First Time Buying Liz Lisa in a While

Hi,

After a long time of not buying any Liz Lisa clothes, I rekindled an interest in the brand and bought some pieces on Mercari (with Japonica Market). I still love fashion from the 50s and 60s, but I felt like I missed LL's cute preppy looks. Not that I really dressed preppy in the past, though that was a mistake since I came to realize that fall colours fit me best.

I remember in my previous post wanting to downsize my wardrobe and live on like five pieces of clothing, but then I would get bursts of wanting to dress in a specific style and didn't have the clothes to satisfy my urge. :'D By the way, I was looking at my blog posts back from that period and saw how shitty were some (vintage) pieces I bought. Not only did I buy them, but I went on to take the most hideous pictures and had the audacity to post them on my blog for everyone to see lmao.

OK, back to the haul. Here are the three OPs I bought.

Liz Lisa Fairy Pattern OP
フェアリー柄 ワンピース

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I've liked this OP since I began to buy Liz Lisa, but never got the chance to get it, either because no one was selling it when I was ready to pull the trigger or because I would prioritize other pieces in my purchases.

This print has such pleasing colors and I absolutely love the lacing at the front. I know there's a version with navy blue flowers and I was also – if not more – interested in it, but they were all sold out on online flea markets.

I love the overall fit and the length of the sleeves is perfect. <3 Nothing bad to say about it.

Liz Lisa Heart Check OP
ハートチェックワンピース

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Another dress I liked but never got the occasion to purchase. My main hesitation was the shoulder frills which I tend to stay away from. One, because I often find them too over-the-top, but mostly because I have broad shoulders and these make it worse.

For this dress, the shoulder frills were the right volume, not OTT. So, my only fear was how they would make my shoulders look. This one worry would've normally deterred me from buying the dress, but the tartan and the colours were too enticing.

The heart cutouts are so cute.

The material is some wool and definitely not my favourite, but thanks to the fabric being on the lighter side, the dress isn't terribly heavy to wear.

The fit is OK. I should've thought about it, but maybe because it's an older Liz Lisa dress, there's no zipper, so it's a bit of a hassle to put on. The absence of a zipper also makes the dress less fitted at the bust and waist. As for the shoulder frills, they accentuate my shoulders so much. x_x (It's not that noticeable in the picture.)

If I had had the chance to try the dress first, I would've probably not bought it, but that's the risk when ordering secondhand from Japan. There are, however, ways to fix both problems by adding a zipper and removing the frills. I could also wear the dress with a cardigan at all times, but it's a bit of a constraint.

The pumps in the picture are Liz Lisa's. I bought them secondhand NWT just before I started to dwell away from the brand. Despite selling lots of LL pieces back then, I couldn't part from these pumps. I loved their look and hoped to wear them one way or another. I'm glad I kept them.

Liz Lisa Lace Yoke Frill OP
レースヨークフリルワンピース

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This is a more recent design from Liz Lisa. I was surprised to like it since I'm not a fan of jirai kei and I hate bib dresses, but it was love at first sight with this piece. The amount of details is just enough and everything is arranged so harmoniously.

The dress is missing two little black bows on the bib (it was mentioned by the seller in the description), but I actually prefer it without them.

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The lace trim at the bottom is a light blush colour. I initially thought it was a defect, but found it blends better with the skin which gives a nice effect. And a close-up on the sleeves because I love the two dainty bows.

I'm not pleased with how loose the bust area is, as you can see under my left armpit. On a positive note, I don't raise my arms often. Apart from that, the fit is top-notch.

Pumps in the picture are from Ank Rouge, bought them secondhand on Depop. I love the patent material and the cross straps, but the sizing is a wee bit too big. I can insert soles, but it would've been nice for them to fit as well as my Liz Lisa' (both pairs are a size M).

With the haul now finished, and just to keep my blog up to date (it's been more than a year since my last blog post), I thought I'd share some important stuff that happened:

• February 2022: I changed jobs (different employer). It has helped me to grow significantly while making me busier than before.
• August 2022: I cut a big chunk of my hair, as you may have noticed from the pictures. My hair was a little below my knees by that time. It had been a major part of my life for the past 10 years, but I no longer enjoyed taking care of it and considered it a burden.
• September 2022: I adopted a red toy poodle.

Let me talk a bit about my poodle. Her name is Rose and I adopted her on September 1st 2022. Long story short, I had planned to get gerbils, but I ultimately went with a dog after talking about it with my parents (that change of mind doesn't make any sense I know). I got lucky since the breeder had told me she would not have any potential adoptees at least until 2023, but one month later, she contacted me to see if I was interested in Rose after a cancellation... which of course I was. Three weeks later, I was bringing her home.

First day at home

On the day of her adoption, she was 11 weeks old and weighed a little less than 2 pounds. Whenever I'd sit on the floor, she'd come hop on my legs. It was so cute and I didn't expect her to be this affectionate, especially on day one.

Two days being at home. Sleeping soundly.

Looks innocent but goes demon spawn from time to time.

Picture taken one week ago.

She's now 1 year and 2 months old. She enjoys napping on our legs, our neck, our back, basically as long as she can feel one of our limbs. She loves playing but is also fine with just lying next to me.

I definitely have moments when I'm fed up, but I receive endless support from my parents and get to evacuate my frustrations to them. They help me not to obsess over stuff and remind me that I don't need a perfect dog. This was such an important reminder during the early months of training.

Bringing a pet into your life truly makes you experience unconditional love. When I get back from work or feel moody or tired, she's still happy to be with me... even when I scold her, she comes to cuddle with me minutes later. *teary-eyed*

Finally, my blog underwent a much-needed look makeover. This was among the first things I had planned to do once I got back here.

Before (October 13th 2019 – September 2nd 2023)

Now (September 2nd 2023 – )

I'm using the Watermark theme and lightly customized it. I wanted something journal-like and minimalist that draws attention to the content of my posts. I'm satisfied with how it turned out.

Okay, I'm done for now. Bye!

Sporadic Life Update #4

First of all, Happy New Year 2022. Thought I'd hop here for a brief moment to attest that my blog is still alive. I think this has been my longest blogging hiatus so far. I have a haul from September 22nd still in a draft phase...

Reasons for my absence

During the past months, I had work, school and every other responsibility in between.

The minute I signed the lease of my new apartment, I became highly invested in shopping for decoration and furniture. (My last apartment was a studio that was old and frankly quite ugly, so I never wanted to put money in it.)

Moving into a slightly bigger apartment, that had been recently renovated and for which I had fallen in love at first sight, was, without a doubt, exciting. I began to watch a myriad of apartment tours on YouTube, as well as spending time pinning decors on Pinterest. I admit I lost countless hours looking for perfection, to the point of neglecting to blog, and even do my schoolwork. (As a result, I am extremely behind in a course.) Fortunately, moving in itself wasn't so terrible because my parents helped me tremendously.

Another reason for not blogging is the fact that I only had hauls to talk about and/or was too far behind these hauls. Though the pictures had been mostly already taken, I still needed to write the posts, and truthfully, I didn't have a lot to say. I had bought stuff because I liked it, the colour, the shape. I used to enjoy commenting on my purchases, especially when I was buying Liz Lisa, but I now viewed it as a chore and wasn't inspired to write anything.

Part of why I had nothing to say may have been because I actually did not value my purchases that much. A couple of days ago, I learnt about "lifestyle creep" and I think it is what tainted my consumption behaviour starting around summer 2020.

Wardrobe cleaning

These past months, I sold a lot of Liz Lisa clothes I had never worn regularly (pretty much every piece I talked about here 🙃). I was tired of feeling like I had nothing to wear while standing in front of a jammed wardrobe. Steve Jobs's outfit had popped into my mind a while ago (can't remember why!) which had led me to an article that said Einstein supposedly didn't want to "waste brainpower" choosing an outfit so had "bought several versions of the same grey suit". I had found this logical, but I wasn't yet ready to let go of my beloved – though never worn – clothes.

Fast forward months later, the feel of a fresh start triggered by moving out brought up again the idea of downsizing my wardrobe to keep the essentials only. Another article had inspired me, this one about a man named Justus Kersey who chose to dress the same every day. One of his answers struck me:

"I kinda realized that I had one go-to outfit. Like, once you do laundry, it’s that pair of jeans, it’s that shirt, and every single outfit after that was one I kind of liked less."

While I knew I had favourite pieces, the fear of getting bored wearing the same style somehow justified buying things for the sake of variety. Kersey's words ultimately led me to make *the* move, i.e. discard several pieces and start selling most of my Liz Lisa garments. I knew this would greatly reduce the number of outfit possibilities and that I'd have to let go of pieces I absolutely LOVED (and didn't wear), but I was now in peace with it.

This video helped me to decide what I should keep and what wasn't worth it. I opted to keep pieces that looked good on me (in terms of shape and colour) and that made me feel great when wearing them (in terms of self-confidence and comfort).

Example 1: The waist at the back of my green retro check skirt from Fi.n.t doesn't have a belt loop, so the belt doesn't sit properly on the waistband at the back; it pulls up. My mom sewed a belt loop to try to solve the problem, but the improvement wasn't satisfying. So, although the skirt is lovely, I refrain from wearing it because the belt at the back makes me self-conscious every time. This makes no point in keeping the skirt in my wardrobe, so I decided to sell it. (I since unsewed the belt loop added by my mom and nothing was damaged.)

Example 2: I like the elegance of blouses, but they keep slipping out of my skirts and I constantly have to check if I should tuck it in when I wear one. I mentioned my annoyance with this briefly in 2019, but the thought of saying goodbye to blouses was inconceivable. Today, I realize it is unacceptable for me to keep a type of top that obsesses me at the slightest move I make. Therefore, I decided to sell *almost* all of my blouses. I kept two from Amavel that I like wearing with capri pants in the summer (not tucked in) and one white, thrifted, that had the sleeves shortened to a 3/4 length.

Naturally, this process would have been much harder to execute a few years ago, when I had no idea what suited me best and what I preferred wearing. I'm lucky my "go-to outfit" (a midi A-line skirt + fitted top) has been stable for the last years.

I also bought a few basics, mainly to lounge around at home: five t-shirts (same design, different colours), two identical crop t-shirts (ivory), two identical pairs of black leggings, one purple-beige zip hoodie and one grey half-zip hoodie. 

I haven't sold every j-fashion piece I put up for sale (yet) and I may get rid of additional stuff in the future, but I'm very happy with the wardrobe purge I accomplished as of now.

Plans for this blog

I don't think I'll blog frequently this year. First, I won't have as many hauls as I had before, because I *hope* I won't buy clothes as much as I used to. Likewise, I won't be making as many dresses (sewing).

I had been thinking of starting a blog related to topics in online learning (my field of work) and had the occasion a few days ago to create one for that purpose on WordPress. I won't blog on it any time soon (because of school, notably), but for the time being, I will prioritize it rather than this more personal, leisure blog. (However, maybe I'll come back here sooner than I thought!).

Yesterday In Montreal

Yesterday, my mom and I went to a vintage bazaar. It's the same one I had gone to in January 2020. Since I'll be moving out soon and am looking for decoration from the 50s ↔ 70s, the event came at just the right time. ✨

Here are the items I bought:

Price of each item (in CAD):

• Set or marble bookends + grey x golden dish (seller gave a price for both items): 25 $
• Vintage Butterick pattern: 3 $
• Milou bookend: 5 $

I love the marble bookends. Their surface is glossy and they give chic mid-century modern vibes. For the little dish, I plan on putting it near my entryway for my keys. It looks so much prettier in real life. It is glossy as well and has golden speckles that shine when you look at it from different angles.

As for the pattern, I wasn't madly in love with it, but for such a price, it was surely worth it. Despite loving fit & flare dresses, I wasn't drawn to the design on the right... due to the chosen print. (I know fabric and design are two independent things, but I was still on the fence because of that.) Anyway, I also looked at the design on the left and found the brooch really cute on the collar. Despite never having made a sheath dress, maybe my first time could be with this pattern. Looking back, I don't regret buying the pattern.

Only thing I haven't checked yet is whether the envelope contains all pieces... oh well, if it's incomplete and unusable in any way for me, I'll be happy to reuse the two ladies on the pattern cover to decorate my Midori journal.

Now, for the Milou bookend; I was pretty sure it originally came in a set and would've loved to have the other one... I just looked up on the Internet and it is indeed a set, the other character being Tintin. But I'm not sure I want to spend time and money on reuniting the two bookends. I'm satisfied with having the Milou bookend only.

Dinner to La Grand-mère Poule

After visiting the bazaar, we went to eat. We really wanted to try Régine Café, but the lineup was huge, so we went to La Grand-mère Poule. It's still a nice place, but we had already been there about a month ago. That day, I had eaten the omelette "Chicago" with bacon, mushroom and cheddar cheese. I haven't eaten a lot of omelettes in my life, but that was probably the best one I had ever had, though I wasn't able to finish it entirely.

The omelette

Fast forward to today, I ordered poutine. I wanted something spicy, so I chose the "Punta San Carlos".

When I received my dish, I was taken aback; first, because the portion was much bigger than I anticipated, and second, because the sauce looked like spaghetti sauce? I was like wtf. Then I saw black beans and realized that it was chilli. I had a sudden flashback of summer 2018 when I ate so many times slow-cooked chilli that I grew almost disgusted with it. Up until now, I had never eaten chilli again.

On top of that, I didn't know that chilli was gonna be in the poutine and topping the usual poutine sauce. I had another bad recollection of ordering the St-Hubert poutine years ago and getting some sort of "oversweet" poutine because of the sweet BBQ sauce they had put with the usual salty sauce. (I never ordered that poutine again.)

For these reasons, I was a bit panicking because I didn't want to waste the dish (especially since my mom had invited me), but neither did I want to feel sick.

I started by tasting only the chilli first. It wasn't wow, but not ew either. It wasn't as sweet as the chilli I used to make, so I was relieved. A couple of bites later, I truly liked the poutine! I also got to bring home the leftover and ate it for supper. It tasted even better with both sauces all mixed up and I regretted not mixing them earlier.

I don't know why I didn't see the chilli coming. I just went to check the menu on the Internet, and in fact, they list "chilli" as the first component in the poutine. I guess I was distracted and didn't make the connection when reading the menu. Fortunately, I ended up liking the dish and nothing had to be thrown in the end.

So that was my day yesterday in Montreal. I almost forgot to mention that the weather was also perfect. It was very sunny, yet the sun wasn't too hot, there was zero humidity, and a slight, continuous breeze made walking in the city very comfortable.

Some More Vintage (Mostly Clothes)

When the blog post about this haul didn't even exist yet, I thought it was too late for writing one, as I felt I was too far behind in the pictures and my first impressions/clear descriptions of the pieces. However, I got time to snap some pics a while ago, and then I started to write the blog post, so it became clear that I would want to complete it. Here's the result.

🎕 50s Purple Plaid Skirt (maggzh0 on eBay)

Let's start with this skirt I bought last December (yep, 9 months ago... though the other stuff is more recent, like from spring 2021...)

I had seen it about 1 month ago and loved it immediately, but it was quite expensive. I tried to forget it, but after regularly checking back if it was still listed, it was clear I really liked it and that kinda justified getting it in the end.

The first time I saw the skirt, the fact that it had a 27" waist was another reason that kept me from buying it. Eventually, I thought altering the waist wouldn't be such a big deal (and in fact, my mom only had to move the button a bit further on the waistband).

When I received the skirt, I was a bit disappointed by the number of loose threads (see above picture). My mom pointed out that the skirt was surely homemade (which would make sense since the seller mentioned that the skirt did not have tags).

Another unpleasant surprise was the dirt spots that hadn't been mentioned by the seller, and I don't recall reading a statement that despite a thorough inspection, the garment may come with small defects.

Some of them can be harder to find, but they're still noticeable.

The stains may be washable, I'm not sure. I should wash the skirt if it doesn't pose a risk for the fabric.

Nonetheless, the pattern and colour were exactly as expected, and I was relieved to see that the skirt was in a generally good state. I would've preferred the price to be fairer for the product received, but eh.

My mom made some small repairs to the skirt; she fixed the waistband and the belt loops that had loose threads and ironed the pleats. The skirt looks much better now. I'll try to pair it with a purple belt or an ivory one.

🎕 50s Sheath Dress (lovebugvintage on eBay)

I bought this dress in February. It is my first sheath dress.

I've always been a fan of fit & flare dresses and A-line skirts, but I had been looking at pretty sheath dress patterns at the time, and I think seeing this listing was the trigger that made me get one. I thought the dress was reasonably priced, moreover, it still had its original tags (they've been removed before taking the following pics).

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Because it's impossible to take nice flat-lay pictures of knee-length dresses, I had to leave the dresses on their hanger for their pictures. It's uglier, though much more simple. (The fact that these dresses are more arduous to photograph may well have been the reason why I procrastinated so much on taking the pictures.)

In the listing's pictures, the dress was displayed on a mannequin with its matching belt and it looked super nice. Undoubtedly induced me into buying it.

The colour of the dress varied in the pictures, from a seafoam colour to a bluer shade. It was described as "blue" in the listing, so I was hoping that the seafoam pics were simply the result of bad lighting. However, when I saw the dress in person, the colour was what I hoped not to be... honestly, it reminds me of a hospital gown. I'm a bit disappointed, but it's not like the colour makes me not want to wear the dress anymore.

Since the waist was bigger than 25" (I don't remember the exact measurement), I had to go get the dress altered. Some bits were taken off at the waist and the hips.

The dress fits okay. I had hoped for a Mad-Men-secretary-like look, though it's more like I'm wearing a school uniform. The fit reminds me a little of the blue pinafore in Malaysia, which isn't ugly but doesn't look very fashionable.

I think it's the extreme simplicity of the dress that makes it look a bit conservative, but I'm not sure.

By the way, this is the dress that damaged my new full-slip.

🎕 L'Aiglon 50's Fit & Flare Blue Dress (ManisteeVintage on Etsy)

My first dress from L'Aiglon! I was very happy to own one. This brand carries such beautiful dresses. I see them online quite regularly and they always look lovely. Unfortunately, they're either sold out, too expensive or not in my size. So when I saw this dress, in a fairly good condition, in my size and at a great price, I couldn't pass up.

I believe it's my first dress with lace stripes on the bodice. I've seen a lot of these bodices patterns in 50s and 60s magazines, and I wasn't sure if I'd get to find such a dress today.

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The dress came with holes under both underarms, which wasn't specified in the listing (it was only mentioned that the underarms had some yellowing).

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Fortunately, the seller was understanding and kindly agreed to give me a small compensation.

The sleeves were wrist-length, but I got them altered to a 3/4 length (long sleeves look awful on me – I wasn't sure I'd go for this alteration when I bought the dress, but upon trying it on, it was obvious I needed to).

My mom then stitched the extremities of the hem together (the very extremities, otherwise it'd be too tight), and sewed two buttons on each side.

I liked the 3/4 sleeves so much that I went to the seamster to alter the sleeves of this blouse (from long to a 3/4 length):

🎕 60s Fit & Flare Pink Dress (carlasuevintage on Etsy)

Well, I don't know what to say about this dress... not that I dislike it, but it doesn't bring up strong emotions or memories in my brain.

I don't remember if I saw it on IG or Etsy first, but I bought it rapidly. I loved the sailor-like collar on the front and the pretty pink colour. The pleats also looked cool (there's a close-up shot among the pictures below). Furthermore, the price was reasonable (for a vintage dress in this condition on Etsy).

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The packaging was really cute, though. Most items I receive from Etsy come charmingly wrapped, but I don't always think of taking a picture.

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Only thing is that in their photos, the seller made the dress look very light pink, so I was a tad disappointed when I saw it was actually a bubblegum pink. I'm aware that lots of pictures have their lighting/luminosity jacked up, but I didn't know the difference would be that much for this dress.

Pleatsception 😍

Yes, it came with the matching belt!

🎕 Butterick 50s Duster Sewing Pattern (22Curtis on Etsy)

If I remember well, I was googling duster patterns and found this one. I instantly fell in love with the one that had a bow at the back (see the red duster on the cover). A quick search on Etsy and I found the pattern in the size I wanted and fairly priced. The "search & buy" process for this item was exceptionally simple.

Again, lovely packaging of the item.

Love the pink bubble mailer and the gift-like wrapping of the pattern.

I haven't made the duster yet... and it probably won't be until next year since I've been focusing on work and school.

🎕 Sweater Guard (vintagecassandra on eBay)

I spent a lot of evenings looking for sweater guards both on Etsy and eBay. Not because they're rare or looked ugly, but because they're quite expensive... I never expected this type of jewelry to be that costly. Unfortunately, I never got to see someone selling a sweater guard in an in-person store, so I'm not sure how much they go for when not listed online.

Also, the fact that I was picky with the look of the crocodile clips didn't help. I was particularly worried that bigger clips (with bigger teeth) risked damaging my clothes.

While looking on eBay one day, I saw this Barbara Lee sweater guard – still with its original card! – auctioned on eBay.

It wasn't cheap cheap, but it was definitely lower-priced than the ones on Etsy. Plus, the condition was much better and it came with its original card. I didn't hesitate to place a bid and ended up winning it.

The only thing I was hesitant about was that the pictures didn't show the crocodile clips of the sweater guard... arg and it's not the only one where the clips aren't shown! I should've asked the seller about it, but I was lazy and thought that if the clips did happen to be giant, I'd try to figure out a way to correct this...

The sweater guard looked even better in person.

Very shiny and looks totally new.

Fortunately, the crocodile clips are rather small, rounded but still sharp.

For sure not the worst on the spectrum!

This sweater guard is in amazing condition. Some pearls have been lightly "scratched", but it isn't noticeable unless you look at them carefully. Very satisfied with this purchase and I haven't been furiously looking at sweater guards whole evenings again.

🎕 Black & White Dress to Skirt Only

I previously talked about a beautiful black x white dress I got, for which I expressed my disappointment over the fact that the top didn't fit me.

Well, my mom unstitched the bodice from the skirt, and we brought the skirt (with its petticoat) to a seamster to have it made into a single skirt:

🖤🤍

This was such a great decision. The skirt fits even nicer, the amount of volume is perfect and I'm so happy I can now wear it.

I felt sad to throw the top away but remembered that it isn't as unique as the skirt and that it's fairly easy to find/make a similar top (and made of a better fabric). In my opinion, the skirt is what really made the whole dress stand out. Plus, having only the skirt means I get to pair it with other tops, blouses or cardigans (black or white mostly). This is pretty much even better. It provides many more outfit possibilities.

Note that I kept the matching bow/knot brooch on the top's collar (it would've been a disgrace to discard it along with the top...).

You can see the petticoat that the seamster successfully managed to keep.

Concerning the waistband, there was enough hem at the bottom of the skirt to use some to make it, but since I plan on wearing the skirt with a belt, I told the seamster that a black waistband would look perfectly fine.

The skirt would look FABULOUS with the sailor top in black from Fi.n.t. I bought the one in white and it has become one of my favourite tops. I'm not a fan of black fabrics prone to lint, but I had made an exception for this top. Since it didn't seem to sell well in all three colours (it was in stock for like one year on the website?), I didn't feel rushed to get it. Then during last summer, it turned sold out. Another thing I'll have to look for on Fril and Mercari, oh joy.