Comfy-cozzy

Holly heck did it ever get cold quick! Days like today I definitely fall into habits from my childhood. Making my mom's famous 'Monday night pudding' cake, watching old show tune movies and staying snuggled into warm scarves. When I was little I use to love wearing my new mitts indoors, cause they always start off so soft, before you spill hot chocolate on them and put them on with wet nail polish (I seriously ruin every pair of mitts and need a new pair every season!)

Preloved mitts, $24 (we have them in tons of colors)
Preloved scarf, $38

Steel Magnolia fur mitts, $24

Susprize-ya!

Well this is surely a first on the Victoire blog, but somewhat fitting since we keep throwing the word “spooky” around as one of our key themes for our fall look & vibe. Omg it’s a horror movie review! I never thought the day would come. Horror movies and Victoire are like...oil and water? But such is not the case with Suspiria. This is a full-on fashion movie, and if you’re a super scaredy cat like Katie, just get a good friend to fast-forward the gory scenes cos the amazing sets, clothes & furniture are to DIE FOR. Ha ha, nice little horror movie pun there for ya.

Anyways, many many weeks ago I did something I probably never would have done had it not been for my good friend Jodie’s insistence that it was one of her favourite movies of all time. I went to a midnight screening of Suspiria by Dario Argento, - and man, if you were around me in the days that followed, you probably heard all about it cos I could NOT STOP talking about it.

The storyline revolves around an American dance student, named Suzy, who goes to Germany to study at a prestigious dance academy, and from the first night she arrives, strange things seem to happen. Increasingly terrified following a series of gruesome and spectacular murders, Suzy senses that something horribly evil lurks within the walls of the age-old institution and slowly begins to unravel the dark history of the academy. I mean come on – a horror movie based in a ballet school?! Things could only get better if you mixed in some witches and the occult – and hooray, there’s plenty of that too!

From the very beginning I immediately understood why Suspiria is one of Argento's most renowned and best loved films. It’s truly a feast for the eyes and ears with a kick-ass spooky score by The Goblins. Argento uses the score and pacing to create moments of unbearable unease and tension. The music alone is worth the price of admission. Though I wouldn’t listen to that soundtrack alone in my apartment if somebody paid me.

And the sets, oh my god THE SETS! This is grand 70s style at its best - vivid primary colours, over-the-top highly stylized backdrops – the extravagant excess of it all was mesmerizing! Words can’t even begin to describe it. In a nutshell, it was absolutely gorgeous to look at, and scary as heck!

I spy.......

I spy some new great pieces in the store!!

Take a look at some of these beauties....

Dace Ayden shirt $156, Dace Trudy skirt $144

Mink Pink Tart n' Around shirt $95

Dace Corrina shirt $144

Come and check them out before I buy everything and max out my credit card.

New York City bunnies!

For those of you who have been by the shop lately, you might have noticed that Katie and I were out of the shop for what felt like forever (seriously, a day away from the shop feels like a week for us), so we don't leave town for any old thang. For one, Katie can't poo when she's away from home, and two, well we miss our life in Ottawa when we're gone. But NYC's siren call proves irresistible even to us home-bodies every few months. And when Katie found out about a flea market with 350 vendors in Red Hook, just a few hours from New York, we thought that would make a perfect road trip. A mix of small town-ey antiquing & flea marketing & diner eating, followed by rock'n'rolling all night in NYC. The proverbial "rock'n'roll tea party" road trip if you will!

We left Friday after lunch and got into Red Hook just in time for dinner. Of course Katie had previously looked up the best place to get BBQ, and we were not disapointed by Max's Famous BBQ. I even orderd some cheesy grits TO GO, for a potential late-night snack attack. I later grossed everybody out in our creepy motel room when I attempted to eat my cheesy grits sans fork. :(

We walked around the next morning marvelling at all the old houses, and old cemetery (that was like, almost directly across from our motel) that in the daytime we thought were soooooo cool and amazing, but in the nighttime kinda scared the bejeezus out of us. The gravestone Katie is standing next to looked all home-made and was from like 1750!


The boys found a mausoleum, and with hardly any prying at all, the door opened. Chad looked inside and actually saw human bones!! He wanted to take a picture, but Katie and I forbade him. Now see, I AM a gambling woman, but not when it comes to messing with the risk of being HAUNTED!

This house was so beautiful and all Grey Gardens, with stuff piled up to the ceiling in practically every room. Imagine how wicked your wardrobe would look in the top of that tower. Talk about inspiring your style!

This was one of the many roadside garage sale/antique dealers that would cause Katie and I to frantically urge the boys to turn the car around and pull over for us to riffle through. I don't think you wanna see Katie and I when we get all "omg omg omg please please please stop the car please please!!"

Before leaving Red Hook, we ate at the one of the oldest diners in the US! Aw cute!!! And old-timey. Our fave. (At this point, the boys started making fun of Katie and I for our over-use of the words "old-timey" and "cute", especially together. Ie. "omg, at the flea market we got all these cute old-timey pictures, and charms, and dresses!").

Now at this point in my blog, you'll kinda just have to take me at my word that these pictures are from NYC. We did a bunch of cool things, but truthfully, I suck as Victoire's official travel-blographer. We went to the Tenement Museum (again! It's our fave and we couldn't recommend it more!), almost went to a speak-easy (by the way, next time you're in ask Katie how to pronounce that word), went to the Brooklyn Flea Market, saw Telly from Kids DJ at a bar, had an amazing pow-wow with Shana, the amazing owner of In God We Trust, ate tacos every day, got to hang with Erica Weiner in her beautiful studio, too-briefly saw Erica from Species by 1000, went to some tradeshows, and a bunch of other stuff, but of course I have pictures of none of that.

But I DO have pictures of the fact that we stayed in the world's smallest double occupancy hotel rooms at the Jane. Very cool hotel, amazing location, great price, but no joke, 2 people had to share this bed:

Like Katie said, this is only the kind of room you could stay in on a loverly vacation with your mate. And even then it's a stretch. So next time Katie and I are travelling to NYC just us gals, we will be skipping the Jane.

I love how much yummy food is sold out of trucks there! This was a cutesy ice cream truck in Williamsburg.

This was one of my favourite parts of the trip. We did tequila shots at a great piano bar while everyone around us sang along to the most obsure Broadway musical songs! We were so moved by all this that we actually made a pact to come back to NYC to see Spiderman: The Musical, with music by Bono & The Edge. Funny what seems totally awesome in a tequila haze, eh? We WILL be back in NYC shortly, but sadly it will not be for Spiderman: The Musical. Somehow I don't think anyone present will try and hold us to that pact.

And lastly, on our way home we stopped for dinner at Friendly's, which I remembered soooo fondly from my childhood. And it's no wonder why - I had a grilled cheese sandwich and kraft dinner (though they called it macaroni & cheese there). I hate to say it, but it was gooooood!

This wraps another trip to NYC. When we go back in a few months we solemnly swear to take more pictures! Cross our hearts!!

With love and pride.

We are so very proud of the first ever Victoire T-shirts. We teamed up with our precious best pal Gen and printed things that are precious to us. I am so happy to finally have a t-shirt that says Ottawa on it. How freaking cool is that? Show everybody my civic pride!

We really hope you like these, and we got some other design ideas for more t-shirts, so stay tuned!!



Dionne Quintuplets Tee, $39

Maple Leaf Forever crest tee, $39

Team Victoire tee, $39

Good Luck horse shoe tee, $39


Vintage bow tee, $49

Outfit of the Week:

Osei-Duro top, $89 (the back is really special)


Eve Gravel Sexy-Lady, $128

Nokomis Mathiew, $234


Ta-DA!
xoxo

My Favourite Things!

1. The Beowolf Tee by MINKPINK paired with vintage Doc's (69 and 49 a piece). Let me clear things up though: girls, I am not in any way condoning wearing no pants at your place of work. But in an emergency, say you can't find the perfect flat front short shorts to show off a wolf tee in all it's glory for example, then i'm sure your employers would take it pretty easy on you.


2. Who doesn't need to own a leopard print onesie? Pair it with booties, cozy tights and a cardigan for the fall and then when summer comes back you can hit the beach in style! Handmade right here in Ottawa too! ($89)


3. Complex Geometries Choke dress for $179 is a new favourite of mine, made from a nice blend of wool and tencel, it feels that much more coxy and dressed up than the plain cotton version. And as usual, lots o ways to wrap it so you never get bored!


4. La Fete two tones mini dress is a totally amazing combo of black silk, white silk and faux leather. Makes you feel really f'n cool; need I say more?


5. And finally the In God We Trust heart engraved necklaces for $49 each. With engravings like 'Let's Make Out', 'Sweet Tits', 'Call me' and more, these are the perfect balance of sweet + sassy. Added marks because they also come in pretty little blue boxes!

"the only thing that seperates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize."

The 1989 film Steel Magnolias was a comedic, and romantic story of tought minded, hairspray-happy, southern belles. The leading ladies of the movie were well dressed, well spoken and always well accessorized, and i think that if we brought the memorable group of women shopping at Victoire they would love the new Steel Magnolia accessories here at Victoire more than their luggage. Take a peek at the new jems that are in the store now...

Steel Magnolia Locket $39

Steel Magnolia Earrings $19

Steel Magnolia Pin $20

Sweet home Ottawa

We are back home and we have brought back all sorts of treasures with us. Definitely come into the store to see it all. We also got deliveries while we were gone, including new Lily & Jae, which always makes us so super excited. All in all a good day over at 246 Dalhousie.


This graduation picture from a High School is one of our favorite finds.


Lily & Jae Sunday dress, $156


Another favorite find.


Lily & Jae Doll dress, $168


Lily & Jae Careful coat, $310