Sunday, April 17, 2011

Spring Collection 2011

OK, all y'all deserve something a little more upbeat from me, and here it is!  Ken took me shopping at Vaughan Mills mall on Sunday, and it was super-awesome-fun.  I forgot all my troubles, had a chocolate-soy-ice-cream waffle cone, and got all stylish for spring.  There are a couple of purchases here that didn't get got on Sunday.  I will explain as we go along.  But first, I introduce you to the world's greatest ever socks, courtesy of the Holt Renfrew Last Call bargain outlet:


(In case you can't quite make out the image, that's a stag's head looming out of a profusion of wildflowers.  Also, feel free to be impressed by my ability to balance on one leg while taking a photograph with no flash in low light with almost no blur.  I balance good!)

These shoes were purchased on Queen St. West a couple of weeks ago at Get Outside.  They are supremely comfy and OMG the coolest.  I am also proud to add that they are made in Canada, are water repellant, and have some kind of high tech lining that claims it will keep my feet cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  Whatever, I'd wear them even if they weren't marvels of modern technology.


Impulse buy at Bass Pro in Vaughan Mills Mall.  Was: $140, marked down to $43.  Who could resist?


The truth is that I had just bought a new spring coat, although maybe it was more of a fall coat considering that it's black.  So I guess I still needed the other coat to be my spring coat, right?  Anyway, the black coat is more fantastic that you can even see from a still photo.  The "white" bits are sparkly silver tinsel.  It's all very fancy.


I found it at a little boutique in my neighbourhood.  The saleslady claimed that her sister owns the coat factory in Korea.  I'm not 100% sure that that's true, but it's a compelling story.

My first ever pair of leather gloves from Danier at Vaughan Mills Mall.  I could not resist the pretty shade of teal.  I'm into teal these days - you can see they almost match my shirt.  Unfortunately in this shot they look quite like the rubber gloves I use to wash dishes.   Really, they're quite classy and sophisticated.


Finally, a cautionary tale.  My favourite winter slippers crumbled just before the season was over.  Since I never know when I'm going to be down for the count with a fever and feeling chilly-toed, I went on a quest to find a replacement pair toot sweet.  Retail stores had very little slipper selection left, since everyone was thinking about spring even though it was still snowing.  So I took a leap of faith and went online to make my purchase.  I spent many hours choosing the exact right slipper of my dreams.  I located the one and only online store that could ship them to Canada.  When the box came I was all excited, until I ripped it open and found these:


As they say, close, but no cigar.  I had spent a fair amount of time deliberating between these two styles, the Juliet (on the left) and the Bootee (on the right).  What I had in fact ordered was the Bootee.  And now I have one of each.  At least I can say for sure that the Bootee was the right one for me: it's a little roomier in the toe, although otherwise they fit almost identically.

I e-mailed the vendor, shoebuy.com, to let them know what had happened, but no one replied to my e-mail.  This immediately raised warning flags in my mind.  If I were to box up the slippers and send them back over the border they might get caught at customs, or they might go back to the warehouse but there was no guarantee that I'd be issued a proper refund.  I mean, if they can't return a simple e-mail at the customer service desk, how can I trust them to get my shoe order right if I give them another chance?  They might send me another order entirely next time: men's size 12 extra-wide white running shoes or something.

I assessed the situation.  I have one right shoe and one left shoe, both in Ladies size 8 which fit just fine.  The Juliet slipper is a little tight in the toe, but it's sheepskin - it'll stretch.  They look fairly similar and if I walk around in them without looking down I can barely tell that they're not a matched set.  Then, one chilly evening, I wore them while watching TV, and OMG my feet were SO WARM AND COZY AND COMFY!!!1!  That clinched it.  I am keeping them.  Some people wear mismatched socks.  I can wear mismatched slippers.  P.S. Don't buy from shoebuy.com because they'll get your order wrong and not care.  

If anyone out there has the matching opposite pair of slippers, (someone must have gotten them by now), please let me know in the comments and we'll arrange an exchange.

14 comments:

kenju said...

I hope they read your post and send you the mates- then you'll have two pair!!

Jenski said...

I would highly recommend LLBean. And they have FREE shipping to Canada AND they have amazing customer service. For now, until those slippers wear out, glad they keep your feet equally warm. ;-) I love the jackets too!

Tracy Moore said...

Oooo! I love all your new stuff. So pretty :)

DarcKnyt said...

Wow, bummer about ShoeBuy! My wife LOVES them, AND Zappo's too. They both had excellent return policies. I'm sorry your experience wasn't grand as it should have been.

And I liked your fashion show. Very cool. The balancing act was the best part, IMO. ;)

Jameil said...

Shopping? YAY!!!! But BOOOOO to you mentioning last call like all of the canadian fashion bloggers i read (maybe just one). I'M EXTRA JEALOUS! I love that the first pic also looks slightly like a deer hoof when you point your toe. So amusing!! LOL. Sparkle coat (how appropriate)? So cute!! Dude... LOL @ you calling for a trade with slippers you've already foot juiced! Hilarity! But boooo to that site!!

Jameil said...

Also! I LOVE leather gloves! My long, sharp nails require them lest I walk around looking homeless!

LL Cool Joe said...

Wow you did well! everything looks great. Ha so you have some silver bling on your black jacket!

I've never seen gloves that colour before. :)

The sock photo cracked me up. :D

Claire said...

Those socks are immense. and mismatched slippers could be a new thing, for sure.

Cxx

Lynn said...

You are all set! :)

anon said...

Nice! I love the plaid coat. Bought a turquoise trench a few years back and it keeps on keepin' on. I also love leather gloves, I have a chronic glove wearing disorder so I have many colors too. I love my red ones with the long ruched cuffs the best! And hey, try googling "wonderfull world of sheepskin" next time you're looking for slippers like that : )
Nice to hear you had a good day!

Cute boots too!

Sparkling Red said...

Kenju: That would be great!

Jenski: Good idea! Their bootie slipper doesn't have a rubber sole, which makes them slightly less appealing to me (I prefer to be able to wear my slippers while washing dishes, and I tend to splash a fair bit), but they would certainly be comfy, and hopefully be a matched set!

Pixiebaby: I am all about retail therapy. ;-)

DarcKnyt: Thanks! I think things would be a lot simpler if I lived in the states. Zappo's won't even ship to Canada anymore because they ran into so many problems with shipments getting stuck at the border.

Jameil: Foot juiced? Yuck, you make it sound absolutely disgusting. Don't be too jealous of my Last Call access. I've been in there numerous times and most of the wares are hideously ugly and redonkulously expensive, even at 70% markdowns. (70% of $1000 = $300 - still a lot for a sweater!)

LL Cool Joe: I will need to wear those socks with shorts to show them off. Maybe lederhosen?

Claire: I remember the 1980's when all the cool kids wore mismatched sets of Converse sneakers - a different colour on each foot. That was considered very stylish!

Lynn: Hmm, are you sure? Because I think maybe I should shop some more.

Powdergirl: Next time I will ask for advice before I buy. If only I had know about the Wonderful World of Sheepskin! They have just what I was looking for.

Warped Mind of Ron said...

OMG!! I have those exact same socks!!!

DarcsFalcon said...

Ooooh, a fashion show AND a gymnastics routine! All in one! The balancing was awesome, I give it a 10! And the fashion show was uber-cool, that gets a 10 too, and I really really really want those mocs!

I'm so sorry you had a bad experience with Shoebuy. I haven't used them in a while but when I did, their service was excellent. How sad to hear it's gone down so far.

"Ya done good" at the mall, as the kids say. :) You have some great finds there.

Sparkling Red said...

Ron: That's fantastic! Let's e-mail each other and plan to wear them on the same days. We can be sock-buddies! :-D

DarcsFalcon: I can't tell you how long I've been browsing through shoe stores, looking for those exact moccasins but never finding them. It's like the shoe designer read my mind. They also come in black and a nice, mushroomy shade of off-white.
Shoebuy.com seems to have a lot of good reviews. I guess I just had bad luck. I suppose I was destined to have crazy mismatched slippers.