My buys - Month six

I didn't set out to spend most of this month's budget at Reiss but hey, it's not a cheap store. Actually, it's generally too expensive for me even with my temporarily inflated budget, but it does have great sales. I've been trying to break my old habit of shopping the sales rack, but before Shopping for Happiness, even most of the sale prices at Reiss would have felt too expensive for me. Therefore I think it's well within the spirit of my project to shop from the sale rack at this one store. (The bargain-hunter in me lives despite all efforts to subdue her.)

Maybe it's "vanity sizing" but this neat knit is allegedly a small. It's the bulkiest sweater I own -- and so comfortable. I live in it on the weekends and probably will until June. 

This short-sleeved shirt has a silky, shiny fabric on the front and more of a comfy t-shirt feel on the back. It looks great on its own or under a blazer. 

Moonlighting's Maddie Hayes would probably have liked this Reiss jumpsuit. It's my first jumpsuit since the garbageman-like zip-up one I wore in high school, and it's pretty great. The back is open (with buttons at the neck that are pretty much impossible to do up on your own) and the neckline and sleeves are asymmetrical. 

It's very memorable and very impractical -- not the kind of thing I EVER would have purchased before Shopping for Happiness. 

I thought this colour was called "shell pink" but apparently that's a different shade entirely. Whatever the colour is called, I really like this warm piece. Length-wise, it hits below hip level, so it looks great with the slim leggings in the same colour. (Well, they used to be the same colour. Now they are pink mottled with blue.) 

ANYWAY the effect, however briefly achieved, was a neck-to-foot monochromatic look. I've aspired to monochromatic outfits ever since I was a kid watching Moonlighting. 

I don't need an excuse to watch Moonlighting again but if I did, it would be for Cybill Shepherd's clothes. Maddie Hayes –an ex-model-turned-detective – had a pretty fantastic wardrobe and she made me a lifelong fan of monochromatic looks with her single-tone outfits. 

That's what I was going for when I bought the dusty pink turtleneck and matching trousers from Reiss this month, with a pink t-shirt thrown in for good measure. 

I love these slim-legged trousers, or I should say I loved them until I accidentally maybe-wrecked them this week by staining them to death. (The French's mustard stain came out in the wash -- but while they were drying, some dye from a scarf drying on the same rack transferred on to the trousers in about four places!)

Stay tuned for new pictures after my cleaning efforts. 

Also, see the wrinkles in this picture? Photographing clothes for this blog caused me to notice how wrinkled many of my outfits become once they've been worn, washed or just folded the wrong way. That's what led me to buy my main non-Reiss purchase this month: a clothing steamer. 

How does something as prosaic as a wrinkle-removing device qualify as a Shopping for Happiness-worthy treat? Well, I could have bought a serviceable iron or hand-held steamer for a fraction of the price, but instead I sprang for a top-of-the-line Rowenta Roll and Press that actually makes it easy, fast and fun to get the wrinkles out of all my nice new clothes. I hate, hate, hate ironing and I'm terrible at it, but you can't create new wrinkles with a steamer and you can't scorch your clothes. You barely even have to pay attention to what you're doing, which is perfect for me because I have never felt the "Zen" that others claim to find in household chores. I used this steamer on a batch of items for the first time while glued to an episode of "The People v. O.J. Simpson" and they look like they just came from the cleaners. Progress!

Fabric transfer stain! The culprit: my favourite Tilo Golden Gate Bridge scarf. Well, I can't blame the scarf; it was my fault for laying the scarf out to dry so close to the trousers. My wire drying rack has some latches, etc. that pushed parts of the trousers into the scarf. These little blue mementoes were the unhappy result. A re-wash failed; I'll try the dry cleaners next.