pairing it with leggings. Although my black Gap blazer on top was a stroke of genius...or something!

My latest handbag addiction

My regular e-commerce trolling sometimes results in my finding the most fabulous things in the most unlikely places: enter my Namaste handbag love. I have a couple of their designs, the Monroe Bag (but mine is peacock):

and the Newport bag:

They are amazing, last forever and have so many pockets - because they are designed as knitting bags(!)

I found my Newport bag at a local yarn store and have been in lust with them ever since. Check 'em all out at www.namasteinc.com

Muffie xoxx

Fashion Karma?

Monday I wore the yak-like fur vest - because I cannot return it, I felt like I had to get some wear out of it. While it is nice and toasty, it looks a little bit like I am wearing the remains of coyote roadkill. Plus, I had a horrible day on Monday, which I can only interpret as the fashion gods punishing me for being such a fashion victim...

The Joe Fresh Project: Day 5

Casual Friday! Super comfy Joe cords (which I felt the need to buy in multiple colours), navy shirt and argyle cardi - and because it was so bloody cold yesterday, I actually wore a second grey cardigan underneath the one in the photo!

Kiki's Kloset: a tragedy in taupe

I love this dress on the model, and hate this dress on me -- It's a beige nightmare.  I bought this from Talbots on sale, thinking it might make a nice alternative to my many black cocktail dresses.

For whatever reason, this dress on me looks like maternity wear.  I don't even think a wide belt can save it, even if I could find one to match this weird colour.  The worst part is, it was final sale.  Damn it!  Another online shopping fail.

The Joe Fresh Project: Day 4

Only I would choose a dress on a snow-stormy day...leggings likely would have been a better bet than the brown tights I went with!

Kiki's Kloset: I plotzed for plaid

I spent an hour yesterday trying to find rain boots made for extremely fat calves.  Finding ANY boot for my fat calves was nearly impossible, until one day I found OneStopPlus.com.  This site has a whole section dedicated to helping fatties find footwear.  LOVE!

As it happens, they don't have rain boots for sale at the moment, so I checked out ShoeBuy.com next.  And voila!  I found my new boots.

 Wide calf rubber rain boots by Nomad

It was hard to decide between this plaid pattern and the zebra pattern, but plaid seemed classier.  I ordered a size 10 but might have to exchange for a 9 after reading the reviews.  I hope these fit!  (The return process is such a pain.)

The Joe Fresh Project: Day 3

Work: navy pants, blue multi-colour long-sleeve t, periwinkle 3/4 sleeve cardigan.

Impulse Purchases: The Shoppers Drug Mart Edition

Okay, I'm super guilty of seeing something sparkly or shiny and suddenly realizing that that is the one thing that will complete my life (for the moment). Today I reached a new low - I impulse bought perfume - and not the $20 kind either. The bottle was just so perfect, don't you think:

L de Lolita Lempicka also smells divine...but it is evidence that I have a serious shopping problem.

The Joe Fresh Project: Day 2

The work outfit for day two involved some rather recent purchases - the black pants and striped tank are both new! The 3/4 sleeve black cardigan, however, is from a few seasons ago.

The Joe Fresh Project: Day 1

Black skinny jeans, ribbed tank and red tartan 3/4 sleeve cardigan.

The Joe Fresh Project

Those of you who know me now that I adore Joe Fresh. Cheap, cool clothing I can impulse buy when stocking up on cereal at the grocery store?! I was in love from their first season (and still wear the first lovely brocade skirt I bought for $19). I even sat (front row!) at their Fashion Week runway show a couple of years ago - and then proceeded to buy everything I saw on the runway as a pure novelty.

Since I can get Joe at the grocery store, I often just count my purchases as part of my "food" budget, which makes me feel better about the bottom line.

Needless to say, my closet is populated with a lot of Joe items - so I decided to spend a week wearing nothing but Joe Fresh - to work, to yoga, hanging with friends and even to bed. I'll spare y'all photos of the latter but everything else is fair game - stay tuned over this next week to see how I make out!

Muffie xoxx

Welcome to my closet Flavian boots!

I have been searching far and wide for a pair of black riding-type boots - something like my actual field boots for horseback riding:

but, well more wearable, comfortable and something I can remove on my own without having a family member nearly break my ankle trying to get them off. After many frustrating shopping trips, I turned to the Holy Grail of American department stores (Nordstrom - they're just so nice!) and lusted after the Vince Camuto Flavian boots:


Having very little self control on Boxing Day, I ordered them (they were on sale - I was saving, not shopping). They came in the mail today in a pretty box with fuschia tissue and made my week!

Kiki's Kloset -- a fashion crime in cobalt

Hiya!  I'm Kiki, and I, too, love online shopping.  I started online shopping because I'm plus-sized and I was having a hard time finding clothes in my size in actual stores.  The internet certainly has more options for me, but that can also be a problem... I don't always have the best taste...

I bought this dress with the intent of wearing it to the company Christmas formal. 

Imagine this model is a size 18 with a giant rack and big blonde hair.

Don't you wish you could unsee that?

Apparently I had convinced myself that I wouldn't look like I was recycling a bridesmaid's dress.  If only this could be returned.  Sigh.

The thrill of online shopping...

Getting a box or two full of sweaters, tops and a pair of Grease-esque leggings (don't judge me, they looked fantastic on the model) in the mail can totally make your day:

I Confess...

Hello all two of you readers, I'm Muffie and welcome to my fashion blog and online confessional of adventures in emotional shopping! The ability of clothes, shoes, purses and random beauty products to meet my emotional needs is complicated by a rather limited budget and the fact that I live in a small town in Ontario, Canada, which is apparently too "foreign" for major American e-commerce sites to even consider shipping to (Target, I'm talking to you). Thus, I end up with some rather eclectic shopping sources which can yield fashion finds of the fabulous type - as well as items of the "what was I thinking this faux fur vest makes me look like a yak" variety.

Sit back and stay a while don't cha!